'I WANT TO BREAK FREE' PARODIES CORONATION STREET

Today, The Grandma has been reading about I Want to Break Free, the song sung by Queen, and written by John Deacon.

I Want to Break Free is a song by the British rock band Queen, written by their bassist John Deacon. 

It appears on the album The Works (1984), and was released in three versions: album, single and extended. The track became a staple of the bands during their 1984-85 The Works Tour and their 1986 Magic Tour.

The song is largely known for its music video for which all the band members dressed in drag, a concept proposed by drummer Roger Taylor, which parodied the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street.

The second part of the video included a composition rehearsed and performed with the Royal Ballet and choreographed by Wayne Eagling. Whereas the parody was acclaimed in the United Kingdom, where cross-dressing is a popular trope in British comedy, it caused controversy in the United States.

After its release in 1984, the song was well received in Europe and South America and is regarded as an anthem of the fight against oppression.

The single reached only number 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100, but reached number three in the UK and was certified silver with over 200,000 copies sold. It also topped the charts of Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The song features on the band's compilation album, Greatest Hits II.

The song was written in 1983 by John Deacon and released in April 1984. Most of the song follows a traditional 12 bar blues progression in E major. It has three verses with one bridge, no chorus, and relatively little section repetition.

More information: Queen

The song features session musician Fred Mandel, who plays all of the keyboard parts; he was involved with the song when it featured only a drum machine and a guitar part. The keyboard solo at the end was done in one take on a Roland Jupiter-8 synthesizer, except the last note with a portamento down one octave, which was captured via punching in.

Besides the album version, a single version and an extended version were released.
The single version lasts 4 minutes 21 seconds and differs from the album version by the 40-second introduction and a longer synthesizer solo which starts at 2:33. The introduction is played on an electronic keyboard and is assisted by cymbals, drums and a guitar (Red Special). For the Bohemian Rhapsody soundtrack the single introduction is added to the album version creating a 3 minutes 43 seconds edit.

The extended version lasts 7 minutes 16 seconds and features a longer introduction and ending. It lasts until 6:04, and the remaining minute contains fragments of other songs from The Works. The extended version was mostly distributed as 12-inch vinyl records and then reissued on the CD of The Works in 1991.

Besides The Works, the song was featured in the albums Greatest Hits II, Box of Tricks, Greatest Hits (1992 US Red edition) and Absolute Greatest and in the box-sets The Complete Works and The Platinum Collection.

More information: Story of Song

Following in the tradition of cross-dressing in British comedy, the music video for I Want to Break Free sees the members of Queen in a suburban house dressed as women, a parody of the characters from the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.

The video opens with a scene of typical British residential streets in the morning, intercut with shots of a teasmade waking Brian May's character up. The terraced houses are located in Leeds, in the neighbourhood Harehills. The roof of a terrace, most likely between Sandhurst Terrace and Dorset Rd, can be seen in the opening shot.

In the second scene the camera pans along a terrace and stops at the house where the action supposedly happens. It is located on 41 Dorset Mount in real life and has a slightly different floor plan than the set used in the video. A part of the Dorset Mount street name plate can be seen on its wall just a second before Brian May gets out of bed.

Mercury vacuums the floor and sings the first verse. He opens a door leading to a dark space, where the group appear surrounded by figures wearing miner's helmets. Mercury dances to a glowing box and reappears with several dancers dressed in spotted leotards, and perform a dance. In the house, Mercury sings and goes upstairs. The group appear in the dark space again.

More information: Radio X

But life still goes on
I can't get used to living without, living without
Living without you by my side
I don't want to live alone, hey
God knows, got to make it on my own
So, baby, can't you see I've got to break free?

 

Queen

'CORONATION STREET', THE BRITISH TV SOAP OPERA

Today, The Grandma has been watching TV. She has chosen one of her favourite soap operas, Coronation Street, the world's longest-running television soap opera, whose first episode was broadcast in the United Kingdom on a day like today in 1960.

Coronation Street is a British soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 1960.

The programme centres around Coronation Street: a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.

Originally broadcast twice-weekly, the series began airing six times a week in 2017. The programme was conceived by scriptwriter Tony Warren. Warren's initial proposal was rejected by the station's founder Sidney Bernstein, but he was persuaded by producer Harry Elton to produce the programme for 13 pilot episodes, and the show has since become a significant part of British culture.

Coronation Street is made by ITV Granada at MediaCityUK and shown in all ITV regions, as well as internationally.

In 2010, it became the world's longest-running television soap opera. Initially influenced by the conventions of kitchen sink realism, Coronation Street is noted for its depiction of a down-to-earth, working-class community, combined with light-hearted humour and strong characters. The show currently averages around six million viewers per episode. The show premiered its 10,000th episode on 7 February 2020, and celebrated its 60th anniversary later that year.

The first episode was aired on 9 December 1960 at 7 pm, and was not initially a critical success; Daily Mirror columnist Ken Irwin claimed the series would only last three weeks. Granada Television had commissioned only 13 episodes, and some inside the company doubted the show would last beyond its planned production run. Despite the criticism, viewers were immediately drawn into the serial, won over by Coronation Street's ordinary characters.

More information: ITV

The programme also made use of Northern English language and dialect; affectionate local terms like eh, chuck?, nowt (/naʊt/, from nought, meaning nothing), and by 'eck! became widely heard on British television for the first time.

The show's production team was tested when many core cast members left the programme in the early 1970s. The audience of ITV's other flagship soap opera, Crossroads increased markedly at this time grew in popularity.

Between 1980 and 1989, Coronation Street underwent some of the most radical changes since its launch.

In spite of updated sets and production changes, Coronation Street still received criticism. In 1992, chairman of the Broadcasting Standards Council, Lord Rees-Mogg, criticized the low representation of ethnic minorities, and the programme's portrayal of the cosy familiarity of a bygone era, particularly as many comparable neighbours in the real life Greater Manchester area had a significant percentage of black and Asian residents.

On 8 December 2000, the show celebrated its 40th anniversary by broadcasting a live, hour-long episode.

More information: Facebook-Coronation Street

The show began broadcasting in high-definition in May 2010, and on 17 September that year, Coronation Street entered Guinness World Records as the world's longest-running television soap opera after the American soap opera As the World Turns concluded. William Roache was listed as the world's longest-running soap actor.

On Friday 7 February 2020, with its 60th anniversary less than a year away, Coronation Street aired its landmark 10,000th episode, the runtime of which was extended to 60 minutes.

Producers stated that the episode would contain a nostalgic trip down memory lane and a nod to its own past. A month later, ITV announced that production on the soap would have to be suspended, as the United Kingdom was put into a national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After an 11-week intermission for all cast and crew members, filming resumed in June 2020. The episodes would feature social distancing to adhere to the guidelines set by the British government, and it was confirmed that all actors over 70, as well as those with underlying health conditions, would not be allowed to be on set until it was safe to do so.

On 12 October 2021, it was announced that Coronation Street would partake in a special crossover event involving multiple British soaps to promote the topic of climate change ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

More information: Youtube-Coronation Street

You want to get out more
-wait ’till you try bingo-
you’ll hyperventilate.

Blanche Hunt