Barcelona (Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé song): Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|1987 single by Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé}}

| B-side = "Exercises in Free Love" (3:58)

| length = {{plainlist|

* 4:28 {{small|(single version)}}

* 5:39 {{small|(album version, 1988)}}

* 7:04 {{small|(extended version)}}

| writer = {{flatlist|

| prev_title = [[The Great Pretender#Freddie Mercury's version|The Great Pretender]]

Mercury had been a long-time fan of opera, especiallyand favouringespecially Montserrat Caballé. In 1986, he mentioned on Spanish television that he would be gladlike to seemeet her, inand person.they Theymet hadfor a friendlythe initialfirst meetingtime in [[Barcelona]] in February 1987. Later, when the city had been chosen for the [[1992 Summer Olympics]], Caballé, a native of the city, was asked to help with producingproduce a song for the games. She summonedasked Mercury for theto taskcollaborate.<ref name=bbc1/> Caballé became enthusiastic about the project and instead of recording a single, she proposed to make an album, on which Mercury agreed.<ref>Freestone, p. 105</ref> The song "Barcelona", hadtheir to be itsproposed opening song, had to be completed by 1988, andin time to be submittedentered as a candidate for the 1992 Olympic theme. (the The selection was scheduled for 1988, four years before the Games).<ref>Freestone, p. 107</ref> The recording was complicated by Caballé's tight schedule. Thus; to spare hersave time, Mercury recorded the song, singing Caballé's part in [[falsetto]]. He would then send a tape to Caballé to prepare her for the joint studio sessions.<ref name=f108>Freestone, p. 108</ref>

The song has been described as a rare textbook example of a combination of pop and opera singing which accentuated their differences.<ref>{{cite book|author=John Shepherd|title=Continuum encyclopedia of popular music of the world: VolumeII: Performance and production|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pJvzEzjahkQC&pg=PA455|accessdateaccess-date=1 March 2011|date=27 February 2003|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-8264-6322-7|page=455}}</ref> Whereas Mercury articulates his every word, Caballé focuses on the tone; her lines are much harder to comprehend, and further, she uses both English and Spanish languages. Consequently, she keeps her part melodic throughout all the song at the expense of the text, whereas Mercury has to resort from singing to nearly shouting at the [[crescendo]] part in order to deliver his words.<ref>{{cite book|author=John Potter|authorlinkauthor-link=John Potter (musician)|title=Vocal Authority: Singing Style and Ideology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=las-bpkbnIIC&pg=PA188|accessdateaccess-date=1 March 2011|date=2 November 2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-02743-4|pages=188–189}}</ref> Mercury was reportedly amazed by the legendary ability of Caballé to control her voice; for example, in the fadeout, heMercury had to stepmoves away from the microphone to decrease his voicevocal intensitydynamic, whereas sheMontserrat didn'trelies moveon ather allclassical training to decrease the dynamic.<ref>Freestone, p. 109</ref>

In October 1987, the official [[music video]] was released, directed by [[David Mallet (director)|David Mallet]], who had collaborated with [[Queen (band)|QuennQueen]] withon their previous videos. In[[Mike 2019Moran original(music producer)|Mike Moran]], who co-wrote the song, appears in the video shotconducting onthe 35orchestra with a light stick; he is often wrongly confused with [[Brian May]], mostly due to their almost identical haircuts. In 2019, the original 35&nbsp;mm film was scanned and digitally remastered, now available in stunninginto 4K resolution.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/freddie-mercury-barcelona-video/|title=Watch New 4K Version Of Freddie Mercury’sMercury's ‘Barcelona’'Barcelona' Video|date=2 November 2019 |publisher=udiscovermusic.com|accessdateaccess-date=2 November 2019}}</ref>

*[[Freddie Mercury]]: [[lead– vocals]], and [[backing vocals]]arrangements

*[[Montserrat Caballé]]: lead vocals and backing– vocals

*[[Mike Moran (music producer)|Mike Moran]]: [[synthesizer]]s– keyboard, programming, arrangements

*Homi Kanga: [[– violin]]

*[[Laurie Lewis]]: – violin

*Deborah Ann Johnston: [[violoncello]]– cello

The song was first performed live in May 1987, at the [[Ibiza]] festival, held at the Ku nightclub (now [[Privilege Ibiza]], the "world's largest nightclub").<ref>Freestone, p. 126</ref>

Its next important performance occurred on 8 October 1988, at the open air La Nit festival in Barcelona, which was staged on the occasion of the arrival of the Olympic flag from [[Seoul]]. Together, Mercury and Caballé sang three tracks from the forthcoming album ''Barcelona'', namely "Barcelona", "How Can I Go On" and "The Golden Boy".<ref>Freestone, p. 127</ref><ref>[http://www.hotshotdigital.com/WellAlwaysRemember/FreddieMercuryBio.html Freddie Mercury Biography]. hotshotdigital.com. Retrieved on 2011-03-01.</ref> This was the last live performance by Mercury, who was already beginning to suffer from AIDS.<ref>[http://www.freddie.ru/e/bio/ Freddie Mercury: biography]. Freddie.ru. Retrieved on 2011-03-01.</ref> He died in 1991, so the recording of the song was played over a travelogue of the city at the start of the international broadcast of the [[1992 Summer Olympics opening ceremony|opening ceremony]] of the [[1992 Summer Olympics]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdksitehDJ8 |title=Barcelona 92: inicio de la ceremonia |publisher=YouTube |access-date= |accessdate=2011-03-23}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://hemeroteca.elmundodeportivo.es/preview/1992/07/20/pagina-16/1266027/pdf.html|title=La ceremonia de inauguración|accessdateaccess-date=2011-07-24|work=[[El Mundo Deportivo]]|date=1992-07-20}}</ref>

Prior to the start of the [[1999 UEFA Champions League Final]] between [[Manchester United F.C.]] and [[FC Bayern Munich]] held at the [[Camp Nou]] stadium in Barcelona, Caballé performed "Barcelona" live, accompanied withby a recording byof Mercury, who also appeared on the stadium's electronic screen.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3818793 Queen's Greatest Hits 3], [[BBC]], 22 March 2005</ref>

! Chart (19881987–1988)

{{singlechartsingle chart|Ireland2|8|artist=Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caball|accessdate=6 October 2018}}

{{singlechartsingle chart|Dutch100|37|artist=Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé|song=Barcelona|accessdate=6 October 2018}}

{{singlechartsingle chart|Sweden|15|artist=Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé|song=Barcelona|accessdate=6 October 2018}}

| [[UK Singles Chart|UK Singles]] ([[Official Charts Company|OCC]])<ref name=ofc/>

{{singlechartsingle chart|Australia|42|artist=Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé|song=Barcelona|accessdate=6 October 2018}}

{{singlechartsingle chart|Flanders|21|artist=Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé|song=Barcelona|accessdate=6 October 2018}}

{{singlechartsingle chart|France|6|artist=Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé|song=Barcelona|accessdate=6 October 2018}}

{{singlechartsingle chart|Ireland2|2|artist=Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caball|accessdate=6 October 2018}}

{{singlechartsingle chart|Dutch100Dutch40|2|artistyear=Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé1992|songweek=Barcelona35|accessdate=63 OctoberDecember 20182021}}

{{singlechart|Newsingle Zealandchart|Dutch100|2|artist=Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé|song=Barcelona|accessdate=6 October 2018}}

{{singlechartsingle chart|Sweden|12|artist=Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé|song=Barcelona|accessdate=6 October 2018}}

{{singlechartsingle chart|SwissSwitzerland|8|artist=Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé|song=Barcelona|accessdate=6 October 2018}}

| [[UK Singles Chart|UK Singles]] ([[Official Charts Company|OCC]])<ref name=ofc>{{cite news |title=Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé: Chart History |url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/24560/freddie-mercury-and-montserrat-caballe/ |accessdateaccess-date=6 October 2018 |publisher=[[Official Charts Company]]}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align:center"

! scope="col"| Chart (20181992)

*{{cite book |author1=Freestone, Peter |author2=Evans, David |lastauthorampname-list-style=yesamp |title=Freddie Mercury: An Intimate Memoir by the Man who Knew Him Best|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AH8zZsbmB98C&pg=PA119|year=2001|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn= 978-0-7119-8674-9}}

[[Category:MultilingualMacaronic songs]]