Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)

"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.

"Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)"
Japanese single picture sleeve
Single by Queen
from the album A Day at the Races
B-side"Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy"
Released25 March 1977
RecordedJuly – November 1976
GenreRock
Length5:55 (album version)
4:55 (single version)
LabelElektra
Songwriter(s)Brian May
Producer(s)Queen
Queen singles chronology
"Tie Your Mother Down"
(1977)		 "Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)"
(1977)		 "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy"
(1977)
Music video
"Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)" on YouTube

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 of 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.

Live performances

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. When Queen returned to Japan with Paul Rodgers in 2005, a truncated acoustic version was played during May's solo set. The same arrangement was used for Queen + Adam Lambert's festival appearances in Japan in summer 2014. Two years later, during the Japanese gigs of the Queen + Adam Lambert 2016 Summer Festival Tour, the song was played in its entirety featuring the full band.

In other media

"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.

The song's alternative title is used on strategy video game Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together.

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

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 konomama ikou/Let's go hand in hand)
愛する人よ (Aisuruhito yo/my beloved.)

静かな宵に (Shizukana yoi ni/In a quiet evening)
光を灯し (Hikari o tomoshi/Light the light)
愛しき教えを抱き (Itoshiki oshie o idaki/Embracing loving teachings)"

The chorus part sung in English is a rough translation:

"Let us cling together as the years go by,
Oh my love, my love,
In the quiet of the night
Let our candle always burn,
Let us never lose the lessons we have learned."

The album liner notes includes a translation credit: "With special thanks to our Japanese friend and interpreter Chika Kujiraoka."

Personnel

Information taken from the Queen Songs website[2]

References
  1. "Queen "A Day At The Races" album and song lyrics". Ultimatequeen.co.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 18 June 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)


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