While Queen became a prominent band during the 1970s, guitarist Brian May never had the opportunity to work with John Lennon before his death.
Queen formed in 1970, the same year The Beatles disbanded. They released their debut album, Queen, in 1973 and received international fame with their 1975 album, A Night at the Opera. Their new level of fame gave them opportunities to collaborate with other bands and artists, leading to hits like “Under Pressure” with David Bowie, according to Showbiz.
While Queen lost Freddie Mercury when he died in 1991, May has had a long career as an acclaimed guitarist, working with many excellent musicians. In an interview with The Guardian, the guitarist said he rarely turns down an opportunity to work with other artists, and he would have loved to work with Lennon.
“I very seldom turn down a collaboration. A regret is that I didn’t get the chance to work with John Lennon,” May admitted. “The Beatles didn’t always agree, they were always pulling and pushing – a bit like us and Queen – and I think John would be such a stronger pusher and puller. You’d have to work really hard to keep up, to believe in your instincts. I could imagine us hitting it off.”
Freddie Mercury’s booming voice and energy also changed how eccentric a band’s performance could be. While May was in a legendary band, he still would have loved to have been a Beatle.
“I’m sure it wouldn’t have been easy to be a Beatle, but that incredible level of creativity, I would relate to,” May explained. “I watched a lot of Get Back. I got a bit sad watching the first one because it reminded me of us – sometimes Queen in the studio would be, ‘Here we are, and things aren’t quite fitting.’ I felt they were in quite a painful place – but the second one, I felt like they were really finding each other again. It’s a textbook of how to be in a studio. If it wasn’t the Beatles, it could’ve been Led Zeppelin. If they let me in.”
In a 2021 interview with NME, Queen’s guitarist revealed that Paul was on the top of his list of people he’d like to work with. He also said Queen used to have an inside joke that involved the ex-Beatle. (Showbiz)
we had a joke whenever the phone went, somebody would say: ‘Oh, it’s Paul McCartney for you’ and we’d say, ‘Tell him to f*** off!.’
“Not any disrespect to Paul – just a bravado thing because he’s like the Pope. When we were rehearsing for the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in London, the phone went and the message came back: ‘It’s Paul McCartney for you….‘”(Laughs).
NME asked May if they finally told Paul “to f*** off.” May replied they didn’t, of course.
“No, but it felt surreal,” he said. “He was phoning to wish us luck and say he was sad he couldn’t appear with us at that show, as I’m sat on a chair looking at Robert Plant, Tony Iommi, Roger Daltrey, and Seal.”
