God Save My "Queen" - Softcover

Nester, Daniel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1887128271 ISBN 13: 9781887128278

Publisher: Soft Skull Press, 2003

Synopsis

God Save My Queen is a collection of lyrical essays drawing on a very unliterary source: the British rock band Queen. World famous in the 1970s for such songs as "We Will Rock You," "We Are The Champions," "Another One Bites The Dust," and "Bohemian Rhapsody," Queen’s music is embedded in our public consciousness, in our sports stadiums, in TV commercials, and Wayne’s World.
But it is a source of a deeper obsession for the author, poet and journalist Daniel Nester?in God Save My Queen, a short essay or riff accompanies, in order of album and track, every song recorded by the band, in chronological order, until its flopped "disco" album, 1982’s Hot Space. Part memoir, part prose poetry part rock book, Nester draws connections betwen everyone from Liza Minelli, Leni Riefenstahl, Billie Jean King, Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury sharing a kiss in 1981, even a rant on Courtney Love’s giggling over Kurt Cobain’s mention of Freddie Mercury in his suicide note. The entries for the songs add up to a love letter to a band, and a time when all that mattered was a record player and a pair of headphones.

About this title

Review

"Daniel Nester is a transcendent trickster."

Synopsis

One of Britain's best-loved bands of all time, the creators of such national anthems as "We Will Rock You", "We Are The Champions", "Another One Bites The Dust", and "Bohemian Rhapsody", Queen has embedded itself into our national consciousness. True stars of the 1970s, Queen's popularity has only grown with time, with "Bohemian Rhapsody" recently voted the UK's best single of all time, and the West End's current production of We Will Rock You, written by Ben Elton and produced by Robert De Niro, drawing packed audiences night after night. So Daniel Nester is clearly not alone in his adoration of this seminal band. And yet this lyrical collection of essays - one for every song recorded by the band in chronological order, from the 1973 debut through to Hot Space, their 1982 flopped "disco" album - is truly a unique creation. Part memoir, part prose poetry, part rock book, Nester draws connections between everyone from Liza Minelli and Leni Riefenstahl to Billie Jean King, touching on Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury's shared kiss in 1981 and ranting about Courtney Love's giggling over Kurt Cobain's mention of Freddie Mercury in his suicide note.

Together, the entries for each song add up to a love letter to a band and to a time when all that mattered was a record player and a pair of headphones.

Edition details

• Publisher: Soft Skull Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1887128271
• ISBN 13: 9781887128278
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 132