Two songs on my iPhone this morning at the gym that got me thinking. Two utterly different styles, yet their meaning could be very similar if taken out of their literal context and held up against the artists and their personal lives themselves…<\/p>\n

First up is Queen’s hard rockin’ Hammer to Fall<\/em>: <\/p>\n

\nWe don’t waste no time at all
\nDon’t hear the bell but you answer the call
\nIt comes to you as to us all
\nWe’re just waiting for the hammer to fall<\/p>\n

Oh, every night and every day
\nA little piece of me is falling away
\nBut lift your face the Western Way
\nBuild your muscles as your body decays
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rich or poor or famous
\nFor your truth it’s all the same
\nLock your door the rain is pouring
\nThrough your window pane
\nBaby now your struggle’s all in vain<\/strong><\/p>\n

What the hell we fighting for?
\nJust surrender and it won’t hurt at all
\nYou just got time to say your prayers
\nWhile you’re waiting for the hammer to fall<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Written in 1984 during the height of the Cold War by Brian May, it’s generally a song about fearing atomic war, really. But now, past the 99 Luftballonism, when it’s sung by Freddie Mercury it has a certain air of allusion and irony to how, in a few years time, he would succumb to AIDS (lyrics emphasis mine). <\/p>\n

The second song, written by Howard Ashman, called Human Again<\/em> for the musical Beauty and the Beast<\/em> is about a bunch of enchanted furniture wishing the spell that they’re under makes them uh… human again! But again, listening to the lyrics and overlaying it across Mr Ashman’s life (who wrote this song during the last stages of his fight with AIDS while holding out for new treatments. Unfortunately he died before seeing it on the screen) it turns into something more than cartoon folly:<\/p>\n

When I’m human again
\nSo sweep the dust from the floor!
\nLet’s let some light in the room!
\nI can feel, I can tell
\nSomeone might break the spell
\nAny day now!<\/p>\n

When we’re human again
\nOnly human again
\nWhen the girl fin’lly sets us all free
\nCheeks a-bloomin’ again
\nWe’re assumin’ again
\nWe’ll resume our long lost joie de vie
\nWe’ll be playin’ again
\nHoliday’ again
\nAnd we’re prayin’ it’s A-S-A-P
\nWhen we cast off this pall
\nWe’ll stand straight, we’ll walk tall
\nWhen we’re all that we were<\/strong>
\nThanks to him, thanks to her
\nComing closer and closer
\nAnd closer and…
\nWe’ll be dancing again!
\nWe’ll be twirling again!
\nWe’ll be whirling around with such ease
\nWhen we’re human again\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I found it odd that these two songs shuffled themselves next to each other. Like ghosts communicating to me through electronics. Thanks for the music, dead guys!<\/p>\n