A Roger Taylor Collection

A Killer Queen - Keep Yourself Alive

London, England. July 1973. 2 years & 11 months later...

You were sitting in your 1964 Pontiac GTO at a traffic light when you heard your radio say something you have been waiting to hear for a long time, "And now, here for the first time on this radio station, up next is "Keep Yourself Alive" By Queen!"

You break out into a large smile and laugh, turning up the volume you tap your foot to the beat; you were ecstatic—they made it on the radio. After all this time, you had still kept in touch with Freddie. He had finished Queen's first album Queen l  in November of last year after they decided to sign with a record company and make an album a year after the band left. Freddie had also gotten engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Mary Austin who was also a close friend of yours; you were the one who introduced them in the first place. Also, a new band member has been added two years ago; John Deacon.

So much has happened in the time that has passed; you just missed him a lot—so did Mary. Freddie said he was coming home soon last night when you were on the phone, he didn't know when that was he said sadly, but he reassured you that it was closer than you thought. It couldn't come fast enough.

You were abruptly pulled out of your thoughts as a horn honked loudly, the light was green and you sped your way through the intersection; on your way to Don's to spend the night with Mary.

You pulled into the parking lot at the back of the bar, you now spent more time at than your own home, and left your car to walk inside. You opened the back door and saw the bar was packed as some new bands played on the stage, this place made you feel happy; even though it was a nightclub where people were constantly griding on each other and drinking copious amounts of alcohol, it was home.

You spotted Mary and Don right away, Mary was in her regular seat right next to yours and Don was wiping the counter, you shake your head and walk right over to them, "Hey Mary..." You say as you got closer, she had jumped up immediately, making you laugh. You hugged and you leaned over the bar to give Don a kiss on the cheek.

Without another word, Don gave you a beer and had lit the smoke that you already had in your mouth. You breathed in the smoke and winked at him.

Almost immediately you fell into a loud conversation with the two of them, Don leaving once in a while to serve someone else but, coming right back after he was done. It went on like that for a while, you catch up with mostly mary after a while of not being out on the town with one of your best girlfriends. You two have become inseparable.

You were crying you were laughing so hard, "So he tried to hit on a lesbian?!" You yell at her. She was also laughing as hard as you were, both of you being buzzed.

"Yes! last weekend Don tried to get with her but it didn't work out that well," She said cackling, whipping her eyes a little bit after.

She began to cough and tried to take a sip of her beer when she realized it was empty, she pouted to you and laughed again, "Damn it..." She said, "Im out"

You lifted your bottle and realized you are in need of a refill as well—then you got an idea. Don had left outside on the phone and asked you to watch the bar, so you did, but now you can also go behind there for a good reason. You smirked at her and crawled across the counter, jumping down and grabbing a beer from the back for her as well as yourself.

You leaned your forearms down and began chatting up mary again, "M'lady" You say as you hand her the open beer. You both clink your bottles and laugh. For a while, it lasted with you behind the bar and you ended up actually serving people, Don had to take care of an emergency. He had asked you to close up and gave you the key before he left in a rush, you served for the rest of the night and put all of yours and Mary's drinks on your tab, that is until she could barely stand to which you gave her something to eat and made her drink some water before you called her a taxi, paying for it to take her home.