Brian May Collaborations

2012-2020

Rockstar

Dappy

, 2012. Brian plays guitar. Length 3:37.
This track was released on 26 February 2012 and reached no 2 in the charts and no 1 in the R&B charts. A number of remixes are available to download but these do not feature Brian.
Available on the album 'Bad Intentions'.
Available Versions:
1. Album/Single Version (3:37) (available on the download single, a promo CD and the 'Bad Intentions' album)
2. Instrumental Version (3:37) (available on the download single and a promo CD only; a complete instrumental, with no lyrics at all)
3. Radio 1 Live Lounge Session (3:38) (available on the deluxe versions of the 'Bad Intentions' album, and on one download as a video) (performed live on Ferne Cotton's show, on 27 February 2012; this is stripped-down version of the track, with more piano and bass throughout)
Lyrics: (the Radio 1 Live Lounge version features the additional lyrics in red but loses those in blue)
Yo
They say that I'm dangerous
Like everything I touch, it falls apart
If five out of ten would kill me now
Well I'mma cut to the chase

I used to wish on a star but nowadays I need space, satellites
See the black shades white chain, flashing lights
Never thought I could of felt this low in the highlights
So I asked Phil is it still another day in paradise?
Is there heaven for the forever twenty sevens?
Could it be three years till I'm jammin' with legends?
I got thousands of fans, but I don't get the obsession
If there's a nice guy inside, I guess I've never met him

'Cos I could buy a fast car
But not even an aeroplane can seem to get me out of here
The pressure and the stress are both dying to see the end of me
And the man in the mirror is looking at me like an enemy

Whoa
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger every time
Naahoo
Don't let 'em tell you how to live your life, 'cos

They say that I'm dangerous
Like everything I touch, it falls apart
If five out of ten would kill me now
Well I'mma cut to the chase

'Cos I'm living like a rockstar
I ain't afraid, the good die young
'Cos I be living like a rockstar
I blow 'em a million miles away, away, away

Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh, chicka bang bang
Ooh-ooh-ooh, hey, ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh, yo, chicka bang bang

Mama always told that there's someone looking over me
Think she meant the guy with the camera tryin' to photo me
Be careful what you wish for, 'cos the truth's a little different
If the Guardian's my angel, why's The Sun burning holes in me?
They let me loose on the public, but I didn't prepare
I get shot by a lens everytime I appear
Put a star in the room, I swear it changes the atmosphere
'Cos I'm a celebrity, can someone get me out of here?

Whoa
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger every time
Naahoo
Don't let 'em tell you how to live your life, 'cos

They say that I'm dangerous
Like everything I touch, it falls apart
If five out of ten would kill me now
Well I'mma cut to the chase

'Cos I'm living like a rockstar (yes I am)
I ain't afraid, the good die young (oh, oh, oh, oh)
'Cos I be living like a rockstar
I blow 'em a million miles away

'Cos I don't care, I don't care
Take me there, take me there
Na, na, I ain't scared, I ain't scared
Take me there
Well I'mma cut to the chase 'cos I'm I be living like a

Yo, you ain't a legend till you're set in stone
For now you're just flesh and bone
Just a little bruder tryin' a build a home
I'll be the best till my dying breath, Brian Jones
A wise girl once sung tears dry on their own
Fuck a moment of silence in my house
We shut the whole shit ish down for Winehouse

Yo, so I've got something to say
Take aim, pull the trigger
'Cos your never going to blow me away

They say that I'm dangerous
Like everything I touch, it falls apart
Oooh
If five out of ten would kill me now
Well I'mma cut to the chase

'Cos I'm living like a rockstar
Ooh, I ain't afraid, the good die young
'Cos I be living like a rockstar
Yo, I blow 'em a million miles away

'Cos I don't care, I don't care
Take me there, take me there
Na, na, na, I ain't scared, I ain't scared
Take me there
Well we can cut to the chase
'Cos I'm living like a blah

Hey, hey
Yo
'Cos I'm living like a rockstar
Hey, hey
Legendary Mr Brian May and Dappy
Yo, yo

Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh, chicka bang bang
Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh, chicka bang bang

We Will Rock You

(live)

Dappy

, 2012. Brian plays guitar. Length 2:58.
This track was performed live as part of a Radio 1 'Live Lounge' Session, on Ferne Cotton's radio show on 27 February 2012.
Available on the deluxe CD and download versions of the 'Bad Intentions' album.
Details of the original version can be found on the 'News Of The World' album page.
Lyrics:
Brian: You alright?
Dappy: Yeah

Hey
Hey

Yo
Buddy you're a boy make a big noise
Playing in the street gonna be a big man some day
You got mud on your face
You big disgrace
Kicking your can all over the place
Singing

We will, we will, rock you, so we tell 'em
We will, we will, rock you

Yo, I was just a little boy in a grown man's game
Thought I was the man in my iced out chain
I have blood on my chains, fistful of pains
'Till my mum come and put me right back in my place

Singing
She will, she will, rock you, she can have you all, she's hard
She will, she will, rock you

Yo, by now you should have heard of me
'Cos I'm too sick for surgery
My name's been ringing bells from (unknown lyric) to Mercury
Not saying that I'm Freddie
May my brother rest in peace
Tell her majesty the Queen
Brian's staying here with me
Singing

We will, we will, rock you, so we tell 'em
We will, we will, rock you, so we tell 'em
We will, we will, rock you, so we tell 'em
We will, we will, rock you, so we tell 'em
Yeah

I told you I could sing
So we tell 'em
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Legendary Mr Brian May
Dappy
New fire in the black, ha, ha
We're taking over this yeah, Ferne
Ah, yo

Yo
We will, we will, rock you, so we tell 'em
We will, we will, rock you, so we tell 'em
We will, we will, rock you, so we tell 'em
We will, we will, rock you, so we tell 'em
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so we tell 'em
We will, we will, rock you
Ow, ow, ow, yeah
Blah
I saved your lifeline

Out Of The Darkness

Jon Tiven & Stephen Kalinich

, 2012. Brian plays guitar. Length 7:41.
Available on the album 'Yo Ma Ma - Symptomology' only.
Lyrics:
Out of the void
A voice will be heard
That speaks with silence
Does not use a word

Revelation
Hard count and fast
Clinging to feelings that
Never last

Out of the tragic
And the absurd
Out of the darkness
A light will emerge

What once were problems
All will be solved
Life is fleeting
Soon it is all dissolved

A lonely drummer
Eternally plays
The sound of percussion
Cuts through the maize

Out of the darkness
A stone cold concrete
Finds it's own rhythm
Within the beat

To know there is
No final solution
That is the meaning
To ask for no resolution

It is all just a projection
Of yourself
Soon to become
Something else

Out of the darkness
Everything will grow
And that is more
Than one ever needs to know

Out of the darkness

Out of the darkness
Out of the darkness
Out of the darkness
Out of the darkness

Out of the darkness
A voice will be heard
Out of the darkness
A life will emerge

School's Out

(live)

Alice Cooper

, 2012. Brian plays guitar. Length 4:06.
Recorded live at The Sunflower Superjam at the Royal Albert Hall, London, England, on 16 September 2012.
Available on 'The Sunflower Superjam' download, double DVD and CD+DVD sets only.
Musicians:
Alice Cooper (vocals)
Brian May (guitar)
Micky Moody (guitar)
John Paul Jones (bass)
Ian Paice (drums)
Brian Auger (keyboards)
Wix Wickens (keyboards)
Lyrics:
Well, we've got no choice
All you girls and boys
Making all that noise
'Cos you've found new toys

Well, we can't salute you
Can't find a flag
If that don't suit you
That's a drag, sing it

(School's out for summer)
School's out forever
School's been blown to pieces

No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's
Dirty looks, oh yeah

Well, we got no class
And we got no principles
We ain't got no intelligence
We can't even think of a word that rhymes, sing it to me

(School's out for summer)
(School's out forever)
School's been blown to pieces

No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's
Dirty looks

Out for summer
Out till fall
We might not come back
Go get 'em Brian

- for summer
School's out forever
School's been blown to pieces
My school's out completely

Alice: Woh, thank you, what a band. Taking these guys on tour with me.

Black Night

(live)

Bruce Dickinson

, 2012. Brian plays guitar. Length 6:51.
Recorded live at The Sunflower Superjam at the Royal Albert Hall, London, England, on 16 September 2012.
Available on 'The Sunflower Superjam' download, double DVD and CD+DVD sets only.
Musicians:
Bruce Dickinson (vocals)
Brian May (guitar)
John Paul Jones (bass)
Ian Paice (drums)
Brian Auger (keyboards)
Wix Wickens (keyboards)
Lyrics:
Bruce: You'll be seeing more of them, let's hear a big hand for the house band, alright, they're a, they are a, they are departing, we've got Mr, Mr Ian Paice coming in here on the drums, over there we have, trying to hide in the, in the long grass, find it very difficult, Mr Brian May on the guitar, and because we needed to know somebody who really knew what they were doing on a bass guitar, we've got Mr John Paul Jones walking in at the side here. Somewhere, somewhere playing with Jon's organ, we have Mr Brian Auger. Now then

(Ad-libbed lyrics)
(Ad-libbed lyrics) hey
(Ad-libbed lyrics) you know what's coming next
(Ad-libbed lyrics) oh, fuck it, owwww
Ow, come on, play it now you mother, wow
Woh, yeah
You got it, come on

Black night, a black night
I don't feel so bright
I can't feel, you sit tight
Maybe I'll find on the way down the line
That I'm free, ow, free to be me, yeah, yeah
Black night is a long way from home
Hey

Oh
I don't want a tall tree
I don't want a rough sea
I can't fight, I can't see
Maybe I'll find on the way down the line
That I'm free, yeah, I'm free to be me, yeah, owww
Black night is a long way from home, yeah

Stop it

Oh

Owww, yeah

(Ad-libbed lyrics)
(Ad-libbed lyrics)

Black night, black night
I don't feel so bright
I can't feel, you sit tight
Maybe I'll find on the way down the line
That I'm free, yeah, free to be me, yeah, owww
Black night is a long way from home

Yeah
Yeah -
Yeah -
Audience: Yeah -
(Audience: Yeah -) that's two
(Audience: Yeah -) bit louder, that's three
(Audience: Yeah -) here we go, owww
Ba, ba, ba, ba, baaaa

Bruce: That's the end, Brian. Ooh, ohhh yeah, oh shut up.

Smoke On The Water

(live)

Bruce Dickinson

, 2012. Brian plays guitar. Length 7:21.
Recorded live at The Sunflower Superjam at the Royal Albert Hall, London, England, on 16 September 2012.
This track was performed as the all-star finale, so it also features Kerry Ellis, Alfie Boe, Mark King, Uli Jon Roth, Alice Cooper and others, mostly on backing vocals.
Available on 'The Sunflower Superjam' download, double DVD and CD+DVD sets only.
Bruce Dickinson also sings lead vocals on a studio version of this track, released by Rock Aid Armenia, which features Brian and Roger.
Musicians:
Bruce Dickinson (vocals)
Brian May (guitar)
Ian Paice (drums)
Micky Moody (guitar)
Brian Auger (keyboards)
Wix Wickens (keyboards)
John Paul Jones (cowbell)
Lyrics:
Bruce: Is this the right one? Hang on. Introducing, introducing Mr John Paul Jones on the cowbell (yeah). Mr Alfie Boe on the vocals (hey), bass guitar

We all came out to Montreux
By the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn't have much time

- Mothers
Were at the best place in town
Some stupid with a whale gun
Burned the place to the ground, yeah

Smoke on the water
A fire in the sky
Smoke on the water

It's burning down (hey)
They burn

They burned down the gambling house
It fell with an awful sound, ow
Funky Claude was running in and out
He was pulling kids out the ground, yeah

When it all was over
We had to find another place
Swiss time was running out
Seemed that we would lose the race, ohh
Sing it

Smoke on the water
A fire in the sky
Smoke on the water, hey

It's burning down
Guitar, come on, oww
Hey

There's one over there

There's one more
Yeah
Hey

Ow

We ended up at the grand hotel, yeah, it was empty, cold and bare
But the Rolling truck Stones lay just outside
They had a music band

With a few red lights, a few old beds
We made a place to sweat
No matter what we get out of this
I know, I know we'll never forget

Smoke on the water
A fire in the sky
Smoke on the water

It's burning down
Oww
Ba, ba, ba
Ba, ba, ba, ba
Yeah
Ow
Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah
Ooh, yeah, yeah
Owwww
Oww

Ooh, ba, ba, ba, ba, yeah
Ow

Yeah

Badger Swagger

Artful Badger

, 2013. Brian plays guitar and piano, and co-wrote the track. Length 4:21.
Brian wrote the chorus lyrics and the melody, and rapper Sonny Green wrote the rap vocals and verses.
The track was recorded to campaign against the badger cull, and released as a download only.
The video of the track features a few seconds of wind noise at the start, but is otherwise the same. It does not feature Brian.
Musicians:
Brian May - guitar and piano
Slash - guitar
Shara Nelson - vocals
Kerry Ellis - vocals
David Attenborough - spoken word
Sam Ritchie - brass arrangement
Sonny Green (SGB) - rap vocals
Rob Cass - producer and project initiator
Lyrics:
Yeah
We love the badgers and they matter to our nannas
Cameron where's your manners?
Why them cameras try scan us?
Some are sitting in a palace, champagne and scallops
Some are in the store house, begging for a package
We can't even manage
Killing all the badgers ain't gonna fix the damage
It is sinning and drastic
Like killing for plastic
Most are living brassic
We can't have this evil madness

Will you tell your grand kids the story of the badgers
In 40 years time, when they've all vanished
That you was too busy getting dizzy with a gadget
Sign the petition, get busy, and back it
Listen to the mission, see the vision and the tactic
This will make the difference 'cos I went and Rob Cass'd it
Abbey Road Studios, Artful Badger smacked it
Yeah, I wrote a banger 'cos with grammar I'm a captain

Some things are black and white
Come on we got to win this fight
Some things are wrong not right
So people gotta hold on tight

Some things are like dynamite
Got to make them see the light
Some things are black and white
Come on, fight the fight

Listen to my verse and words in the tune
It's all going down on the first of June
People gather round give your point of view
In the manor underground be the voice for you crew
Yeah, it matters now make a choice for the truth
You can't cull the badgers if you aint got the proof

NFU NFU
Death's bad karma for your revenue
NFU NFU
It's not a clever move, I think you better think it through
'Cos the inner city's gritty and we don't like the news
TB will be reduced by 16% even if every single badger is dead
So what's the effect, we're not impressed
All the scientists said that it doesn't make sense
Yet the killing goes ahead how do you sleep in your bed
Get off my badger or I will get vexed

Some things are black and white
Come on we got to win this fight
Some things are wrong not right
So people got to hold on tight

Some things are like dynamite
Gotta make them see the light
Some things are black and white
Come on, fight the fight

So the government instituted a major inquiry to establish, scientifically, the facts
That involved culling 11,000 badgers and the results by the government adviser to that independent scientific group were
That culling is not a viable policy option
Is not a viable policy option
Not a viable policy option
That culling is not a viable policy option

Black and white
Win this fight
Wrong not right
Hold on tight

Dynamite
See the light
Black and white
Come on, come on

Some things are black and white
Come on we got to win this fight
Some things are wrong not right
So people got to hold on tight

Some things are like dynamite
Gotta make them see the light
Some things are black and white
Come on, fight the fight

The Badger

Virginia McKenna

, 2013. Brian composed the backing track and plays keyboards. Length 3:37.
This track is a poem, written by Richard Bonfield and read by Virginia McKenna, with a very simple atmospheric keyboard backing track.
The track was available free via Youtube only.
Dialogue:
This poem, Badgers, was written especially for Brian May by Richard Bonfield, Born Free's poet in residence. He wrote it in September 2013.

There is of course, the scientific badger, that lives inside a thesis
And looks out of a mullioned window, his glass eyes staring from a glass case
And then, away across the snowy fields, there is the badger in the wild wood
Who has ham hocks hanging from smoke blackened rafters
And a gruff but kindly manner, to all carol singing dormice

And then, there is the badger of my own imagination, the snow plough of the stars
Who lives his life against the constellations, waxing as we are waning
Arriving as we are departing, developing in a shaft of (unknown) moonlight
Just behind the Cottingley fairies and Bottom's rude mechanicals
As he shuffles across the ardent stage clattering amongst the (unknown) shrouded arc lights

He has been with us since the skirts of the last ice age departed
And before this, he lived alongside Boxgrove man
We are entwined, as the roots of the greenwood, he goes with the territory
His address can be found in Doomsday, Mr Brock of Brackendale
Seventh wednesdays scratched in runes on his (unknown) hill door

He is part of our landscape, just as much as the woods and the weather
And lives in his inverted stately home which is always being added to or subtracted from
Depending on window taxes and high interest loans

Facing us, he's carved from the night, like a Celtic totem in the chalk
A face drawn with sparklers, a living buick woodcut, dreaming from the darkness
To the badger, the moon is a silver sun, the arc light of his silverscreen world
Where all is fifty shades of grey and smell reveals the light of day
The night tracks through the summer hay, the mist (unknown) of the bluebell way

If we could eavesdrop on his world, and watch the badger's life unfurl
We'd find that family is the thing, and burrowing and tunnelling
Spaghetti loops for every meal and peanuts which they love to steal
That play is central to a life whose backdrop is the starry night
That love is acting centre stage, oblivious of mankind's rage
Which would deny the badger's life and make of him a greenwood Christ
By hanging him upon a tree for all his trumped up perfidy

Be thankful then that he has friends
Who work to make this torture end
And let the badger's family be
Beneath the spreading chestnut tree

Last Horizon / Guitar Solo

(live)

Rick Wakeman

, 2014. Brian plays guitar. Length 11:04.
Recorded live at the Starmus Festival, at the Magma Art & Congress Centre, Tenerife, Spain, on 26 September 2014.
Available on the DVD 'Starmus'.
This track features a guitar introduction (2:36), followed by the start of 'Last Horizon' (2:08), a guitar solo (4:43), and the final part of 'Last Horizon' (1:37).
Details of the original version of 'Last Horizon' can be found on the 'Back To The Light' album page, while details of other guitar solos can be found on the Live Solos & Improvisations page.

'39

(live)

Rick Wakeman

, 2014. Brian plays guitar and sings lead vocals. Length 3:31.
Recorded live at the Starmus Festival, at the Magma Art & Congress Centre, Tenerife, Spain, on 26 September 2014.
Available on the DVD 'Starmus'.
Details of the original version can be found on the 'A Night At The Opera' album page.
Dialogue and Lyrics:
Brian: Oh. It's um, it's great to see all you wonderful Starmus people again, and wonderful to have the privilege of playing with this incredible, incredible outfit, I've gotta say, and um, led by, without a doubt, probably the greatest rock keyboard player ever, Mr Rick Wakeman. In fact, not even probably. Now, I wrote this song, er, which I'd like to play to you now, um, something very different, I wrote it about 1976 in the days when I believed it was a good idea for us to, er, reach out into space and spread our seed, now I've seen what a, now I've seen what a horrible job we've made of, of this planet, I'm not quite so sure, but um, this is a song about um, a spaceship, which er, oh you know it, maybe alright. It's about a spaceship, I, I mean to you I don't have to explain Einstein's general relativistic clock paradox, do I? I was kind of, you, I do? Ha, ha, ha. OK well the general idea, general idea, is um, that if you go for a very long journey into space, and you go at speeds close to the speed of light, very, very strange non-Euclidean things happen, you get heavier, and um, and distances appear to be distorted, and most importantly of all, time is different for you than it is for people at home, so suppose these astronauts, suppose we as astronauts go off, in search of new lands, and er, we travel very close to the speed of light, by the time we get back, we may feel that we are only a year older, but on planet Earth, it may be that a hundred years has passed, and I fell to thinking what would that be like, it would be like a time traveller, because you would come back, and you wouldn't find any of your loved ones, so that's what I'd like you to be thinking when we're singing this song. But I would love you to stamp and clap if you want, and it has a kind of catchy chorus, and we're gonna need all the help we can get, ladies and gentlemen. It's called '39', and you'd better help us.

Brian: Yeah, clapping is great, thank you. Yeah

Yeah

In the year of '39 assembled here the volunteers
In the days when lands were few
And the ship sailed out into the blue and sunny morn
The sweetest sight ever seen

And the night followed day
And the story tellers say
That the score brave souls inside
For many a lonely day sailed across the milky seas
Ne'er looked back, never feared, never cried

Don't you hear my call though you're many years away
Don't you hear me calling you
Write your letters in the sand
For the day I take your hand
In the land that our grandchildren knew

Yeah, we got home

In the year of '39 came a ship in from the blue
The volunteers came home that day
And they bring good news of a world so newly born
Though their hearts so heavenly weigh
For the earth is old and grey, little darling went away
But my love this cannot be
So many years have gone though I'm older but a year
Your mothers eyes from your eyes cry to me

Come on
Yeah, hear my call though you're many years away
Don't you hear me calling you
Write your letters in the sand
For the day I take your hand
In the land that our grandchildren knew

Don't you hear my call though you're many years away
Don't you hear me calling you
All your letters in the sand
Cannot heal me like your hand
For my life still ahead
We'll be rocking here in a Tenerife
Yeah
Woh, ooh, oooh, yes we will

Rick Wakeman: The one and only Mr Brian May
Brian: You're very kind, I'll see you a little later, thank you

Starship Trooper

(live)

Rick Wakeman

, 2014. Brian plays guitar. Length 17:32.
Recorded live at the Starmus Festival, at the Magma Art & Congress Centre, Tenerife, Spain, on 26 September 2014.
Available on the DVD 'Starmus'.
Brian appears on the track from around 12:08 onwards, while the track is instrumental from 6:45 onwards.
This track was originally recorded by Yes and released on their 1971 album 'The Yes Album'.
Lyrics:
Oooh
Shine wings forward to the sun
Hide your mystery of life on your way
Though you've seen them, please don't say a word
What you don't know, I have never heard

Starship trooper, go sail on by
Catch my soul, catch the very light
Use as much as only you can show
Though you've seen them, please don't say a word
What you can't see, can't be very whole

Mother life, hold firmly on to me
Catch my knowledge higher than the day
Lose as much as only you can show
Though you've seen them, please don't say a word
What you don't know, I have never shown

Speak to me of summer
Of warm winters longer than time can remember
The setting up of other roads
To travel on in old accustomed ways
I still remember talks by the water
Proud sons and daughter
They knew the knowledge of the land
Spoke to me sweet accustomed ways

Mother life, hold firmly on to me
Catch my knowledge higher than the day
Use as much as only you can show
Though you've seen them, please don't say a word
What you don't know, I have never shown

Loneliness is a power that we possess to give or take away forever
All I know can be shown by your acceptance of the facts shown before you
Take what I say in a different way and it's easy to see that this is all confusion
As I see a new day in me, I can also show that you and you may follow

Mother life, hold firmly on to me
Catch my knowledge higher than the day
Lose as much as only you can show
Though you've seen them, please don't say a word
What you don't know, I have never shown

Speak to me of summer
Warm winters longer than time can remember
The setting up of other roads
To travel on in old accustomed ways
I still remember talks by the water
Proud sons and daughter
They knew the knowledge of the land
Spoke to me in sweet accustomed ways

God Only Knows

Brian Wilson & Various Artists

, 2014. Brian plays guitar. Length 2:25.
This track was recorded to promote the new BBC Music radio station, and was released to raise money for the Children In Need charity appeal. Brian briefly appears in the video to the track, which has orchestral warm-up noises at the start, extending the length to 2:46.
Musicians:
Elton John, Chris Martin, Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Dave Grohl, One Direction, Pharrell, Jamie Cullum, Sam Smith, Kylie Minogue, Chrissie Hynde, Emeli Sande, Paloma Faith, Lorde, Florence Welch, Eliza Carthy, Jake Bugg, Jaz Dhami, Baaba Maal and Danielle de Niese (vocals)
Brian May (guitar)
Brian Wilson and Jools Holland (piano)
Nicola Benedetti and Katie Derham (violin)
Stevie Wonder (harmonica)
Alison Balsom (piccolo trumpet)
Lyrics:
I may not always love you
But as long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
I'll make you so sure about it
God only knows what I'd be without you

If you should ever leave me
Though life would still go on believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would living do me
God only knows what I'd be without you

La, la, la, la, la, la

God only knows what I'd be without you
(God only knows what I'd be without you)
God only knows what I'd be without you
(God only knows what I'd be) god only knows
God only knows what I'd be without you
(God only knows what I'd be) god only knows
God only knows what I'd be without you
(God only knows what I'd be) god only knows
God only knows what I'd be without you
(God only knows what I'd be) god only knows
God only knows what I'd be without you

God only knows what I'd be without you

Lucy

Adam Lambert

, 2015. Brian plays guitar. Length 3:26.
Available on the album 'The Original High'.
Full details of this track can be found on the Adam Lambert songs page.

The Devil

Motörhead

, 2015. Brian plays guitar. Length 2:54.
Available on the album 'Bad Magic'.
Lyrics:
What is it you're looking for?
I don't think you will ever find the gold
What got your curiosity?
My name is on the list of places you should never know

The devil he looks at you
The devil steals your breath
You'll never know the law
Go, look into the face of death

Are we still talking now?
I know you'll never tell another soul
Is it a catastrophe?
Be my friend and tell me what nobody else should know

The devil knows you now
The devil will break your neck
Nobody will hear you call
Go, stare into the face of death
Come on

If you speak I'm out of here
I don't know you, how can that be so?
If you want, I'll be sincere
Speak my name and I will tell you everything I know

The devil seeks your soul
The devil see what you get
Abandon all hope now
Go, look into the face of death
Right now

Rude Awakenings

Jon Tiven & Stephen Kalinich

, 2015. Brian plays guitar. Length 4:45.
Available on the album 'Each Soul Has A Voice'.
Lyrics:
As you slip through the infinities
In search of divinities
Wondering about what you will find
Willfully arrogant
Debilitation they don't honour it
What will it take, so many are not kind

It's a rude awakening
Salvation never comes
All the people who were promised
Live on crumbs

All the winos on the corner of broadway and somewhere
Have no-one there for them who care
No magic saviours dancing out of the sky
To rescue those abandoned, they are just left to die
Unless a human hears their cry, yeah

It's a rude awakening
Feels like a forsakening
A quickening, a quakening

We build the walls, we plant the trees
We create the cure to our own disease
We souls we search we do not always find
Sometimes we are blind

We do not know how to access
Hidden regions of the mind
We souls are strong, we souls are weak
Each one different, each one unique
We souls, we are the meek
Tell me what do you seek

'Cos it's a rude awakening, a quakening
Feels like a forsakening

Can we do anything to change this reality
There is something missing that we do not see
It takes more than holding hands
You have to respond in ways that our peace understands

It's a rude awakening
Salvation never comes
All the people who were promised
Live on crumbs

It's a rude awakening
It's a rude awakening
Feels like a forsakening
It's a rude awakening
A cruel quakening
Obsession

It's a rude awakening
A pound of dirt
A rumour nakening
It's a rude awakening, yeah
It's a rude awakening
A rude awakening
It's a rude awakening
It's a rude awakening

Going Down

Leslie West

, 2015. Brian plays guitar. Length 4:14.
This track, and versions released under the names of Don Nix in 2006 and Troy Turner in 2010, share the same backing track, please see the Don Nix entry for details of the differences.
Available on the album 'Soundcheck'.
Lyrics:
Yeah, yeah

I'm going down
Down, down, down, down, down
I'm going down
Down, down, down, down, down
I got my big feet in the window
My head down on the ground

I'm going down
Close that boxcar down, yeah baby
I'm going down
Slam that boxcar down, baby
I'm going back to tell a new girl
My head down on the ground, baby

I'm going down
Down, down, down, down, down
I'm going down
Down, down, down, down, down
I got my big feet in the window
My head down on the ground

One Voice

Various Artists

, 2015. Brian sings backing vocals, plays electric guitar, and possibly acoustic guitar.
This track was released in the USA only in April 2016, as a download and a 12" single for Record Store Day. It features Brian, Norah Jones, Aimee Mann, Susanna Hoffs, Lydia Loveless, Neko Case and Kathryn Calder.
The song was also recorded by Brian with Kerry Ellis, and released as a single in 2015, and full details are available on the 'Golden Days' songs page.
According to comments from Brian, this version was recorded before the version with Kerry Ellis, but was released a year later.
Available Versions:
1. Single Version (3:50) (available on the download and the 12" single)
2. Acoustic Version (3:28) (available on the download and the 12" single; this loses some of the introduction, instead starting with the acoustic guitar at 0:21, but contains the full lyrics)
3. Instrumental Version (4:09) (available on the download and the 12" single; this is a complete instrumental, with no lyrics at all; the longer time is made up of a few extra piano notes, followed by a guitar crescendo)
Lyrics:
This is the sound of one voice
One spirit, one voice
The sound of one who makes a choice
This is the sound of one voice
This is the sound of one voice

This is the sound of voices two
The sound of me singing with you
Helping each other to make it through
This is the sound of voices two
This is the sound of voices two

This is the sound of voices three
Singing together in harmony
Surrendering to the mystery
This is the sound of voices three
This is the sound of voices three

This is the sound of all of us
Singing with love and the will to trust
Leave the rest behind it'll turn to dust
This is the sound of all of us
This is the sound of all of us

This is the sound of one voice
One people, one voice
A song for every one of us
This is the sound of one voice
This is the sound of one voice
This is the sound of one voice

The Highland Road

Craig Weir & The Cabalistic Cavalry

, 2017. Brian speaks a line in the poem. Length 4:51.
This track features a poem, lasting 2:03, which is read by 21 people, followed by a fast paced song, lasting 2:48. Brian speaks the final two lines of the poem, 'and we alone shall know it, when we walk the highland road'.
Craig Weir performed a bagpipe introduction to 'We Will Rock You' at the 'Queen + Adam Lambert Rock Big Ben Live' concert on 1 January 2015.
Lyrics:
Beyond bracken
And mauve misted heather
Beyond the sheeting rain
Sleet squall power of the weather

Below snowy capped peaks
Bonny banks and brays
Below mighty Munros
And dewy morning haze

Beneath glacier scoured granite
Magic moors and glens
Beneath (unknown lyric)
And lofty clouded bends

Buried in the blood soaked sod of Culloden
And in the peat sodden ghosts of Flodden Field
The king of countless pipes, the rat-a-tat-tat of a million drums
Awake the sleeping giant

Scotland awakes and deep in her core
A scarlet lion rampant on a field of gold doth roar
Eminating from the depths of ancient hills
The voice of a thousand poets, the notes of a thousand songs

Her story, her glory to which we all belong
In the firmament boils the Caledonian cauldron
Igniting the passion, fuelling the soul
Her mystery, her history
Her unique and precious code

And we alone shall know
When we walk the highland road
And we alone shall know it
When we walk the highland road
And we alone shall know
When we walk the highland road
And we alone shall know it
When we walk the highland road
And we alone will know it
When we walk the highland road
And we alone shall know it
When we walk the highland road

Highland road, highland road
How you lead me to my home
Ah, your mystery, your history
A unique and precious code

Highland road, highland road
You allow me to be free
And you and I will know it
When we walk the highland road

Highland road, highland road
How you lead me to my home
Ah, your mystery, your history
A unique and precious code

Highland road, highland road
You allow me to be free
And you and I will know it
When we walk the highland road

Together we will wander
Together we will roam
The highland road is calling us
Together now as one

Together we will wander
Together we will roam
Take my hand together now
And walk the highland road

That road, that road, that highland road
That road, that road, that highland road
That road, that road, that highland road
That road, that road, that highland road

Highland road, highland road
How you lead me to my home
Ah, your mystery, your history
A unique and precious code

Highland road, highland road
You allow me to be free
And you and I will know it
When we walk the highland road

Highland road, highland road
How you lead me to my home
Ah, your mystery, your history
A unique and precious code

Highland road, highland road
You allow me to be free
And we alone shall know it
When we walk the highland road
And you and I will know it
When we walk the highland road

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Artists For Grenfell

, 2017. Brian plays guitar and possibly sings backing vocals. Length 3:52.
This track was recorded to raise funds for The London Community Foundation, following the Grenfell Tower fire. It was released on 21 June 2017, reached no 1, and broke the 10 year record for opening day sales. It features vocals by James Arthur, James Blunt, Roger Daltrey, Craig David, Paloma Faith, Matt Goss, Tony Hadley, Geri Halliwell, Jessie J, Kelly Jones, Leona Lewis, Pixie Lott, Rita Ora, Emeli Sand?, Stormzy, Tulisa, Robbie Williams, Gareth Malone & The Choir for Grenfell, and the London Community Gospel Choir, plus many others, and features Brian, Nile Rodgers and Pete Townshend on guitar, and Tokio Myers on piano.
The track was recorded at Sarm Studios, London, but Brian recorded his parts in Los Angeles, California, on 18 June 2017, during rehearsals for the Queen + Adam Lambert North American tour.
The song was originally recorded by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, and was released as a single in 1970, reaching no. 1.
Lyrics:
Yeah, I don't know where to begin
So I'll start by saying I refuse to forget you
I refuse to be silenced
I refuse to neglect you
That's for every last soul up in Grenfell
Even though I've never even met you
Cuh that could've been my mum's house
Or that could've been my nephew
Now, that could've been me up there
Waving my white plain tee up there
With my friends on the ground trying to see up there
I just hope that you rest and you're free up there
I can't feel your pain but it's still what it is
Went to the block just to chill with the kids
Troubled waters come running past
I'm a be right there just to build you a bridge, yo

When you're weary
And feeling small
When tears are in
Your eyes
I will dry them all
I'm on your side
Oh, when times get rough
And friends just can't be found

Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

So much pain in my heart
My community's moving me
Choose to gleam as we're facing the dark

When you're down and out, mmm
When you're on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you
Yes, I will
I'll take your part
Ohh, when darkness comes, ohhh
And pain is all, all around

Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay, I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

We Are One

Jayce Lewis

, 2017. Brian plays guitar. Length 4:57.
Available on the album 'Million part I'.
This isn't a true collaboration, but instead features looped samples from Brian's 1998 solo track 'Cyborg'.
Lyrics:
We are one
I am here for
Dissemble the power
Into our law
You are not the glorious emperor
Call for all to run
To run

You are not the
You are not the
You are not the
You are not the
You want not one emperor

Wrong
I don't preach the law
You're all our feature and more
Wrong
I don't preach the law
You're all our feature and more

I am one

We are one
We have not all weakened from mass fear
Tell them all to run
Seen the last of your one true last measure
Seen it all

You are not the
You are not the
You are not the
You are not the
You want not one emperor

Wrong
I don't preach the law
You're all our feature and more
Wrong
I don't preach the law
You're all our feature and more

I am one

One

Wrong
I don't preach the law
You're all our feature and more
Wrong
I don't preach the law
You're all our feature and more

I am one

Twinkletoes

Rick Parfitt

, 2018. Brian plays guitar. Length 2:53.
Available on the album 'Over And Out'.
Lyrics:
When you find yourself alone and down
You can bet your life she'll be around
Listen to me, hear me when I say

When she appears it's a lovely sight
Spread her wings in a magical flight
She's so graceful in so many ways

Twinkletoes, twinkletoes
Where she comes from nobody knows
Twinkletoes, twinkletoes

Feel the fairy dust that's all around
She'll pick you up from the lost and found
Listen to me, hear me when I say

She'll arrive in the nick of time
Will get you straight, put you back in line
Oh she's lovely in so many ways

Twinkletoes, twinkletoes
Where she comes from nobody knows
Twinkletoes, twinkletoes

Twinkletoes, twinkletoes
Where she comes from nobody knows
Twinkletoes, twinkletoes

Twinkletoes, twinkletoes
Where she comes from nobody knows
Twinkletoes, twinkletoes

Twinkletoes
Twinkletoes
Twinkletoes

Blue On Black

Five Finger Death Punch featuring Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Brantley Gilbert, 2019. Brian plays guitar. Length 4:33.
Released as a download only. Brian also appears in the video to the track.
Another version of this track was released in 2018 on the 'And Justice For None' album, and also the 'A Decade Of Destruction, Vol. 2' compilation, but this does not feature Brian.

Lyrics:
Night falls and I'm alone
Skin, yeah, chill me to the bone
You turned and you ran, oh yeah
Woh, slipped right from my hands
Yeah

Blue on black
Tears on a river
Push on a shove
Don't mean much

Joker on jack
Match on a fire
Cold on ice
A dead man's touch

Whisper on a scream
Never change a thing
Doesn't bring you back
It's like blue on black

Blind, oh, but now I see
Truth, lies, and in between
Oh, wrong can't be undone, oh no
Well it slipped from the tip of your tongue
Come on, yeah

Blue on black
Tears on a river
Push on a shove
Don't mean much

Joker on jack
Match on a fire
Cold on ice
A dead man's touch

Whisper on a scream
Never change a thing
Doesn't bring you back
It's blue on black

Blue on black
Tears on a river
Push on a shove
It don't mean much

Blue on black
Tears on a river
Push on a shove
Don't mean much

Joker on jack
Match on a fire
Cold on ice
A dead man's touch

Whisper on a scream
Never change a thing
Doesn't bring you back
It's blue on black

Yeah, blue on black
Yeah, it's blue on black
Yeah, yeah, blue on black

You're The Voice

(live)

John Farnham, Olivia Newton-John and Mitch Tambo, 2020. Brian plays guitar. Length 4:59.
Recorded at the Fire Fight Australia concert, at the ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, on 16 February 2020.
Available on the Australian only 'Artists Unite For Fire Fight: Concert For National Bushfire Relief' album, alongside 'Hammer To Fall' by Queen + Adam Lambert.
Indigenous singer Mitch Tambo sings Aboriginal vocals in the middle of the track, which may be in the Gamilaraay language.

Lyrics:
John Farnham: This is Mitch Tambo, folks.

We have the chance to turn the pages over
We can write what we want to write
We gotta make ends meet, before we get much older

We're all someone's daughter
We're all someone's son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?
Sing it

You're the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear, oh, woah
We're not gonna sit in silence
We're not gonna live with fear, oh, woah

(Aboriginal lyrics for two verses and a chorus)

We're all someone's daughter
We're all someone's son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?

You're the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear, oh, woah
We're not gonna sit in silence
We're not gonna live with fear, oh, woah

You're the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear, oh, woah
We're not gonna sit in silence
We're not gonna live with fear, oh, woah

Get Up

Kings Daughters, 2020. Brian plays guitar, sings some backing vocals, co-wrote, and produced the track. Length 3:20.
Released as a download only. Brian appears briefly in the video to the track, which features some footage of his studio.

Lyrics:
You want change but you live the same life
You give up when you don't do things right
Ohhhh, ohhhh
You want friends, but you hide yourself away
You think love is so cliche
Ohhhh, ohhhh

Cultivate an attitude of gratitude
Believing in yourself 'cos you're the greatest
Smiling at the person right in front of you
Be proud of who you are, 'cos you made it

Can't you see thoughts become things
Don't let nobody bring you down
Mistakes are how you learn
Get up before you hit the ground

Woahhhh, hey, get up, get up
Woahhhh, hey, get up, get up
Woahhhh, hey, get up, get up
Woahhhh, hey, get up, get up

You're tired, so sick of being you
But you've got much more in life to do
Ohhhh
Woahhh

The world is such a big place
Go put that smile on your face
Ohhhh

Cultivate an attitude of gratitude
Believing in yourself 'cos you're the greatest
Smiling at the person right in front of you
Get up before you hit the ground

Woahhhh, hey, get up, get up
Woahhhh, hey, get up, get up
(Woahhhh) hey (hey, get up, get up)
Woahhhh, hey, get up, get up

Don't go down
Emotionally down
Don't go down
We'll fix that crown

One step at a time you'll feel stronger
Much stronger
Wipe your tears away, stay focussed, you're perfect
You're perfect

Cultivate an attitude of gratitude
Believing in yourself 'cos you're the greatest
Mistakes are how you learn
Get up before you hit the ground

(Woahhhh) hey (hey, get up, get up) yeah, yeah
Woahhhh, hey, get up, get up
(Woahhhh) ooh (hey, get up, get up) ooh, ooh
(Woahhhh) yeah (hey, get up, get up)

Don't go down
Emotionally down
Don't go down
Hey
(Woahhhh) ooh, ooh (hey, get up, get up)
(Woahhhh) ooh, ooh (hey, get up, get up)
(Woahhhh) get your feet right off the ground, yeah (hey, get up, get up)
Woahhhh

You gotta get up

Dancing In The Rain

Kings Daughters, 2020. Brian produced the track. Length 3:25.
Released as a download only.

Lyrics:
Laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa
Laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa
Laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa
Laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa

Thinking of you
Did I say I love you
It's harder in the morning, I'm hurting
But I've got to keep on moving

I feel like I should give up
I guess I miss you too much
But you taught me to be tough
So I gotta keep moving, moving

'Cos I believe in something and it's you
I believe that your love will pull me through

Everyday I look up to the sky
You're an angel, you're my guide
Everyday you're here by my side
No, I never give up, I never give up

You've got me dancing in the rain
You've got me dancing in the rain
Ohhh, ohh

Laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa
Laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa

I can't live without you but I know I've got to
It's like a tornado has torn right through me, yeah
There was no goodbye the day you left my life
But I feel you right beside me, yeah

'Cos I believe in something, sets me free
I believe that your love is here with me, yeah

Everyday I look up to the sky
You're an angel, you're my guide
Everyday you're here by my side
No, I never give up, never give up

You've got me dancing in the rain
You've got me dancing in the rain
Ohhh, ohh

Laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa
Laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa
Laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa
Laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa
(Laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa) ooh, ooh, na, na
(Laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa) wooh
(Laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa) ooh, ooh, na, na
(Laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa, laa) wooh

(Everyday I look up to the sky)
(You're an angel, you're my guide)
I've gotta make you feel by my side
No, I never give up, I never give up

You've got me dancing in the rain
You've got me dancing in the rain, I'm dancing
Got me dancing in the rain
You've got me dancing in the rain

I'm A Woman

Woman, 2020. Brian plays guitar and co-produced the track. Length 4:19.
The band Woman features Kerry Ellis and Mazz Murray, who both appeared in the London production of 'We Will Rock You', and fellow West End performers Gina Murray and Anna-Jane Casey.
The track was released for Breast Cancer Awareness Month to raise funds for Target Ovarian Cancer and The Caron Keating Foundation, originally as a download and then as a CD and 7" single. It was most famously recorded by Peggy Lee in 1962.
The track was produced by Brian and Steve Sidwell, and co-produced and enginereed by Justin Shirley-Smith and Kris Fredrikkson. Brian appears in the promo video, as well as a 2021 Bob Whitehill Edit, which was produced for International Women's Day, but they use the same audio as the single version, and the same video footage of Brian.
Brian previously performed the track with Woman at the 'Pinktober - Women Of Rock' concert in 2009.

Available Versions:
1. Single Version (4:19) (available on all singles)
2. Instrumental Version (4:19) (available on all singles)
Lyrics: (the instrumental version contains only the lyrics in red)
Yeah, yeah

I can wash out forty-four pairs of socks
And have them hanging on the line
I can starch and iron two dozen shirts
Before you can count from one to nine
I can scoop up a great big dipper full of lard
From the drippings can
Throw it on the skillet, go out do my shopping
And be back before it melts in the pan

'Cos I'm a woman
W-o-m-a-n
I'll say it again
Yes, I'm a woman
W-o-m-a-n

I can rub and scrub
This old house until it's shinin' like a dime
Feed the baby, grease the car
And powder my face at the same time
Get all dressed up
Go out and swing 'til 4 am and then
Lay down at 5, jump up at 6
And start all over again

I am a woman
W-o-m-a-n
I'll say it again
Woh, I'm a woman
W-o-m-a-n

If you come to me sickly
You know I'm gonna make you well
If you come to me hexed up
You know I'm gonna break the spell
You know, if you come to me hungry
Gonna fill you full of grits
And if it's lovin you're likin'
I'll kiss you and give you the shiverin' fits

'Cos I'm a woman

I can stretch a green backed dollar bill
From here to kingdom come
I can play the numbers, pay my bills
And still end up with some
I got a twenty dollar gold piece
Says there's nothing I can't do
I can make a dress out of a feed bag
And a man out of you

'Cos I'm a woman
(various vocals over each other)

Woman
Woman
'Cos I'm a woman
W-o-m-a-n

Woman