Editing Under Pressure (section)

==Background and composition==
"Under Pressure" was recorded at [[Mountain Studios]] in [[Montreux]], Switzerland, in July 1981.{{sfn|Pegg|2016|pp=57, 291}} Queen, working on their 1982 album ''Hot Space'', had been working on a song called "Feel Like", but were not satisfied with the result.<ref>[http://www.ultimatequeen.co.uk/songs/unreleasedqueen.htm#feellike Unreleased Queen Tracks – Feel Like] Ultimate Queen. Retrieved 29 August 2011</ref> While they were there, David Bowie was also at Mountain recording his vocals for "[[Cat People (Putting Out Fire)]]", the title song for the 1982 horror film [[Cat People (1982 film)|of the same name]].{{sfn|Pegg|2016|p=57}} The artists ran into each other during the session.{{sfn|Trynka|2011|p=366}} Bowie sang backing vocals for Queen's song "Cool Cat",{{sfn|O'Leary|2019|p=166}} but his vocals were removed from the final song because he was not satisfied with his performance. Afterwards, they worked together for a while and wrote "Under Pressure".{{sfn|Pegg|2016|p=57}}<ref>Peter Freestone (2001) [https://books.google.com/books?id=AH8zZsbmB98C&dq=queen+and+bowie+under+pressure+montreux&pg=PA78 Freddie Mercury: an intimate memoir by the man who knew him best] p.78. Omnibus Press. Retrieved 15 January 2011</ref> It was credited as being co-written by the five musicians. The [[scat singing]] that dominates much of the song is evidence of the jam-beginnings as [[improvisation]]. However, according to Queen bassist [[John Deacon]] (as quoted in a French magazine in 1984),<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.openculture.com/2014/06/the-making-of-under-pressure.html|title=The Making of Queen and David Bowie's 1981 Hit "Under Pressure": Demos, Studio Sessions & More|work=Open Culture|access-date=19 September 2017|language=en-US}}</ref> the song's primary musical songwriter was [[Freddie Mercury]] – though all contributed to the arrangement. As [[Brian May]] recalled to ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'' magazine in October 2008, "It was hard, because you had four very precocious boys and David, who was precocious enough for all of us. David took over the song lyrically. Looking back, it's a great song, but it should have been mixed differently. Freddie and David had a fierce battle over that. It's a significant song because of David and its lyrical content."<ref>[http://www.queencuttings.com/dblog/articolo.asp?articolo=407 "Queen, The Second Coming"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727091412/http://www.queencuttings.com/dblog/articolo.asp?articolo=407 |date=27 July 2011}}. ''Mojo'', October 2008,</ref> The earlier, embryonic version of the song without Bowie, "Feel Like", is widely available in bootleg form, and was written by Queen drummer [[Roger Taylor (Queen drummer)|Roger Taylor]].<ref>{{cite news |title=The Making of Queen and David Bowie's 1981 Hit "Under Pressure": Demos, Studio Sessions & More |url=http://www.openculture.com/2014/06/the-making-of-under-pressure.html |access-date=26 March 2019 |agency=Open culture.com}}</ref>

Also, some confusion has arisen about who had created the song's [[bassline]]. John Deacon said (in Japanese magazine ''Music life'' in 1982) that David Bowie created it. In more recent interviews, Brian May and Roger Taylor credited the bass riff to Deacon. Bowie, on his website, said the bassline was already written before he became involved.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110309001056/http://www.queenzone.com/news/bowie-talks-about-under-pressure.aspx Bowie Talks About Under Pressure] Retrieved 15 January 2011</ref> Roger Taylor, in an interview for the BBC documentary ''Queen: The Days of Our Lives'', stated that Deacon did indeed create the bassline, and that all through the sessions in the studio, he had been playing the riff over and over. He also claims that when the band returned from dinner, Deacon misremembered the riff, but Taylor was still able to remember it.<ref>O'Casey, Matt, dir. (2002) Queen – Days of Our Lives. Part 2. Queen Productions Ltd. Retrieved 9 June 2011</ref> Brian May clarified matters in a 2016 article for [[Mirror Online]], writing that it was actually Bowie, not Taylor, who had inadvertently changed the riff. The riff began as "Deacy began playing, 6 notes the same, then one note a fourth down". After the dinner break, Bowie changed Deacon's memory of the riff to "Ding-Ding-Ding Diddle Ing-Ding".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/brian-tells-how-david-bowie-7161073|title=Brian May tells how David Bowie and Queen wrote the legendary track Under Pressure|author=Brian May|date=11 January 2016|publisher=Mirror Online}}</ref>