Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)
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"Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)" | ||||
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File:QueenTeo.jpg | ||||
Single by Queen | ||||
from the album A Day At The Races | ||||
B-side | Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy | |||
Released | 25 March 1977 (Japan only) | |||
Format | 7" | |||
Recorded | July - November 1976 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 5:57 (Album version) 4:55 (Single edit) |
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Label | Elektra (Japan) | |||
Writer(s) | Brian May | |||
Producer(s) | Queen | |||
Queen singles chronology | ||||
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"Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)" (手をとりあって Te o Toriatte?) is a song by Queen from their 1976 album A Day at the Races. Written by guitarist Brian May, it is the closing track on the album.
The song is notable for having two choruses sung entirely in Japanese, and it was released as a single exclusively in Japan, reaching #49 on the charts.[1] (The B-side was "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy".) This song features a plastic piano and harmonium, both which are played by May. They brought in a local choir to sing the chorus at the end. On the album, the song is concluded by a one-minute instrumental intro featuring a Shepard tone melody, which is actually a reprise of the beginning of "Tie Your Mother Down": this was intended to create a "circle" in the album, typical, for example, of Pink Floyd's albums.
It was performed live in Tokyo during the Jazz tour in 1979 and again when the band visited Japan during The Game and Hot Space tours in 1981 and 1982 respectively.
"Teo Torriatte" was covered by Japanese singer Kokia on her 2008 Christmas album Christmas Gift, and by Mêlée in 2010 and can be found on the Japanese version of their album The Masquerade released in Japan on 18 August 2010. Andre Matos (former Angra singer) covered the song on the Japanese Edition of his 2010 effort Mentalize. Queen's version is also one of 38 songs included on the benefit album, Songs for Japan (compiled in response to the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Tōhoku), released on 25 March 2011.
Contents
References to the song
- Japanese video game director Yasumi Matsuno is a fan of Queen, and named the classic strategy game Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together as a tribute to this song.[2]
- "Teo Torriatte" was later referenced by Queen in a line ("we'll sing to you in Japanese") from the song "Let Me Entertain You", featured on their 1978 album Jazz.
Romanisation of the title
The song's title in Roman letters uses an outdated form of romanisation by applying the particle を ("wo"/"o") to the word before it. Under more modern convention, "手をとりあって" would be romanised as, "Te o Toriatte," or "Te wo toriatte."
Furthermore, although the Japanese single's cover gave the romanised version of the title as "Teo Toriatte", the back cover of the A Day at the Races album misspells this as "Teo Torriatte" (adding an additional "r").
Live recordings
- Super Live in Japan (2005)
Chorus translation
The chorus part sung in Japanese goes as follows:
"手を取り合って このまま行こう (Te o toriatte Kono mama ikō)
愛する人よ (Aisuru hito yo)
静かな宵に (Shizuka na yoi ni)
光を灯し (Hikari o tomoshi)
愛しき 教えを抱き (Itoshiki Oshie o idaki)"
The chorus part sung in English is the rough equivalent of:
"Let us cling together as the years go by,
Oh my love, my love,
In the quiet of the night
Let our candles always burn,
Let us never lose the lessons we have learned."
Personnel
- Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals
- Brian May - guitars, harmonium, piano, plastic piano, backing vocals
- Roger Taylor - drums, tambourine, backing vocals
- John Deacon - bass guitar
- Unknown - concluding chorus vocals
Covers
- Brazilian heavy metal singer/pianist Andre Matos recorded a cover of the song in 2009. The cover appears as a bonus track for the Japanese market in his second solo album, Mentalize.
- American rock band, Mêlée recorded a cover of the song in 2010. The cover appears as one of the Japanese bonus tracks of their third album, The Masquerade.
Notes
- ↑ A Day at the Races album info
- ↑ http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-01-18-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together-hands-on