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  Matthew J. Kaplan
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​Somebody to Love - 1976

5/28/2025

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Written by Freddie Mercury
Recorded by Queen

 
Somebody to Love is an overwhelmingly brilliant song. I was a bit intimidated to write about a masterpiece like this, but here we are, so let’s jump in! Firstly, this song is about one’s desperate search for love. But it’s also a song about questioning one’s faith. While I try not to look too deep into the author’s life, in this case, I think it’s important to consider that this song was written from the perspective of a gay man, and his search for love carries many more challenges – as does keeping one’s faith according to the restrictive guidelines of traditional religions.
 
We learn that our narrator is extremely depressed. He feels like death every morning, can hardly get out of bed, and cries when he looks at himself in the mirror. He tries so hard to be a man of faith, but he feels betrayed by his God:
 
Lord, what you're doing to me?
I have spent all my years in believin' you
But I just can't get no relief, Lord
 
God has not delivered, and despite his unwavering faith and hard work, by nighttime, his prayers are still left unanswered. Feeling abandoned by God, he shouts, “Can anybody find me somebody to love?”
 
And then we get to this marvelous bridge. John Deacon’s bass leads the way into the bridge and keeps things fun throughout, as the protagonist once again informs us that he works hard - but still, he gains no support from those around him. Instead, he’s met with criticism, insults and accusations about his mental state:
 
Everybody wants to put me down
They say I'm going crazy
They say I got a lot of water in my brain
I got no common sense
I got nobody left to believe
 
But he’s not crazy, he’s exhausted by society’s treatment, and the bridge is his time to express this. Our protagonist feels forsaken and alone, and nothing mirrors this more beautifully than Brian May’s guitar solo that brings us from bridge back to verse.
 
The outpouring of emotions during the bridge has served him well. With his pain expressed, he's once again grounded enough to look back towards the heavens. While he still feels a bit out of step with this world, he’s ok, he’s alright, and with the help of his Maker, he assures us that he will shake off the constraints of society and find the love he deserves:

I ain't gonna face no defeat
I just gotta get out of this prison cell
One day I'm gonna be free, Lord!

 
Mercury revisited this theme a year later with the classic, “We Are The Champions,” a song that, in addition to being a sports arena classic, is about the struggles of surviving in a homophobic world. While “Somebody To Love” introduces the metaphor of the prison cell, in “Champions,” he's finally free after he’s completed his sentence, despite having committed no crimes. And while he declared he wouldn’t face defeat in “Somebody,” he was still alone in his fight. By the time we get to the 1977 single, “I” has grown to “we,” and this former prisoner is now among champions. I’m hoping that this champion found his somebody to love.

-MJK
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Sweet Talking Guy - 1966

5/15/2025

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Written by Barbara Baer, Elliot Greenberg, Doug Morris and Robert Schwartz
Recorded by The Chiffons

 
In a hurry? Do you like short bridges? This might be the shortest! Let’s get right to it!
 
We start with our protagonist warning her fellow ladies that this Sweet Talking Guy is nothing but a lying, cheating player, and if you fall for his sweet lies, all you’ll get is hurt. Sure, he’ll romance you, but keep in mind that “he'll send you flowers and paint the town with another girl.”
 
This all seems like good advice – such good advice that you’d assume she knows enough to stay away, but by the end of the second chorus, she declares that “he's my kind of guy.” Hmm. Is she ignoring her own good advice? Or is the talk just too sweet to resist? Let’s see what she has to say in the bridge:
 
Why do I love him like I do?
 
I knew it, the talk is just too sweet to resist! She can’t help herself. At least she’s honest about it. I respect that. And I love this succinct, confessional, breakdown-style bridge. Once again, the bridge has illuminated a side to our protagonist unavailable elsewhere in the song.
 
While “Sweet Talking Guy” remains in rotation on the Oldies stations, The Bronx’s The Chiffons scored even bigger hits with “He’s So Fine” and “One Fine Day.” And both of these fine songs have fantastic bridges. Perhaps we’ll cover those soon – until then, talk sweet to me! 

-MJK
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