Bijou

In *Bijou*, Brian May's guitar takes center stage. It's a track where the main instrument doesn't just accompany, but narrates. The idea behind this piece, as it's said, was to build it "from the inside out", with the guitar carrying the structure of the verses and a vocal part acting as a break. Freddie Mercury contributed the title idea, the harmony, and the lyrics, and alongside May worked on the guitar parts. Mercury recorded the first vocal line, and later May transferred that melody to his Red Special guitar, achieving an instrumental dialogue reminiscent of the games and skills shown in *Brighton Rock* from the 1974 album *Sheer Heart Attack*. The duration in the CD version is considerably longer than in the cassette and LP versions, mainly due to Brian May's guitar solos, which become more extensive.

The recording of *Bijou* took place between March 1989 and November 1990, as part of the album *Innuendo*, released in February 1991. This album, produced by David Richards and Queen, was the last studio work published during the lifetime of vocalist Freddie Mercury. The record was well-received, reaching number one on the charts in the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland. It was also the first Queen album to earn a Gold disc in the United States since *The Works* in 1984. Although the studio version of *Bijou* was initially known, the song gained a new dimension when performed live. It was Queen + Paul Rodgers who first presented it live during the *The Cosmos Rock* tour, and since then it has been heard at various concerts across Europe and the world. In these performances, Brian May played his melodic part while Freddie Mercury's recorded voice played alongside images of his life on screen. May has mentioned that Jeff Beck's guitar in his 1989 track *Where Were You* was an inspiration for *Bijou*.