Freedom Uncut (2022) - full transcript

On Christmas Day, 2016, we heard
with shock and disbelief...

that our dear friend, George
Michael, had passed away.

Only days before, he was
putting the finishing touches

to the film you're about to see.

This is George's film, Freedom,
and it's his final work.

♪ Looking for some education

♪ Make my way into the night

♪ All that bullshit
Conversation

♪ Baby, can't you read
The signs

♪ I won't bore you
With the details, baby

♪ I don't even wanna waste
Your time



♪ Let's just say that maybe

♪ You could help me
Ease my mind

♪ I ain't Mr. Right

♪ But if you're looking for

♪ Fast love

♪ If that's love
In your eyes

♪ It's more than enough

♪ Had some bad love

♪ So, fast love is all that
I've got

♪ On my mind ♪

♪ I can give you All the
loving That your heart

♪ I can give you All the
loving That your heart

♪ I can give you All the
loving That your heart

♪ Desires ♪



In 1988, George Michael became

the biggest selling artist
in the world.

This is the story
of just how fame and tragedy

intervened to change
his life forever.

I was massively unhappy
and lonely.

I remember standing there with
a tear in my eye, thinking,

"I really don't know
if I'll ever do this again."

And it changed everything
from that day to this.

I was single, I hadn't come out.

If I could have the self-awareness
and the strength to walk away,

I could change my life.

I felt that stepping back
would save me

from somehow screwing up
my career.

Uh...

Yeah, waiting please.

We got them.

I first became aware
of George Michael's music

when I was hardly like...
I was definitely a little girl.

I think his music was really...

It's just there in your psyche.

I just think it's not even
taken for granted.

It's just there in the ether.

♪ There ain't no point
In moving on

♪ 'Till you've got somewhere
To go

♪ And the road that I have
Walked upon

♪ Well, it filled my pockets

♪ And emptied out my soul ♪

He's got a voice like an angel.

There are certain songs that you
could ask George just to sing,

and it would make people cry,
just the resonance of his voice.

♪ And some of them
Are about you ♪

It comes from someone
who has felt pain,

and it comes from someone
who has a deep talent.

♪ Now I know there's no way
I can right those wrongs

♪ Believe me I would not lie

George is in the
category of many of us

who had been blessed
with the gift of music.

♪ But you once said
There's a way back

♪ For every man

♪ So, here I am

There's no voice
like his on the radio.

♪ Oh, don't people change?

♪ Here I am

♪ Is it too late
To try again?

♪ Here I am ♪

I've genuinely believed that there's something
very odd about people in my position.

But the central belief that
my musical journey

would be of my own making has
been the thing that's informed

almost every decision I've ever
made in terms of my career.

I have a musical ability
which was...

powered as a young, as a teenager, it
was powered by this desperate ambition

to be famous and to be loved
and respected, whatever.

And all I wanted at that time
was success.

♪ I'm sorry
If I smoked your plan ♪

I had no master plan, I didn't know if
I was gonna be a singer or anything.

But, at school, I met Andrew, and we
formed this Ska band called The Executive,

and we were terrible basically.

But Andrew and I had
already developed a knack

for writing these catchy
little songs,

and we got together
a couple of tracks.

One was called "Careless Whisper"
and one was called "Wham Rap!"

♪ You got soul on the dole?

♪ You're gonna have a good time
Down on the line ♪

The '80s was probably one of the most
depressing, sort of, demoralizing times

that we've ever had for young
people in British history,

because the recession, because of
everything, because of mass unemployment.

So, I think music, then, was
probably really, really important.

In terrible depression,
you have the people that

come out and say, "This is terrible.
This is terrible depression."

♪ This town
Town

♪ Is comin' like a ghost town ♪

And then you have the escapists...
things that go, "Let's party."

♪ Young Guns having some fun

♪ Crazy ladies keep 'em
On the run

♪ Wise guys realize

♪ There's danger
In emotional ties

♪ See me, single and free

♪ No tears, no fears,
What I want to be

♪ One, two,
Take a look at you

♪ Death by matrimony ♪

The day after First of the Pops,

I was just convinced that
everyone would recognize me.

You know, I was walking
down the street like...

"Watch TV last night?"

And I think it took about
three days

before someone came up
and asked me for my autograph,

and I was absolutely shattered
that it took that long.

♪ A married man
You're out of your head

♪ Sleepless nights
On an H.P. bed

♪ A daddy by the time
You're 21

♪ If you're happy with a nappy
Then you're in for fun

- It wasn't all sugary.
- He was singing about

being on the dole
and having kids.

And, you know, there was a bit
of social commentary there,

and he was embracing this
newfangled thing called rap,

you know, dressed like someone
from West Side Story.

We should have known then.

Then, "Club Tropicana" taught us,
"Don't worry, you can sun tan."

He predicted global warming
way before its time.

♪ Club Tropicana
Drinks are free

I mean, I can't get the little
white shorts out of my head.

♪ Call me good

♪ Call me bad

♪ Call me anything
You want... ♪

I'll be very honest.
I was a Culture Club fan.

And we used to throw eggs
at the Wham! fans.

They were massive, weren't they?
George Michael, and it was like...

They were just fucking
everywhere, weren't they?

♪ Baby, I'm your man ♪

Anyone of my generation, you really
can't remember the first time

you heard about George Michael
if you grew up in the UK

because he's just
part of the fabric of it.

So, there is a time of one
which was like a lot of fun.

I was going to club
like... etcetera.

And we'd have a lot of fun
and we loved it.

It was truly representing
the time, you know?

♪ Oh yeah ♪

I'm sure I could,
me older brother...

I'm sure he had a bit of a Wham!
moment, you know what I mean?

♪ Somebody told me

♪ Boy, everything she wants
Is everything she sees ♪

And I already felt
I was too old to like them.

I felt a bit ashamed that
I was liking this teen band,

but they were great.
They had something else.

They had a lot more.

♪ And now you tell me that
You're having my baby

♪ I'll tell you that I'm happy
If you want me to

♪ But one step further... ♪

Wham! itself
was an absolute joy.

It was as joyous as it sounded.

They say youth is wasted
on the young.

My God, what a wonderful
joyride for two 18-year-olds.

♪ Wake me up before you go-go ♪

There was a humor about Wham! that
no one ever gave us credit for.

We were so taking the piss
out of ourselves half the time.

How can the country be in love
with these two idiots?

I knew how to make these records and
how to make them jump out of the radio.

And the idea that just because
I was wearing ridiculous shorts

and curtain rings in my ears would
actually stop people from noticing that.

When I look back, I still
think it's kind of stunning.

I mean, everything happened
kind of incrementally for us.

But there was
never a point where I thought,

"My God, I'm more famous than
I expected to be,"

because I was so busy thinking about
trying to get to the next level.

But, I always believed,
deep down,

that once I had my foot in the
door, no one was gonna get me out.

♪ Yeah, yeah

♪ I'm like a maniac
At the end of the day

♪ I'm like a doggie
Barking at your door... ♪

It's so hard to remember the day of the
final, because it went so perfectly.

It was like a dream, really.

I know that there was this
overwhelming feeling of pride,

and also a horrible awareness that
meant a kind of end for Andrew and I.

But on that final day,
I remember us hugging each other

and knowing that there was
something incredibly sad going on

at the same time that
we were celebrating, you know.

By the end of it,

I had no doubt that I could become
an international solo success.

And as though there's always
been this red line,

I see it like a red line
which goes through everything.

Like a staircase to whatever
you're about to do next.

And I could feel that
at the final concert.

I already had one foot
in my solo career.

Okay.

We want more! We want more!

That's enough of that.

I'm not ever going to be
a fan of a boy band, right?

It's not going to happen.

When he went solo, the whole
thing went up ten notches.

♪ Time can never mend

♪ The careless whispers
Of a good friend ♪

I think he was the first one that
was definitely an obvious teen band

to then go on to be a serious singer,
songwriter and take over the world.

♪ There's things that you guess
And things that you know ♪

It's still very rare for an
act like that to go to America.

The '80s just spawned this
handful of massive celebrities

that were
constantly battling the charts.

♪ That's all I wanted

♪ Something special,
Something sacred

♪ In your eyes

♪ For just one moment... ♪

There was really, Prince,
Madonna, Jackson, and myself.

And I just didn't feel who
I was, was bright enough,

or kind of vivid enough to compete,
because they were different people.

They seemed to be
much more larger than life.

If I was looking for happiness,
this was the wrong road.

But I don't think there's any way I
could have controlled my ego enough

to have stopped me exploring
the possibility of being

the biggest selling artist
in the world.

So, I went with full gusto
into creating a new character.

You know, one that I thought
would be resilient enough

to stand up there next to
Madonna and Jackson and Prince.

Ladies and gentlemen,

George Michael.

And I guess I did that
pretty effectively,

alongside what was
a very, very commercial record.

♪ Well, I guess
It would be nice

♪ If I could touch your body

♪ I know not everybody
Has got a body like you ♪

The attitude, he was creating, like,
a personage as we call it, you know.

He was very charismatic.

Every video
was a very strong impact.

♪ Oh, but I need some time off
From that... ♪

He is, like, coming in jeans, you
know, and like tight and sexy.

And like a rock image and moving
with the hips like that.

You know, a little
like Wham! before, you know.

A little like that,
but more, like, sexy.

Check this out then,
modern day Elvis.

♪ Faith, I gotta have... ♪

I liked the spirit of "Faith",
because you do have to have it.

I remember his "Baby, ow!"

♪ Baby ♪

Yeah, I remember that.

I didn't realize that people
would look at the "Faith" image

and go, "Fuck, that's cool."

♪ I'm givin' you the blues ♪

I was really, really overwhelmed
by the size of things, I suppose.

I lived in fucking sunglasses.

I couldn't make eye contact
with people. It was bizarre.

♪ And another who tied me
Down to loverboy rules ♪

I still suffered terribly
with insecurity about my looks.

It goes back
to a family background

where conceit of any kind
was considered an absolute sin.

So, no one was ever praised
about the way they looked.

♪ Well, I need someone
To hold me

♪ But I'll wait
For somethin' more

♪ Yes, I gotta have faith ♪

"Faith" was number one
in Britain for one week.

But in America,
number one for 12 weeks.

And then on top of that,
he had four number one singles,

a number two single
and a number five single.

In 1988, he was the biggest
pop star in the world.

♪ Because I gotta have faith
Faith, faith

♪ I gotta have faith,
Faith, faith ♪

All I remember is "Faith" being
played 50 times a day on MTV.

You had to be in heavy rotation on
whatever pop station you were on.

Duran Duran, David Bowie, Eurythmics
was played on MTV, like, constantly,

played on all
the video stations.

You really didn't hear
any of those artists,

but you heard George Michael, on some of the
urban stations, right after Luther Vandross.

His music broke through
to everybody.

In America, radio play for me

was substantial
on a lot of R&B stations.

He uniquely achieved recognition
on the R&B soul charts

that very few white performers
ever got.

He obviously had studied
American soul music,

and felt a connection
and a kindred spirit.

We were introduced
to each other,

so, we're going back now
to about '86 maybe.

And it was his thought
that he wanted to

do a duet
with one of my artists.

♪ Like a warrior that fights

♪ And wins the battle ♪

When I was about six or seven,

I had a wind-up gramophone
that my mum gave me.

I had two Supreme singles,

one wasStop! In the Name of
Love and one wasBaby Love.

And I hadDelilah by Tom Jones,
which is funny,

because I kind of ended up
somewhere between

the Supremes and Tom Jones
when you think about it.

♪ I know you did
Kept my faith

♪ When the river was deep

♪ I didn't falter

♪ When the mountain was high

♪ I still believed

♪ When the valley was low

♪ It didn't stop me

♪ It didn't stop me

♪ No

♪ I knew you were waiting

♪ Some place♪ Somewhere

♪ Somehow♪ For me ♪

It was great that I had my
own voice

and I had worked
with Aretha Franklin,

and everything had gone so well.

From an artistic point of view,
it just got better and better.

George Michael's voice, to me,
was always very soulful,

and it was very warm,
and sultry and urgent.

He has soul. Period.

Soul is an expression
of the soul, of the heart.

It was good to be number one
in the black charts.

It was an amazing
thing to see, obviously.

England has a great love
affair with

American black music and R&B
and a great tradition of

our own interpretation of soul
music and that thing, but he's...

He's kind of up there,
at the pinnacle of it.

♪ But remember this
Every other kiss

♪ That you ever give
Long as we both live

♪ When you need the hand
Of another man

♪ One you really can
Surrender with

♪ I will wait for you
Like I always do

♪ There's something there
That can't compare

♪ With any other ♪

Making that album, I'm sure
I was incredibly proud of it,

but I don't think I ever imagined
it would be bigger than Wham!

I imagine that the pressure
on someone like George

must have been insane,

because he was doing stuff
that was just so phenomenal.

After you have
that kind of success,

like, what do you go home at
night and go, "Now, what do I do?"

I do remember it being
shocking to me

that I could become more successful
than I had been with Wham!

I suppose the whole exercise was
an effort to raise my profile

to kind of define what my
solo image was going to be.

But I really had no idea how
effective it was going to be,

especially in America.

And I had no idea what it was
like to be that big in America.

George is really, really private

and I think, when he was young,
with all that fame,

I just think it came too fast, and it
wasn't actually what he was expecting.

I was probably
most out of control,

in any kind of sense of that,
during the whole "Faith" thing.

Being caught in the eye of
this storm is catastrophic.

It's just 24/7 full time
in your face.

I mean, the wind burn
is terrible.

I can't really explain
how overwhelming

that kind of hysteria can be if
there's only one person to absorb it.

When I was with Andrew, it was so
easy to keep one foot in my old life,

the life that I had known with
him before we'd been famous.

It was so easy
to keep each other grounded,

to take the piss out
of each other,

and be able to look
at each other

and talk about the madness
that was going on around us.

But when you can't do that,
suddenly, it is scary.

I don't know many 24-year-olds who
would not have, at least subconsciously,

found that frightening enough
to self-destruct.

Now the problem is,
the record came out

everywhere in the world,
pretty much at the same time.

So, everybody wanted a piece of
George to help promote the album.

Enormous pressure.

Huge, huge pressure.

Ten months of that was enough
to really push me to the edge.

And I was terribly lonely,
you know?

Me and my red line
were very lonely.

And the only good part
of my day was playing live.

When I sang
"Careless Whisper"...

I can't remember which was the
last gig on the American tour,

which would have been
the end of the whole tour.

I think it was Pensacola.

But when I sang
"Careless Whisper" that night,

I remember standing there, with
a tear in my eye, thinking,

"I really don't know
if I'll ever do this again."

♪ Time can never mend

♪ The careless whispers

♪ Of a good friend

♪ To the heart and mind

♪ Ignorance is kind

♪ There's no comfort
In the truth

♪ Pain is all ♪

I was intelligent enough to know I
should not be trying to catch up with

Michael Jackson or Madonna
or whatever,

which was absolutely what
I was intent on doing.

I felt that tired and exhausted at
being the center of that much attention.

I suppose the way my lack
of mental balance showed itself

was that I actually really began
to hide away when I got home.

And I did almost nothing
for a year,

but try and reestablish
some idea of the real life.

Music was
my very controlling lover.

I had millions of lovers
that I never saw

other than
in the sense of live work.

But I still deserved one.

Just one of them for me.

And I knew that the only way I
was gonna find that one person,

that lover, was to jump
off of the merry-go-round

just for long enough
to catch my breath,

and letting my heart rule my head,
rather than, you know, the red line.

The red line that goes
up, up, up, up, up, up.

Sometimes you feel like he's...

He's got, like, a layer or two
of skin missing.

Like he just,
like he bruises easier,

and because of that, he can
write these amazing songs.

I never wanted
to be someone else.

I wanted to be a star, and I wanted people
to love me and recognize me in the street.

As a child,
that's what I wanted,

but I never really wanted
to be someone else.

I believe I am a writer much
more than I am anything else.

And I want to leave songs.

I believe I can leave songs that will be,
will mean something to other generations.

This award is for
favorite soul and R&B album.

And the winner is,
George Michael.

George Michael.

I've been a lover of soul music
since I was a kid.

And I'd just like to thank everybody
who has helped me this year.

I'd like to thank Black Radio, I'd
like to thank everyone at CBS Records,

in the R&B department.

And I'd like to thank everyone
who voted for me.

I can't believe it.
Thank you very much.

I won these two awards that were
traditionally received by black artists.

And I think there was a perception
that it had gone too far.

The black male artist
works very hard to get his due,

and Bobby Brown
had across the board play.

And he could compete in the same
category as George Michael competes in.

That would be
a whole another thing.

I didn't ask to be given
those awards,

I'm not going to pretend
I wasn't happy to get them.

But I do understand
what the argument that says,

"This guy is just an acceptable
version of black music

for White America."

Suddenly, crossover was not hip.

And I see that point. I totally
saw the point at the time.

I just felt it was sad,
you know,

that white and black people
recording together,

suddenly was, kind of,
dancing with the enemy.

You mean George is white?

Are you serious?

Oh, my God!

And he is blind, right?

I think it had
a huge effect on George,

because he'd won
in this category,

he'd achieved something that
was beyond his wildest dreams,

only to have the carpet pulled
from under his feet.

I don't think there's any attempt
to, kind of, steal black heritage

in what I'm doing.

All I think that's happening is
I'm trying to make good music.

Music is not based on
the color of one's skin,

or, you know, this is soul music
or this is pop.

To me, those things are like,
it's kind of old.

You know what I mean?

I suddenly couldn't get anywhere
near radio, Black Radio.

And that was the reason, really,

Listen Without Prejudice was
called Listen Without Prejudice.

It was me saying, "Here's an album
that has bits of gospel, you know,

bits of R&B,
some very white stuff,"

and it was just trying to say,
"Let me be both of these things

"without having to be
one or the other."

I don't know if I
bought it, stole it,

or it just, sort of like,
just got delivered.

You know, I mean, sometimes you
get albums like that, don't you?

You know what I mean? They're that
great, they just end up in your house.

What can I say about
the sound of it?

It's very ethereal.

It has a mystery about it.

George, on this album, got everything
that he had inside his gut,

onto vinyl or CD or cassette.

And thank God he did.

Well, let's have
a party pop song.

It fucking won.

This song, now, it's just got such a big
opening, a message, actually, I think.

That opening,
it reminds me of John Lennon.

Sliced out
of one of John's solo albums.

♪ These are the days
Of the open hand

♪ They will not be the last

♪ Look around now

♪ These are the days Of the
beggars And the choosers ♪

When I listen
to George Michael's songs,

I think, not only he's tapped
into his dark side

of whatever's going on
in his life,

but he's tapped into the truth about who
he is and what he is, and what life is.

And he wasn't afraid to share
that with us.

♪ The rich declare
Themselves poor

♪ And most of us
Are not sure

♪ If we have too much
But we'll take our chances

♪ 'Cause God's stopped
Keeping score ♪

When I hear that, it is right
up there, you know what I mean?

And then you get
into the lyrics.

The ones from the side is "The
rich declare themselves poor."

I like it, 'cause it's got a bit of a dig.
You know what I mean?

I mean, that's the way
I take it anyway.

It's like, "You bunch
of fucking cunts," you know,

"always fucking playing
the poverty card."

I like that, 'cause it's got
a bit of Lennon vibe.

He likes to dig people out.

There's no one before The Beatles
that has done this kind of song.

♪ When there is no hope
To speak of

♪ And the wounded
Skies above ♪

Not only, really,
it's just his writing,

but it's the vocal
performance, you know?

And it's always just like...

It just always feels so honest.

You just believe, kind of, every
word that he sings and even ad-libs.

Even him throwing out a line is
better than most people's verses.

There comes a point where
you have to write something

which you
haven't written before,

and which your interest in any particular
topic or subject will inspire you,

and that's why, I suppose,
eventually, most lyricists,

do approach wider topics
than sex and love, you know?

♪ These are the days
Of the empty hand

♪ Oh, you hold on
To what you can

♪ And charity is a coat
You wear twice a year ♪

"Charity's a coat you wear
twice a year."

Like, just like...
There's things that

stick out to you when you're
listening to, kind of,

pop music and whatever else
at that age.

♪ So, maybe we should all be
Praying for time

♪ To-do-do ♪

But even if I'm making whatever,
you know, I mean,

I'd work on his case, you know,
but I am gonna assist you

'cause it's a classic.
It's up there.

I'd say it could have been cut
from the same cloth as Imagine.

It's got, you know,
it's heartfelt,

and the words are amazing
and the tune's great.

That was a bit much, isn't it?

I didn't expect to be
as moved as I am.

♪ Let me tell you a secret

♪ Put it in your heart
And keep it

♪ Something that I want to... ♪

It was my time to discover
The Beatles.

And at the time, I was big
into Abbey Road and Revolver,

and you know... And it's the people
that you're trying to emulate,

sometimes, that can
bring you up.

I made one record to show
how much I loved Lennon,

I made another record to show
how much I love McCartney.

I didn't even dream that
McCartney would ever sing it.

And actually, when he sings it, it
sounds like a Paul McCartney record.

Next week, we're gonna do
some vocals, yeah?

'Cause you're ready for that.Thanks.

♪ Please let me try to

♪ I can heal the pain

♪ That you're feeling inside ♪

It's most surreal moment of my career,
I think, to have Paul McCartney singing

something that I wrote as a
tribute to Paul McCartney.

I don't think I would have had the
nerve to ask him when I wrote it.

Sounds so fucking cool.

It's cool.

♪ Won't you show me
Your heart now?

♪ I'll be good to you

♪ I can make this thing true

♪ And get
To your heart somehow

Yeah. Go on, love.

♪ Yeah... ♪

Okay.

You know,
the man forgot to introduce me.

I heard the beginning of "Baby,
You Can Drive My Car" start.

There's this bit of film of
me going...

So, that's what I did.
I just ran on

just before I was supposed
to sing the chorus.

♪ But you can do something
In between

♪ Baby, you can drive my car ♪

I haven't done this
in a long time.

See how piano-based
the album is?

♪ No more lying friends

♪ Wanting tragic ends

♪ Though they do pretend

♪ They won't go when I go

I mean, he sounds like Stevie.

Love this song.

♪ All those bleeding hearts ♪

I hear so much,

like, exhaustion.

Not exhaustion in him
as an artist,

but exhaustion in him, you know, as
a human in this world we live in.

I hear a fight.

Sometimes, you know, like, you'd
definitely hit a pure talent.

Pure talent.

You hear hope.

Brilliant.

"They won't Go When I Go",
for sure, like, that was...

That was probably my introduction
even to Stevie Wonder.

The version
"They won't Go When I Go",

it brings back a lot of the
memories because it's the thought

that at the end of the day,
we come alone in this world,

and we will,
and we will die alone.

And it's what we do in between
that's going to determine

how and what we'll be remembered as
and what we can think about in spirit.

So, it was great to hear him
sing the song.

♪ Unclean minds
Mislead the pure

♪ The innocent
Will leave for sure

♪ For them
There is a resting place

♪ People sinning just for fun
They will never see the sun

♪ For they can never show
Their faces

♪ There ain't no room
For the hopeless sinner

♪ Who will take more than he
Will give

♪ He will give
He will give

♪ He ain't hardly gonna give ♪

I'm actually crying.

So, you know,

it takes a massive amount
of bravery

for George to do a song
like that.

When you go into an area,

that, you know is sort of,
like, sacred ground,

you're going to a place

because your heart tells you
to go there.

You have a love of something and
you want to live in that world.

♪ His father works some days
For 14 hours

♪ And you can bet
He barely makes a dollar

♪ His mother goes
To scrub the floors for many

♪ And you'd best believe
She hardly gets a penny

♪ Living just enough

♪ Just enough for the city ♪

Reason for me doing
so many Stevie Wonder

'cause I've done
in over various sets.

I've done like four or five
Stevie Wonder covers.

And apart from the fact, like,
I consider him to be an incredible writer.

His voice, the key

that he was writing for at that time
was perfectly suited to my voice.

♪ His patience's long
But soon he won't have any

♪ To find a job
Is like a haystack needle

♪ 'Cause where he lives
They don't use colored people

♪ Living just enough Just
enough For the city, yeah

♪ One more time ♪

Well, George reminds me of
me as a little kid, you know?

My passion for music.

He and I doing
the "Living For The City",

I remember that that
was a lot of fun.

♪ Oh, no ♪

Chemistry is something
that you can't fake.

It's about how you relate to
each other and how it connects.

I'm aware
of the need for persona,

and my actual persona, I'm
not really prepared to give.

I'm a real homebody.

I'd much rather be
taking my dog for a walk.

Or, you know, be with friends.

I feel like I don't belong
out there.

Being this professional person,

going around selling his wares.

He had a much harder journey than
me in a way, because if you get

fame and accolades and wealth
beyond your wildest dreams

as a teenager,
it usually goes wrong.

But he obviously had a wiser
head on his shoulders than most.

I think
a lot of young musicians now are

kind of, you know,
sort of, manufactured.

And I think, for him, he didn't
ever want to be like that.

And part of his reactionary way
was to break away from all of that.

I was still struggling with the
idea of having that much attention.

And I think, like,
recoiled from that

and I felt that stepping back
would save me

from somehow screwing up
my career.

I see, kind of, hard sell
promotion as prostituting myself.

I can't help it, even if
it's a complete fallacy.

That's how I see it.

I am of that generation.

He felt he needed to withdraw from the
merry-go-round that is promoting and albums

and explained
in a very articulate way.

That he just felt
he had to withdraw from that

for the moment,
for his own sanity,

that we would probably get
more albums out of him

if we just allowed him
to back off.

That was quite a bomb shell,
I suppose, for us to have to deal with.

The fact that he didn't do
any promotion of it,

it's begs, you know,
it's quite astonishing.

What's coming up now
is one of the great intros.

And I was,
not me on piano either,

which is...
I always hated him for that.

♪ I won't let you down

♪ I will not give you up

♪ Gotta have some faith
In the sound

♪ It's the one good thing
That I've got

♪ I won't let you down

♪ So, please
Don't give me up

♪ Because I would really,
Really love to stick around

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

"Freedom! '90"
is, kind of, like this

funk groove masterpiece that
just comes in a like, track two.

You're striving
to make something

every time you go in the studio,

half as good
as a record like that.

It's the Mona Lisa.

♪ Heaven knows
I was just a young boy

♪ Didn't know what
I wanted to be ♪

Big change made, he's not there.

He doesn't appear.

Beautiful girls are there.

The top, top, top,
top, top model.

♪ And I guess
It was enough... ♪

If you're gonna say
to your record company,

"Look, I'm not gonna be
in this video."

I think that's fairly good
consolation prize. Really.

Five absolutely
gorgeous supermodels

that people
still want to look at today.

♪ Rock and roll TV
Rock and roll TV ♪

It changed the whole face
of how videos were done.

The video said everything.

It was genius, and it
was a revolutionary thing.

George had raised the bar
to a whole new level.

It felt like a big statement.

It was really well done.

It could have been a disaster.

It was a specific group of
women that George wanted,

that had just been
on the cover of BritishVogue

that was shot
by Peter Lindbergh.

It was, like,
"He wants you five."

"And it has to be
all of you five."

♪ Sometimes the clothes
Do not make the man ♪

Now in fashion, there is
no supermodels like this.

This is gone.

It was like the magic moment
of modeling.

I suppose
that's the lasting memory

of that whole video shoot
was the cost of the girls

and the fees they were charging
on a daily basis.

That was pretty groundbreaking.

George pitched it to me in L.A.
and his exact words were...

"You're the leader of the gang, and unless
you say yes, the rest of the girls won't."

His people talked to my people.

Yeah, you know
how it went back then.

I was like,
"Well, is Christy doing it?"

♪ Freedom

♪ You've got to give
What you take ♪

My scene where I'm sort of
crawling on the ground

and you just see my eyes.

People think I know, that slow,
so, like, sexy and mysterious

is just really,
I didn't know the words.

I prepared
in the trailer with George.

He showed me how to hit the
notes and it's hard to lip sync.

David Fincher was directing it.

And even though the shot ended up
looking like the steamy bath scene,

there was no water in the tub.

I was freezing cold.

I was covered in glycerin
to make my skin shiny.

And I, kind of, thought, "I hope
Fincher knows what he's doing."

I remember David and George
working closely together.

He was, you know, right there,
looking through the lens at time.

Everything suited each girl.

So, I think it was just strong
and we were all so different.

It's such a fun song.

When you listen to the words and kind of
a statement, it has much more meaning,

and I feel, like,
that whole time

George Michael
was about him saying,

"Enough, like, you guys tried
to prepackage me and sell me"

"in a way
that wasn't authentic."

♪ ...true somehow

♪ All we have to see

♪ Is that I don't belong
To you

♪ And you don't belong
To me, yeah, yeah

♪ Freedom
I won't let you down

♪ Freedom
I will not give you up ♪

You can see the biker jacket, which is burning
like the fire, so, it's like symbolic.

I got the impression he's saying,
like, that chapter's closed

and I'm done being
public figure pop star.

The burning of the jacket,
the exploding guitar,

the exploding jukebox was me
just saying I'm sick of this.

I really can't cope with it.

♪ Freedom

♪ You got to give
What you take

Not only were we not going to get
him appearing in promotional videos,

but we weren't going to get
his image on the album sleeve.

We won't get to get his name
on the album sleeve.

Would I have chosen the album
sleeve that wasn't the beach shot

taken from 1940 or whenever
it was? Yeah.

Would I have liked his name
on that?

Yeah, of course I would.

A lot of people are just pimping
themselves out 24/7.

You know what I mean?

There's a mystique
about George Michael.

♪ But today the way
I play the game

♪ Has got to change,
Oh, yeah

♪ Now I'm gonna get
Myself happy ♪

Making records, it's fun.

And then you have to talk
about it, which is not fun.

Yeah, I thought it was bonkers.

But then it all makes sense,
doesn't it?

When I spoke
to theLos Angeles Times

about stepping back
from promotion,

Frank Sinatra wrote me
an open letter

that just said, you know,
"Get over it."

"Be glad that God gave you a gift
and get out there and use it."

I don't think he wrote
the letter.

I actually believed that
was the work of a publicist,

not the work of a genius.

What a wonderful letter.

Here, probably, the greatest male
singer of all time is saying,

"Embrace your talent,
enjoy the success.

Don't be threatened by it."

Now, even though
he's the greatest singer

that ever walked the planet,
as far as I'm concerned,

I wasn't taking any advice
from Frank Sinatra.

You can't put a gun to any
creative person's head and say,

"Create, write, promote,
market, whatever."

You just have to go with it.

That's what we had to do.

I had spent
six or seven years of my life,

working, working, working,
writing, music, music, music.

And then I had this desire
to escape.

The basis for me going to do the shows
in Rio was I wanted to see Brazil.

And I think I made it
conditional that 30 of my friends

would be flown out to Brazil.

We had our own private island.

Absolutely beautiful.

I'm actually wearing today...

Some sweat pants. They're very
tight at the bottoms.

This is because I don't want to drop
raw sewage over the city of Rio.

♪ So, you want to be free

♪ To live your life
The way you wanna be

♪ Will you give if we cry?

♪ Will we live
Or will we die?

♪ Tainted hearts
Heal with time

♪ Shoot bad love so we can

In the front
of this 160,000 people,

there was this guy over on the
right hand side of the stage

that has fixed me with this
look and he was so cute.

I was so distracted by him.

But I stayed away from that
end of the stage for a while.

Because otherwise, I thought I
was gonna get really distracted

and forget the words
or something. You know?

♪ Is there still a part of you
That wants to live?

♪ Solitary sister

♪ Is there still a part of you
That wants to give?

The moment I looked at him,
I got the feeling

that told me I was going
to know him very well

and that he was going to be
a part of my life.

♪ Is there still a part of you
That wants to give? ♪

Anselmo was the first time I think
I really loved someone selflessly.

It was, kind of, immediate.

Everybody, with the exception
of my family,

was introduced to him
very, very quickly

because I felt immediately
that everything had changed.

All our friends knew, of course.

I remember seeing him
and just thinking

how I just was feeling
so happy for him.

The two of them met
and changed George's life.

It's very hard to be proud
of your own sexuality

when it hasn't brought you
any joy.

Once it is associated
with joy and love,

it's easy to be proud
of who you are.

The first time you actually
believe somebody loves you,

that's a wonderful moment
in your life,

and it was a wonderful
six months.

What a poser.

He was just very full
of energy, very loving.

I was happier than I'd ever
been in my entire life.

He didn't care who saw him
with Anselmo.

He'd found something.

He'd found what he was looking
for, you know?

By the time I met Anselmo,

I had made the decision to
jump off the merry-go-round,

and I was already in the early
stages of my confrontation with Sony.

Recording an album,
and then saying,

"I'm not going to promote it
or I'm not going to market it.

I'm not going to participate,"

that's a serious detriment
to an album.

I think we had
some personality issues

between people in the UK and
people in the American company.

Why wasn't this
"Faith Part Two"?

We wanted
all those nice pop songs.

What do you mean he's not
going to promote?

We're not going to have
his image on it?

It's like saying,
"I'll do a movie but I..."

I won't do one premiere.

"I won't do any interviews
for the movie."

You know, you say, "Oh, my God."

The moment someone says
to a musician or to an artist,

make more of them or do
more of that, it kills you.

And I think probably for someone
like George, especially,

at certain times in his career,
he must've felt quite trapped.

In England, they made an effort, and
Listen Without Prejudice outsold Faith.

And lots of places
it outsold Faith,

because I think it
was actually a better album.

But it wasn't about that.

It was about the total and utter
lack of respect

that the minute somebody doesn't
see themselves as a commodity,

that they have the audacity
to think,

"My God, I am actually
creating something

and I must keep myself sane
in order to do that."

The minute somebody does that,
they're over.

We tried very, very hard

to get the American executives
to come over

and listen to why George felt
the way that he did

from George, 'cause there was
no-one better to put that forward

than George Michael telling
them, as he had told us.

The reasons how he really
felt deep down.

But they wouldn't come.

There were executives that came
to London in 1989

and we played them the record.

I explained to them that Faith had
taken me to the edge of madness,

that I wanted to be a long-term
player in this business.

Now, any logical CEO, I think,
would have thought,

"Okay, he's gonna do this.

He'll get it out of his system
and he'll get back on board."

George is very stubborn.

He's incredibly one of the most
stubborn people I've ever met.

But he was right to be stubborn
on this occasion,

and I'm sure the record company
recoiled in horror.

It was very much a clash
of cultures, really.

In America, there was
definitely a door that shut.

♪ But losing everything

♪ Is like the sun going down
On me ♪

Mr. Elton John!

I managed to have a couple of really
big hit records in the meantime.

There was the track with Elton,

and, of course, theRed Hot
+ Dance album came out.

♪ Hey, you're just
Too funky for me

♪ I gotta get inside of you

♪ And I'll show you heaven,
If you let me ♪

It was very difficult
to make that video.

It all fell apart, not for
any of George's reasons.

It just fell apart,
and he saved it.

Linda, bless her heart,
came back again.

We got a bit drunk.

I won't say any more about that.

It's your stupid, stupid song.

This would look great on me.

I think George definitely
should wear this.

♪ If that's all right, yeah ♪

So, I realized at that point that
if a number one around the world

was not going to reinstate any
kind of relationship with Sony,

then nothing was.

I don't want to pick a fight.

I just wanted to work with
people who wanted to work with me

and who would have some respect
for the fact that I was growing up.

It was deeply,
deeply troubling times,

because you could see this, it's like trying
to watch a train wreck in slow motion.

There is nothing you could
do to stop it.

Anselmo and I were in LA when

he was advised
to go for his test.

He hadn't been tested
for a while

and he was absolutely
healthy looking,

more than healthy looking,
when I first met him.

Within a month or two
of meeting him,

he had a flu
that he couldn't get rid of,

and some red marks
that came up on his chest.

And I remember the kind
of terror of...

me understanding
that this was possibly

the beginning of, you know,
an illness.

I remember him
leaving the house and...

To this day, I remember
looking at the sky and saying,

"Don't you dare do this to me."

I mean, I was 20...
27 going on 28.

But at that point in time,
you think,

like, that's a lifetime
to have waited to be loved.

Anselmo had the test

in Brazil.

I went home to my family for Christmas
and sat at the Christmas table

not knowing whether my partner,
whom the people

sitting around the table
did not know about,

not knowing whether this man I was
in love with was terminally ill.

And, therefore, not knowing whether
I potentially was terminally ill.

That Christmas was probably
the darkest,

darkest, most frightening
time in my life.

I remember my publicist calling me to
tell me that Freddie Mercury had died.

And he died of HIV obviously.

And I remember I was...
I was crying and

I actually just thought... I
mean, bless him, I was really sad

that Freddie had passed away.

But, of course, I was crying
about something else entirely,

which was the fact that both my
partner and possibly myself were HIV.

It was an incredibly difficult
period for George,

because it was something that he
had to hold close to his chest.

I was just absolutely devastated

to find out that he had
a terminal illness.

I was just devastated.

Even by the time Freddie's
tribute had been put together,

I was still sworn to secrecy.

I just wanted perfection.

Which is what I always wanted.

So, I went for five days
to rehearse.

Everyone else went
for an afternoon.

I went for five days.

Because it had to be perfect.

Because I had to take all those
years of standing in a bedroom,

with I don't think
I had a hairbrush,

but I would stand
and sing to the mirror.

And that child was going
to take all that knowledge

all that subconscious easing
in of music from that group

and sing one of Freddie
Mercury's songs to the world

after his passing
in front of my lover.

In my subconscious view,
this was, very probably

the most important performance
of my life.

♪ Somebody to love

♪ He works hard

♪ Everyday♪ Everyday

♪ I try and I try and I try

♪ But everybody wants
To put me down

♪ They say I'm goin' crazy

♪ They say I got a lot
Of water in my brain

♪ I got no common sense

♪ He's got
Nobody left to believe

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

I was so overwhelmed by the sadness
of singing the songs of this man

that I absolutely worshipped
as a child, who had passed away

in the same manner that my first
live-in partner was going to experience.

It was just overwhelming to me.

♪ Ooh, somebody

♪ Anybody, find me somebody
To love

♪ Can anybody find me

♪ Someone to love?

♪ I got no feel,
I got no rhythm

♪ I just keep losing
My beat

♪ You just keeping losing
The beat

♪ I'm okay, I'm all right

♪ He's all right,
He's all right

♪ I ain't gonna face
No defeat

♪ I just gotta get out
Of this prison cell

♪ Someday I'm gonna be free,
Lord

I'm very proud of that performance,
but Anselmo was in the crowd

and I went out there knowing I had to honor
Freddie Mercury and I had to pray for Anselmo.

Wanna hear every single person.

See every single hand.

And this was the loudest
prayer of my life.

♪ Somebody to love

♪ Somebody to love

♪ Somebody to love

♪ Somebody to love

♪ Somebody to love

♪ Somebody to love

♪ Somebody to love

♪ Somebody to love

I mean, it was the most
incredible crowd I've ever seen.

Everybody knew
every single word.

And there's a real, kind of,
spine-tingling moment for me

where I handed over the mike
to the audience, and they,

not only sang the note, but they
did the kind of descending scale

that Freddy had done.

♪ Somebody to

Come on!

♪ Love

Yeah!

♪ Find me somebody
To-ooh love

♪ Ooh

♪ Find me somebody
To-ooh love

♪ Somebody, somebody, somebody
To love

♪ Find me, find me
Find me, find me, find me

♪ Ooh, somebody to love

♪ Find me somebody to love

♪ Find me somebody to love

♪ Anybody, anywhere, anybody

♪ Find me somebody to love,
Love

♪ Ooh ♪

It's not an accident
that the performance

probably most well-known
in my career was sung

to my lover who was dying,

who was the reason I had the
strength to go to battle with Sony.

I saw it as, if I'm going to
do nothing but love this man

and care for this man, if I could
do nothing beneficial as a musician

because I cannot even think
of a note,

maybe I have a chance to do
something truly special

and change the standard
record contract forever.

I didn't think that it would end
up in court, at the time

because I really thought
that sanity will prevail.

Well, I was wrong.

It didn't.

Our relationship broke down
because they said,

"No, you are this kind
of artist."

This is the kind of artist
that we sell.

This is the kind of artist
we know how to sell.

And if you don't want to sell
yourself that way,

and you want to go off
on this journey

"and find this other audience,
we're not gonna support you."

The relationship
had completely disintegrated.

George flew out to New York
with his publisher

and basically,
it was at that meeting

that George told
the head people at Sony

that he'd wanted out of
the deal, wanted a divorce.

What he was basically saying is,
"How can I stay with a company...

"who won't support me in any
way when I feel so strongly?"

We issued a writ
three days later.

I will never know if Sony and
I would have ended up in court

had Anselmo not become ill.

I was absolutely terrified
of losing him

and the prospect of watching
him die of AIDS.

I was in LA and the phone rang,

and I was told that Anselmo's best
friend in Brazil was on the phone.

And...

then it all goes blurry
for a long time.

He still, 23 years later,
brings a tear to my eye.

He was... He was my savior.

It's still very hard for me to
explain how finding a companion

at that stage in my life
changed me.

And such a beautiful companion,
such an amazing person.

I think, to some degree,
the Sony court case

was a perfectly good place
to put my anger.

I used to go and run on the
treadmill everyday and play squash

and do everything I could to get
rid of all of this anger and fear.

But the best place for it
was court number one, really.

George, come on, George.

There was the part of my
personality that could say,

"Okay, fuck this!"

This can't all be bad.

I've got to do something good
with this time in my life

"and change the path
of artists' lives."

One of Britain's most successful
pop singers, George Michael,

is today asking a High Court
judge to declare

his recording contract null
and void.

He says the contract with
Sony Music is too restrictive

and that the company takes
too much of the profits.

The deal that I was working from

was based upon the original deal

which I had signed with
Andrew, under duress.

And it recorded a demo of "Careless
Whisper", "Club Tropicana", "Wham Rap".

The head of the record company
of Innervison

turns up with these contracts and
we went to this greasy spoon cafe.

And he said "Look, if you don't sign
this now, the deal is going away."

"You won't have finished demos to
take away, you won't own them."

And we were on our own, we had
nobody with us, and we signed them.

When you start a career
with a ridiculous contract

"where someone is paying you
nothing on 12" records,

one and a half per cent on
the records that you do sell,

when you start from that point,

you know from that day on
not to trust the industry.

This was a worldwide, major
artist saying to a record company

that the basic contract which
record companies used was invalid.

If you really fall out
with the people

who control
your professional life,

you have a right to walk away.

I think that is the right
of every individual.

And the music industry takes away
that right from every artist it signs.

George is very, very brave.

He's not afraid of anybody.

And he thought
he was being wronged

and he went out
and fought his own corner.

What we couldn't do was stand up
and say, "Yeah, you're right."

"These contracts are slavery and they
shouldn't be allowed, Your Honor."

We weren't going to do that!

You would have artist
after artist queuing up

to take their record company
into court.

I can't think of one artist
that supported me.

Not one.

I know of a lot of artists who sat
back and waited for the result.

But that's a different thing.

Artists like George Michael
come along, if you're lucky,

once-in-a-lifetime.

My feelings as the court case
went on were that we'd lost him.

How could you ever patch
that up?

I'd never let on to George
of the problems

until after
he'd been in the witness box.

And I said,
"It's not going well."

And, you know, you shouldn't
raise your hopes at this stage.

The pop star George Michael
loses his High Court battle

to break away from
his record company, Sony.

In dismissing the claim,
the judge, Mr. Justice Parker,

ruled that the contract
was both reasonable and fair.

The 30-year-old singer had
argued that the agreement

was stifling
his artistic development

and he threatened never to
record for Sony again if he lost.

George Michael says he'll
appeal against the judgment,

which he said condemned him
to "professional slavery."

Having received this judgment, I would
like to reiterate the reasons why

I embarked
upon these proceedings.

I have no right to resign.

In fact, there is no such thing as resignation
for an artist in the music industry.

Effectively, you sign a piece of
paper at the beginning of your career

and you are expected
to live with that decision,

good or bad, for the rest
of your professional life.

I shall obviously take full
advice from my lawyers.

But the initial view is that we
have very strong grounds for appeal

and we hope to have the appeal
heard as quickly as possible.

Thank you very much for your
time and for all the support

that I've received since this
action began. Thank you.

George,
will you sing for Sony again?

After the court case
was finished and I'd lost

and not just lost,
I lost completely.

I mean, I lost on everything.

Every count.

They then called up and, you know,
kind of said, "Well, isn't...

Can't we patch things up?"
kind of thing.

But I knew in reality
that was like a formality.

They had to do that.

But ultimately, the whole thing
was a complete waste of time.

And I regret it to this day.

Looking back 25 years on, my first
thought is that I just think it's sad.

When you win a court case, you're
normally out there high-fiving

and putting the drinks in.

But I don't think anyone felt, not on
my team anyway, a sense of euphoria.

Certainly, there
were no winners.

I mean, we won the court case,
but we didn't win anything.

You've actually lost because you've
lost the support of that artist.

George said in passing, "David Frost
wants to do an interview with me."

And I said,
"You've got to do it."

They know you're a man
of principle.

"Now, you've got to be a man of
principle who's totally obsessed."

Well...

What happens now
is that we go to appeal.

I can't see
any other way around it.

I mean, of course,
there is the ultimate option

that an appeal at the House of
Lords, which would take forever.

It was all bluff.

I mean, they intended to take it
to the Court of Appeal in the UK.

Never to the House of Lords, never
to the European Court of Justice.

They can only lose
by going to appeal.

Everybody was watching,

including David Geffen.

No-one was going to let a talent like
that flounder out there for very long.

So, David Geffen contacts
Sony and said to them,

"Listen, guys,

he's never, ever going to make
another piece of music for you ever."

"You might as well let him go."

I flew to New York, had a
very quick meeting there,

where basically, you know, we agreed
that the contract would be sold.

I was like in seventh heaven.

Sony said, "We want
this transfer fee" and

it would've bought you
a top class footballer.

In fact, it most probably even bought
you Lionel Messi in those days.

In the end, he did whatever he
did with David Geffen and Virgin

and basically he bought
himself out of the contract.

Was it a good decision
in hindsight of history?

I'm not sure.

George unquestionably
lost the battle but won the war.

Because he got the freedom
that he craved for.

'Cause he felt he had
to get away.

Peace to George Michael.

Peace.

I think the whole experience
of losing Anselmo,

the period of grief,
roughly two years,

that I didn't write a note
of music...

And then, the absolute knowledge

that the next album
I was going to write

would be about grief
and recovery.

Older is my greatest moment.

♪ Kindness

♪ In your eyes I guess

♪ You heard me cry

♪ You smiled at me

♪ Like Jesus to a child

I sat at a keyboard,

played a very simple
string part,

added a very,
very gentle guitar part.

And my way of making music
is very strange.

It's very strange.

Generally, I put my backing tracks
together very simply on keyboards.

In this case, I think,
I've added a little guitar.

But the moment I think
there is something coming,

there is something
important coming,

I shove everybody
out of the room, I go in.

And then I just sing on
repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.

I sing, and I sing, and I sing.

This whole total stream
of consciousness rubbish

that people would laugh their heads
off if they heard what I was singing.

And then, I sang
"Like Jesus to a Child".

Simple as that.

And I thought, "Oh, my God."

That's him.

That's him and me.

"Like Jesus to a child."

Then I was so excited that I'd
finally been able to put my feelings

about Anselmo into words.

And within a week of writing it,

I was singing it in front
of the Brandenburg Gate,

playing my first kind of
public tribute to him there.

♪ Well, I've been loved

♪ So, I know just
What love is

♪ And the lover
That I kissed

♪ Was always by my side...

I guess, "Jesus to a Child" is just the
story of me being rescued from myself

by someone
with an incredibly good heart.

♪ Oh the lover I still miss

♪ Was Jesus to a child

I just celebrate people
who are able to use their joys

and their pains
to really help people to heal.

I think I wrote the best,
most healing piece of music.

It was all systems go
from that point on.

♪ In the absence of security

♪ I made my way
Into the night ♪

♪ Stupid Cupid keeps on
Calling me

♪ And I see lovin'
In his eyes

♪ I miss my baby

For anyone who had a clue about any
kind of symbolism, I was coming out.

And you know,
"Fast Love" makes me laugh,

because it's all about
cruising and covering my pain.

Blunting out that pain
with fast love.

Simple as that.

♪ I do believe that we are
Practicing the same religion ♪

There's not one track on that
album that is not about Anselmo,

about the risk of AIDS, which
was "Spinning The Wheel".

♪ Watch you spinning

♪ That wheel for me

♪ You've got a thing
About danger

♪ Ain't you getting
What you want from me?

♪ You've got a thing
About strangers

♪ Baby that's what
We used to be

♪ That's what we used to be

♪ You've got a thing
About danger baby

♪ I guess the hungry
Just can't see

♪ One of these days

♪ You're going
To bring some home to me

I believe I was destined to
feel that particular pain

so that I could do the ultimate
with my music in terms of healing.

And the number of people
who come up to me and say,

"Oh, you don't know how much
you helped me withOlder

when I lost this person
or when I lost that person."

♪ Give me time

♪ And I'll lead you

♪ Back to... ♪

I remember theUnplugged
really, really vividly.

Apart from the fact that I felt
something magical happened,

I knew that everything
that came out of my mouth,

was going to be in tune,
I don't know why.

I suppose I wasn't used
to playing in small venues

and just the fact that I could
hear everything I was doing

because there wasn't
a lot of amplification,

I just lost myself
in singing that night.

♪ She takes the back road
And the lane

♪ Past the school that has
Not changed

♪ In all this time

♪ She thinks of when the boy
Was young

♪ All the battles
She had won

♪ Just to give him life

♪ That man

♪ She loved that man

♪ For all his life

♪ And now we meet
To take him flowers

♪ And only God knows why

I came out to my parents
the day after Anselmo died.

My mother, bless her, wasn't...

Wasn't...

She wasn't slightly fazed
by the gay thing,

which she probably
worked out years before.

She was just devastated
that I had gone through

a year and a half of terror,
you know, without her knowing.

Therefore, she couldn't
help me in any way.

And I think that was really
really painful for her.

The issue of me being gay
was nothing.

I wrote a letter that flowed almost as
though my hand was moving itself, you know.

This letter telling them

how much I loved him and how
much joy there was for me

in my sexuality
and not to worry for me

and not to feel like
I had suffered anything.

Trying to, really trying to

save my mum from any pain that she
thought she could have saved me from.

♪ "Take care, my love,"
He said

♪ You have been loved ♪

And I'm so glad,
I'm so glad my mom was there.

And I'm so glad, you know,
for the first time ever,

and definitely the only time
ever on film,

I actually said hello
to my mom in the audience.

Hello, Mum.

And it was the last time
she ever saw me play.

I had about six month's period where things
were okay, and I was recording Older.

Then I found out
that my mother had cancer.

I was so spiritually crushed after
Mum died, so crushed, and so...

Felt so bloody picked on
by the gods, you know.

For all of my adult life, she was
phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal.

A terrible, horrible loss.

From the day that I found out about my
partner to the day that I could say,

I actually felt that I was well on the mend
from my mother, it was just constant fear.

It was either fear of death or fear
of the next bereavement, you know?

And I just took it
very, very badly.

Very badly indeed.

I've never felt
that kind of depression.

I felt it was something
different to grief.

It was on top of grief because I
was grieving for my mother still.

But it was something else.
It was...

I felt like a sportsman
that had had a terrible injury

in the middle of an
incredibly successful career.

I'm so, so much more aware

of how intrinsic to my entire being
it is, to be able to create music.

Having lost it for three
or four years of my life,

I really did, I lost the music
at the center of me,

which was like losing God
for me.

It really was. It was the
darkest, darkest time.

But even when I've lost control,

even when I've really hit
rock bottom,

I believe that the red line
is still there.

I'd just like to say very genuinely,
I am really touched by this.

The first half of the '90s
was pretty crap for me,

and 1996 has, kind of,
made it all worthwhile.

Thank you very much.

I think people genuinely adore
George, not just the music,

but they feel for him
and his struggles.

I hadn't actually planned on being
internationally humiliated that day.

Popstar George Michael

is arrested in a Los Angeles
public toilet.

Ladies and gentleman,
welcome, please, George Michael.

I have to thank...
this is a great honor for me,

because my mum would
allow me to stay up

only to watch theParkinson show.

So, I'm very, very privileged
to be here.

And she probably wouldn't have
been quite as thrilled

that I had to take my willy out
to get on here.

"What were you thinking?"

That's what everyone
wants to know.

"What were you thinking?"

I responded to something, and I responded
to, you know, very handsome American cop.

You know, they don't send
Colombo in there to just...

Everyone had this go at him because
he didn't come out when he was 18.

Loads of people didn't come out
when they were 18.

Especially when they've got signed
at some fucking giant record label.

But boy, did he come out later
in a big way.

♪ And yes, I've been bad

♪ Doctor won't you do with me
What you can?

When he came out, I wanted to
go, "George, you don't need.

We know!

"Don't make a song
and dance about it."

And he did. He did a song
about it, didn't he?

Did a whole song and dance
about it.

♪ I never really
Said it before

There is one recurring theme
to my actions,

as a celebrity
or as a person, as an adult.

And that is if I am pressured
into anything, I react against it.

My reaction to this
was I'm not gonna be like

another one of these people
that's peeking out

from behind the net curtains
a month later, you know?

♪ I think I'm done
With the sofa

♪ I think I'm done
With the hall

♪ I think I'm done
With the kitchen table, baby

♪ Let's go outside

One of my closest friend said
that his mother said

"He's not the first,
he won't be the last

"he's just the biggest."
And I thought I like that.

He disarms the press, 'cause
they think they've got him.

They say, "Oh, you did this."
And he goes, "Yep."

"And?"

♪ And yes, I've been bad

♪ Doctor, won't you do with me
What you can

And then when they went,
"Ah, you're gay!"

He went, "Yeah.
Sorry, I didn't call you."

You know what I mean?
He didn't call everyone.

I think the truth is,

I'm just not afraid
of being laughed at.

InExtras, George
played George Michael

on Hampstead Heath looking
for fun.

Ricky came to me
with it written,

and I think I
made a few changes.

I only got 20 minutes, actually,
I'm on my lunch break.

He just nailed it.

He gave us that sort of decadent,
almost bored rock star...

Lunch break?

Yeah, I'm doing
community service.

Are you still doing that?

Not that one.
No, I'm doing another one now.

I'm picking up litter now.

All right.

What did you do wrong this time?

Fly tipping.

Believe it or not.

All right.

Yeah, I was helping Annie Lennox
out with an old fridge freezer

and she said,
"Shall I call the council?"

I said, "No, don't bother
with that."

"There's a skip
at the end of my street."

So, 2:30 in the morning, we're tipping
it in there and fucking police show up.

How did they get called in?

Well, it
was Stewart Copeland's Skip,

and he called Sting and Sting
called the fucking council

because he's
a fucking do-gooder.

Now me and Annie
are picking up litter.

It was great.
It was really, really great.

I was really, really knocked out
on how good of an actor he was.

And such a sport.

I think people have
a wrong impression of him

because they only see
what they get in the press

or in the newspapers
or whatever.

But he's hilariously funny.

Why can't I come
to Comic Relief?

Because you're a joke, George.
It's embarrassing.

I can't walk into Comic Relief
with you.

Comic Relief's about helping
people like you.

And I did laugh
at the headlines.

I did laugh at some of the
things that were said, you know.

When it came to the car thing,
I did something wrong.

When it came to the Hampstead
Heath thing, fuck off...

Yeah?

Love this one, don't you?

♪ Call me good

♪ Call me bad

♪ Call me
If you want to, baby

♪ George and I know
That you say

Come on.

♪ And I know
I made you happy

♪ With wild day that
You'd ever had

♪ Baby

♪ I'm your baby

I love it.

James' little excursion
with me in the Volvo

has turned to something
world conquering, you know.

Without that sketch, I don't think
I'd have a successful show in America

because there was something
so joyful about it.

There was something so brilliant
about being with him that made us go,

"I wonder if we could do that
with other artists."

Again, he came to me with the basis
of it, and I made a few changes,

and I'm sure they would
have made them funnier,

but they weren't sure
how far I was going to go.

Whereas I was prepared
to go as far as it took.

Well, I better get going
because, you know,

I'm gonna have to get back
to work soon.

Come on, then, you.
I'll give you a quickie.

Boy, I'm not that desperate,
matey.

Cheeky bastard.

♪ I'll be
Your sexual freak...

I think he's challenged the
stereotype of the gay man as well,

and what was acceptable.

Because, you know, even when people
were out in, like the 60s, the 70s,

they were a safe, sexless,
gay man.

Whereas George went,
I've got a cock.

And that frightened some people.

Yeah, literally, I imagine.

You know something about George,
he's really sexy.

You know? Really sexy.

And living with that,
good-looking, sexy, talented...

You know, it's tough out there.

He's very hairy, isn't he?

♪ Doing it to me, to me

♪ I know that you're horny

♪ But there's something about
That Bush ain't right...

♪ Right, right, right... ♪

There's so many different
facets to George.

And you can see him growing
as an artist

and moving away from the
original stuff into a more

beautiful kind of Edith Piaf,
Frank Sinatra territory.

But it's George.

♪ I was the kid
With the drum

♪ Say, don't you remember?

♪ They called me Al

♪ It was Al all the time

♪ Say, don't you remember?

♪ I'm your pal!

♪ Brother, can you spare
A dime?

♪ Buddy, can you spare

♪ A dime? ♪

George can sing
with Stevie, Aretha or Elton.

And, as Tony Bennett said, "You
know, everyone took two weeks.

George came in and did it
in a day."

♪ How do you keep
The music playing?

♪ When I feel for her

I just loved him.
He was very friendly.

We got along great.

He just walked in very prepared
and he was so spontaneous.

We did it in one take.

I couldn't believe
how equipped he was.

♪ May not see...

And I remember saying, "Boy, this guy
is going to be around a long time."

♪ Forever ♪

I really am not in the business
of selling myself anymore.

When I do it,
I want to do it properly.

Mostly I just said I respect making
music, kind of like, I know, like,

How much are we gonna shout
at the end of the day?

It's the art form that you love,
that you woke up that morning

and had to go to the studio
and record it

because it was like
bursting inside of you.

♪ It's like a conversation

♪ Where no-one stops
To breathe

♪ Is it my imagination?

♪ Or did God already leave
The table?

♪ Such destruction

Music is a funny thing.

You have to remember the
language that's forever spoken.

And yet, it is that language
that we all understand.

♪ And the satellite says

♪ "Take a look
At all we have"

♪ But the old man says

♪ "You want my family,
For your liberty

♪ I can't do that"

You're writing songs kind
of to set yourself free.

You're speaking from your truth.

You're speaking from your life

and four million, five million, ten
million people are like, "Me too."

That's the payoff.

♪ Whether they be amber,
Green or blue

♪ There's a piece of God
Staring back at you

Funnily enough,

in the last five,
six years of my life,

I've finally come to terms
with the fact

that I'm not like other
people at all.

And maybe that is why
I'm a star.

Maybe that is the bit that I've
never actually been able to accept.

And since I was outed, I feel like I've
genuinely learned to respect myself.

I just believed I wasn't a big enough a
character to support that kind of fame.

And actually, I understand that
I never was like other people,

and I shouldn't have been
disappointed in myself

for not being like other people.

♪ Children in his arms

♪ He turns his back

Okay. It's fine.

The moment I finished the track
"Patience", I remember driving home,

you know,
listening to this album

that I never thought
would get finished

or made actually,
at some points,

and remember thinking
well, that is...

That's enough.

I finally thought,
you know what?

If a bus hit me tomorrow,

I would be happy with the
music I left in the world.

♪ Duh-du-du-duh

♪ Duh-du-du-duh

♪ As around the sun

♪ The Earth knows
She's revolving

I absolutely, definitely know

that George Michael
fits into the category

of a great artist,
a great performer.

♪ Just as hate knows
Love's the cure

♪ You can rest
Your mind assured

♪ That I'll be loving...

You could hear pain,
you could hear joy,

I mean, you can hear everything.

♪ As now can't reveal
The mystery

♪ Of tomorrow

Mary J Blige and George Michael
doing "As", it was amazing!

The marriage of the two of them

was just a magical experience
of that song.

And I was in awe
when I heard it.

♪ Until the rainbow
Burns the stars

♪ Out of the sky

♪ Until the ocean covers
Every mountain high

♪ Until the dolphins fly
And parrots live at sea

♪ Until we dream of life
And life becomes a dream

♪ Now ain't that loving you? ♪

I know him
as an extremely gifted artist,

and I embrace the records
that he made

with Aretha and Whitney, probably
my two greatest vocalists.

♪ If we take this chance♪
If we take this chance

♪ And extend
To each other romance

♪ And I hope

♪ Baby, I hope

You want to watch him,
you're interested in him,

you want to listen to him, you
want to know what he's got to say.

The impact that he's had, you have
to see when you go to his concerts.

You have to really see it.
It is phenomenal.

So, would you like
one more song?

The word I think I'm hearing
the most is...

♪ Freedom!

♪ Freedom!

♪ Freedom!

♪ You've gotta give
For what you take

♪ Freedom

♪ Freedom

When you play somebody
a record likeFreedom,

that music is going to continue
to mean something to people,

like, as long as it's heard.

♪ Freedom! ♪

And that's why you get
to have a three-decade career.

♪ All we have to do now

♪ Is take these lies

♪ And make them true somehow

♪ All we have to see

♪ Is that I don't belong
To you

♪ And you don't belong to me

♪ Yeah! Yeah!

♪ Freedom

♪ Freedom

♪ Freedom

♪ You've gotta give
For what you take

♪ Freedom

♪ Hold on to my freedom!

♪ Freedom

♪ You've gotta give
For what you take

♪ What you take

♪ Yeah

♪ Yeah!

♪ You've gotta give For
what you Give what you

♪ May not be what
You want from me

♪ Just the way
It's got to be! ♪

What would you be hopeful
for as a way to be remembered?

You mean what would I like
written on my...

Well, let's not go that far.

Okay.

But I mean, what would you hope the
legacy that's attached to your name is?

Great songwriter.

You know, and...

I think two things. One...

You know, great singer-songwriter
from a period of time

which I don't think
will be seen again, you know?

I don't think youth culture
will produce people like

myself and Madonna and Prince.

I don't think it's going
to do that anymore.

I think it's too fragmented now.

So, I'd like to be remembered
as one of those last,

kind of big stars in the sense that
there was a certain glamour to it.

But really, it's just the songs.

And I hope that people think
of me

as someone who had
some kind of integrity.

And I hope I'm remembered
for that in a way.

Very unlikely. I think it's all
been a waste of time.

Waste of effort.

♪ I'd say love
Was a magical thing

♪ I'd say love would keep us
From pain

♪ Had I been there

♪ Had I been there

♪ I would promise you
All of my life

♪ But to lose you would cut
Like a knife

♪ So, I don't dare

♪ No, I don't dare!

♪ 'Cause I never came close

♪ In all of these years

♪ You are the only one
To stop my tears

♪ And I'm so scared

♪ I'm so scared

♪ Take me back in time

♪ Maybe I can forget

♪ Turn a different corner

♪ And we never
Would have met

♪ Would you care?

♪ I don't understand it
For you, it's a breeze

♪ Little by little

♪ You've brought me
To my knees

♪ Don't you care?

♪ No, I've never come close

♪ In all of these years

♪ You are the only one
To stop my tears

♪ I'm so scared

♪ Of this love

♪ And if all that there is
Is this fear of being used

♪ I should go back
To being lonely

♪ And confused

♪ If I could, I would

♪ I swear

♪ Oh

♪ Yes, I swear

♪ If I could

♪ I would

♪ I swear ♪