Queen and Adam Lambert are currently on a world tour. The musicians also reminisce about old times. Recently in Dublin, Brian May shared a special moment between himself and Freddie Mercury.
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Brian May recalled recording Bohemian Rhapsody in 1975. The Queen guitarist said: “You know, one day Freddie had a big smile on his face when I came into the studio and he put a cassette in the player and he said, ‘Listen to that, darling. This will surprise you.’”
It was a handmade cassette of various of May’s guitar solos. The fact that May received the gift at a time when digital technology was not yet available and everything had to be painstakingly done by hand underscored the importance of the gift.
Back in 2021, May elaborated on the gift: “He’d spent all morning putting together all the guitar solos he could find in our work, and he’d lined them all up.”
He also expressed regret at the time that he did not know where the cassette was. “I never throw anything away. I’m a little hoarder,” May admitted. “So it should be somewhere. But Freddie was very proud of the things I did and the things we did together.”
It is known about Mercury that he liked to give gifts to his fellow human beings and did charitable work. Among other things, he paid for Christmas dinner for AIDS patients in the hospital. He also carried a small black book in which he wrote down his friends’ birthdays so that he would not forget any presents. Even as he lay dying in the fall of 1991, he continued this custom.