Credits

• Written by: Brian May and Freddie Mercury
• Produced by: Queen, David Richards, Justin Shirley-Smith, and Joshua J. Macrae
• Musicians:

Freddie Mercury - lead vocals, keyboards (?), drum machine

Brian May - guitars, lead vocals (final verse), keyboards

John Deacon - bass guitar

Roger Taylor - drums

• Length: 4:49

Discography

Albums:

Made In Heaven, 1995

Singles:

• None

Alternate Versions:

• 1991 Brian May / Roger Taylor Vocal Demos - Unreleased
• 1998 eYe Instrumental 4:46 Edit - Electronic Arts DDE05501 101S
• 1998 eYe/CD Hybrid Full Version - Unreleased

Additional Information

• The last song that Freddie sang. Brian and Roger took turns singing their own verses, since Freddie wasn't able to complete the song before his death. Justin Shirley-Smith effectively put to rest the debate of when Freddie's last vocal take occurred, in a post on Queenzone.com:

The tape-box label in question is Reel #7 and is dated "13-5-91". The second item on this tape is "Mother Love (Original)". This leads me to believe that work on Mother Love was not started before that date.

The track sheet for "Mother Love (Original)" shows that Freddie sang a number of takes and includes detailed notes about each take. For example: "FM v1 + Mid8 + v2" and "FM mid8 + v2 + whisper Mother Love" and "FM Mid8 last line" etc. There is also a Brian vocal track. There is no date on this track-sheet. The instrumentation at this stage is just drum-machine, keyboard and three takes of guitar.

The next version is "Mother Love New Master" on Reel #6. This version clearly started as a copy (digital clone) of "original".

The track sheet for "Mother Love New Master" is dated "16-5-91". This track-sheet shows all the same vocal takes with the same detailed notes copied through. The only differences are in the instrumentation: drum-machine, keyboard, guitar (Take 1 only - incidentally the same as in the final mix), bass and "Hi Note"[synth]. The one remaining difference is "Vox Comp" instead of "Brian Vocal". The fact that all the vocal takes were copied over with exactly the same distinctive notes leads me to believe Freddie had recorded these vocals on, or before, 16th May 1991.

The next version is "Mother Love (Master 2) New Arrange" on Reel #2. This version clearly started as a copy (digital clone) and edit of "New Master".

The track sheet for "Mother Love (Master 2) New Arrange" is dated "22-5-91". The track-sheet contents are all identical to "New Master".

The last stereo rough-mix tape from these sessions is dated "22-5-91" and contains Mother Love.

I can find no evidence of any work on Mother Love after the 22nd May 1991.

• The final segment apparently features one snippet of every Queen song officially released, sped up, plus a sample of Goin' Back.

Chords & Tabs

• chords

Lyrics