Freddie Mercury: 'Lost' song, Time Waits For No One, premiered on Radio 2

A previously unpublished Freddie Mercury track was premiered on BBC Radio 2 after a decade of searching for lost vocal performance.

Time Waits For No One was originally part of the soundtrack of the 1986 musical Time End.

The version released at the time featured the star queen accompanied by dozens of layers of chorus.

But a piano rehearsal of the song, featuring a different vocal take, has now been discovered.

The song was written by Dave Clark of the 1960s pop band, Dave Clark Five – who felt the demo had a quality that was missing in the final version.

"When we recorded for the first time, I went to Abbey Road and we only had Freddie and the piano, it gave me goose bumps, it was magical," Clark told Zoe Ball, of Radio 2.

"Then we started recording the song and we added 48 voice pieces, which had never been done before at Abbey Road, and then all the support.

"It was fabulous – but I always felt there was something in the original rehearsal."

He isolated the voice of Mercury and invited keyboardist Mike Moran to record a new piano track.

The result is a fresh, uncluttered catch that sheds light on the raw emotion of Mercury's voice.

Clark described this as a "magical performance", adding that he "tasted every word".

"It gave me the same goosebumps as when I first heard it."

Time was an ambitious space-age musical starring Cliff Richard as a rock star who must defend the cause of the Earth when the planet goes to trial in a galactic high court.

With a holographic projection of Sir Laurence Olivier (Akash, "The ultimate word in truth"), he was ridiculed by critics, but lasted two years.

Mercury, however, declined its role in production stating, "First of all, my darling, I do not get up until 3 pm, so I can not do any morning.

"On the other hand, when I do a show, I sing for three hours, then I fall dead, so it would be impossible to do eight shows a week."

His title record was a minor success in 1986, ranking 32nd in the UK.

Clark and Mercury have been friends since 1976, when they met behind the scenes of Queen's concert at Hyde Park in London. and remained close until the death of Mercury of AIDS-related illnesses in 1991.

The last night of Mercury's life, Clark had taken charge of the bedside vigil of the singer's former girlfriend, who was also his closest friend, Mary Austin.

Clark was alone with Mercury in the bedroom when he died suddenly.

"The doctor had been there for half an hour and said he still had a few days, so we did not expect him to die so soon."

"We immediately phoned Mary, she was just around the corner, it was unexpected, otherwise she would have been there, she had the terrible job of calling Freddie's parents and sister to tell him he was died. "

In the same interview, Clark lamented Mercury narrowly escaping the widespread arrival of life-saving antiretroviral therapy.

"Freddie had tried everything, new special drugs were imported by Concorde of America, and he said the next generation would be the one to beat that, and the sad thing is if it had happened 12 months later, it might have been fine when the combination drug treatment came in first. "

Time Waits For No One is Freddie Mercury's first "new" music since the box office success of Bohemian Rhapsody's biopic.

The 2014 Queen Forever compilation album also featured a number of unpublished voices from Mercury, including a duet with Michael Jackson.

The group also hinted at the existence of several original songs recorded with David Bowie, during the sessions that produced their 1981 single, Under Pressure.

Bohemian Rhapsody, released last year, is the most-titled music biographical film in history, with $ 903 million in box office revenue.

Mercury's Rummy Malek won an Oscar and a Bafta for her outstanding performance, including a re-enactment of the group's iconic Live Aiding in 1985.

"Freddie would have loved that," said Clark. "He would have smiled, it's amazing and he deserves it."

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