White Man

"White Man", a track on Queen 1976 album A Day At The Races, " was written by guitarist Brian May about the suffering of Native Americans at the hands of European immigrants. Its riff was used for the album intro, similar to the pairing of "Procession and "Father To Son some years before. This song would be the focal point for a Freddie Mercury vocal solo on the subsequent tour for the album, and would serve as both a Mercury vocal solo spot and a Brian May guitar solo spot on the 1977-78 News of the World tour. The song is one of Queen's heaviest works, thematically and musically. ---------------------------------------- Freddie Mercury Interview, November 1976, Kenny Everett Radio Show: Kenny Everett: "Cor! How did you manage to get such a loud noise on one record?" Freddie Mercury: "I don't know, it's down to Mike Stone, our engineer. We're very bad in the studio for that actually, the poor engineer has to really suffer because we really want as much level as possible. We keep pushing the phasers up and he keeps looking at the meters and going, 'Oh it'll never cut'. Then we give him the added task of going over to New York or wherever and saying, 'Make sure that cuts as loud as possible'."

[Intro] [Verse 1] I'm a simple man With a simple name From this soil, my people came In this soil remain Oh yeah Oh yeah [Verse 2] And we made us our shoes And we trod soft on the land But the immigrant built roads On our blood and sand Oh yeah [Chorus] White man, white man Don't you see the light Behind your blackened skies White man, white man You took away sight To blind my simple eyes White man, white man Where you gonna hide From the hell you've made? [Verse 3] Oh, the red man knows war With his hands and his knives On the Bible you swore Fought your battle with lies Oh yeah [Verse 4] Leave my body in shame Leave my soul in disgrace But by every God's name Say your prayers for your race [Chorus] White man, white man Our country was green And all our rivers wide White man, white man You came with a gun And soon our children died White man, white man Don't you give a light For the blood you've shed? [Instrumental break] [Chorus] White man, white man (oh) White man, white man White man (ooh, white man) Fought your battle with lies White man White man (on and on, on and on) But we weren't too civilized, yeah White man, white man (look around you) Take a look around Every skin and bone (Yeah, I'll getcha, I'll getcha, yeah) [Instrumental break] [Outro] What is left of your dream? Just the words on your stone A man who learned how to teach Then forgot how to learn Oh yeah