The Story Behind the Song - In the Lap of the Gods...Revisited

 

This is the outro track on the 1974 ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ album, and appears to be related to the opening track of side 2 of the album, also by Freddie, in name only.

It features a narrator having a discussion with himself, reflected in the alternate high and low vocals at the start, as he appears undecided and unsure of his identity: ‘Where do I belong’?

Brian has stated that Freddie, who was dealing with personal struggles, was expressing himself in emotional terms here: about relationships and his sexuality. Interestingly, Brian himself performed the song at a solo gig in Reading in September 1999, footage of which can be found on You Tube.

The song has enjoyed a revival on the live scene due to its inclusion in Queen and Adam Lambert setlists for much of the life of the collaboration. I noted at the Berlin concert in 2022 that the dry ice was doing overtime during its performance. It seems that times hadn’t changed and was intrigued to find the number of references to dry ice accompanying the song when played live, just as you can see on the 1974 ‘Live at the Rainbow’, and ‘Live at the Odeon’ of the following year, where dry ice is much in evidence!

Contemporary reviews of shows at New York’s Beacon Theatre in February 1976 and at Edinburgh’s Playhouse in September of the same year both note the dry ice used during the performance of the song.  The most detailed reference is by Chris Welch in the Melody Maker concerning a concert at the Empire in Liverpool in November 1974: “Dry ice began to envelope the stage, and as red light glowed through the fog, group and audience took on an eerie aspect, like a scene from some Wagnerian forest, as arms waved like young saplings in a night breeze. Then an explosion of white light, and two red flares burn over a deserted stage. Queen have gone, signalling a desperate roar of “MORE!” " 

This indicates the typical placement of the song in a concert: and as it was played at the end of the show before the encore, and it has an anthemic style, it’s often seen as a precursor to ‘We are the Champions’, and, like its successor, featured Freddie playing piano at the start before moving front of stage to lead the audience participation. In fact, due to time constraints, it actually concluded the free gig at Hyde Park in London on 18 September 1976. According to tour manager Gerry Stickells, quoted in the ‘As it Began’ biography, the police had threatened to arrest Freddie if he returned on stage for the encore that the audience was shouting for.

The song remained on the set list until the end of the ‘A Day at the Races’ tour in mid-1977, and was reintroduced in 1986 for the Magic tour, where it was sung early in the show: Freddie can be seen on ‘Live at Budapest’ and ‘Live at Wembley’ reversing his earlier habit  – at front of stage at the start, making sure the audience is singing along, before sitting down to accompany himself on the piano at the finish, which allows him to hang on there to perform the introduction to the next number, ‘Seven Seas of Rhye’.

The song has an overriding message of leaving things in the hands of fate. It's certainly one of the more obscure ones regularly performed in the Queen and Adam Lambert concerts, and the only one essentially not released as a single that didn’t appear in the Queen and Paul Rodgers collaboration too - but unlike those: ‘I’m in Love With My Car’, ‘’39’ and ‘Love of My Life’, Adam has been on the lead vocal for this one, indicating his particular fondness for, and personal identification with, this crowd-rousing chant.

© Alison Sesi, 2023