2 songs Brian May said could be the most beautiful ever made

Queen co-founder and guitarist Brian May was part of some of the greatest songs ever written, alongside his bandmates Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. He has always talked about the musicians who inspired him and whom he admires, mentioning two songs from artists who are among his heroes, that might be the most beautiful ever made guitar-wise.

The 2 songs Brian May said can be the most beautiful ever made

Jeff Beck “Where Were You”

“If you wanna hear his depth of emotion and sound and phrasing and the way he could touch your soul, listen to Where Were You off the …Guitar Shop album, just Google ‘Where Were You Jeff Beck’ and sit down and listen to it for four minutes: it’s unbelievable, it’s possibly the most beautiful bit of guitar music ever recorded. (…) So sensitive, so beautiful, so incredibly creative and unlike anything you’ve ever heard anywhere else. Yes, of course he had his influences too, but he brought an amazing voice to Rock music which will never, ever be emulated, or equalled,” Brian May said in 2023 in his tribute to Jeff Beck who passed away in January that year. The track was part of the 1989 album “Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop”, which won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

Brian has always been a huge fan of Jeff Beck and had the chance to become friends with him. After his passing, in the same tribute text in which he praised that particular song, Brian recalled how their friendship began and how great Beck was. “This is such an extraordinary loss and he was such an extraordinary person. It’s hard to process the fact that he’s not here, apart from process what I would like to say. Jeff was completely and utterly unique. The kind of musician, which, who was impossible to define, was absolutely older than me and came from the same area where I came from.”

Brian May continued:

“But he was a hero to me all along, doing things which I kind of dreamed of doing when I was at school. He was already up there in The Tridents and then in The Yardbirds, doing extraordinary things. A major, major inspiration for me to try and do the same. Not the same but to give myself a voice the way he had. (…) Yeah, he came from my area, so he was like a local boy. I saw him play so many times, always with my jaw on the ground, thinking, ‘How does he do that?’ I often think it must have been might be like being around Mozart and seeing that incredible genius at work and wondering where it could possibly come from? How could he be that great?”

“If you were with Jeff, if you were round his house, he’d come out from the garage having been under his, one of his cars for the last few hours. His finger ends all covered in grease and muck, and looking like he’d just kinda crawled out from a ditch somewhere. And then he’d pick up the guitar and this beautiful, sensitive music would come out. And I think I was very shy.”

“I didn’t really know how to talk to him, ‘cos I couldn’t quite follow him. He wasn’t an easy person for me, maybe because I was in so much awe of him that I was never at ease. And I wrote him a song. I wrote, well I wrote a song about him called ‘The Guv’nor’ for one of my solo albums, and he came over to my place here in the studio – played it with me and we had a laugh – and he played some incredible stuff.”

He continued:

“Again my jaw dropped. I couldn’t really pick up a guitar when he was in the room because he was so incredible (laughs). (I) just wanted to watch and listen. So he played on the track and he was like: ‘Ah yeah, whatever.’ And I don’t think I would ever put into words exactly how much I did revere him. I hope I gave him a picture, I don’t know if he knew. But I feel like I feel like I wasn’t a good enough friend to him and that’s one of the things that happens, I suppose. Particularly in this case I feel there were so many times I could’ve rung him up. I wish I had, to be a proper friend.”

“But Jeff Beck is so unique – so influential on every guitarist I’ve ever met in my life. The loss is incalculable. It’s so sad not having him in the world anymore. I still can’t quite compute it in my head. (…) He was wild, he was unquantifiable, and extraordinarily difficult to understand. But one of the greatest guitar geniuses the world has ever seen and will ever see,” Brian May said.

Jimi Hendrix “Little Wing”

“I’d put a lot of work into playing guitar, and was thinking I was pretty damn good. But Hendrix came along and destroyed everyone,” Brian May once said about Hendrix. The first time he had the chance to see the legendary guitarist play was in 1967, when he was the opening act for The Who at the Saville Theatre in London. That night Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce were also in the audience.

“I’d heard the solo on Stone Free, and refused to believe that someone could actually play this. It had to be some kind of studio trickery, the way he talks to the guitar and the guitar talks back to him. I was already playing in a band called Smile. I thought I was a reasonably good guitarist, so I knew it wasn’t possible. So I went to the Saville, determined to be a disbeliever. But I was swept off my feet. I thought: ‘This guy is the most astounding thing I’ve ever seen.’ He did the Stone Free solo live, absolutely perfectly. It was back to the drawing board for me.” he said in an interview with Classic Rock in 2024

That was not the only time he had the chance to see Jimi play. He was actually responsible for hiring the musician to perform at Imperial College in West London, as he was part of the Entertainment Committee. The guitarist received only 1000 pounds for the show in 1967 and there were about a thousand people present. Were also part of the bill Steamhammer, Spooky Tooth and America.

Brian May recalled:

“This was before Smile (Band May and Taylor had before Queen). It was the days of my original band, 1984. We were playing in a room at the bottom. Jimi was on in the main hall so, yes, in a sense, we supported him. I remember, we were stood in the little corridor backstage between the stage and Jimi’s dressing room, which was actually the jazz club room where Roger Taylor and I first played together, strangely enough. Just kind of clumped outside waiting for him. Jimi came out of the dressing room. (He) said: ‘Where’s the stage, man?’ We just pointed (starstruck). He was the coolest guy on earth. No doubt about it.”

“We got fairly close to the front. But you didn’t have to be at the front, actually. It was all-enveloping. He started ‘Foxy Lady’, just widdling his finger on the string very, very, very slowly, building up a feedback note. He’d just smile and laugh and move it around. He was wicked. Always that twinkle in his eye. It took a long time, then suddenly he was ready. He was at full volume, and he just rolled into that fantastic riff.” Brian May told Classic Rock in 2015.