Getting to know John Deacon with the help of Japanese fortune-teller Kiyoshibo Yasou in Music Life magazine (Japan), 1977. Larger resolution can be seen here.
“Since the left hand of the index finger is longer than the ring finger, will be successful and to work standing on top of the people.”
—Japanese fortune-teller Kiyoshibo Yasuo deciphering the hidden messages of John Deacon’s palm
A couple of weeks ago I posted about Japanese magazine Music Life and since that time I’ve continued to uncover some cool artifacts from the wildly popular vintage magazine such as this curious bit of strangeness—a somewhat clinical sounding dissection of Queen bassist John Deacon’s palm by a person the publication notes to be Japanese fortune-teller Kiyoshibo Yasou. A mysterious individual that I can find no reference for anywhere on the Internet outside of this odd little article from 1977.
Yasuo breaks down Deacon using an Astrological analysis, the process of Physiognomy (in which the evaluation of a person’s facial features is used to determine their personality type), a handwriting analysis and finally a deep-dive into Deacon’s palm to reveal his most innermost secrets. Of course when the excerpt from the magazine was translated into English using Google it produced a number of amusing, poorly translated revelations about the notoriously private Deacon that were strangely not terribly far from the truth. Such as this part of Deacon’s (a Leo by the way) astrological analysis:
Early success in life, is a lifetime of happiness. Romantic relationship too because it is (of his) masculine personality. Mote to women.
So because I’m deeply fascinated by this piece of rock and roll ephemera and a huge fan of the musical genius that is John Deacon I can tell you that Yasuo’s big reveal wasn’t that far off from reality. Deacon joined Queen when he was only nineteen-years-old which clearly equals “early success in life” by any reasonable standards. By the time he was 24 in 1975 he was already married to Veronica Tetzlaff and about to become a father for the first time after the devout Catholic become pregnant shortly after meeting Deacon at a disco. The couple has been married for 41 years have six children together which to many would be reflective of a “lifetime of happiness.”
I must say that overall I found Deacon’s amusing palm reading revealing as well as silly at times. Especially when it comes to the state of his gastrointestinal health and the skill of “standing on top of people” (included in the assessment of “Figure A” at the top of this post). Stay with me because here we go!
Figure B: the index finger and intelligence lines between the middle finger has stretched. This sweeping is the proof of good head.
Figure C: The horizontal line often is the lonely shop.
Figure D: Emotion line is divided for many present, one of them has been elongated. This is the person who sweeping have easy element becomes emotional. *(Analysis had been resting on another issue) * It does not have much thickness of the overall hand. Internal organs, care must be taken so easy especially break the gastrointestinal. It is not fatally bad phase, but as many fortune of something to struggling unfortunately.
Well I can’t lie. The unexpected prediction regarding Deacon’s gastrointestinal health did send me to check the Internet for any sign that he was or had been ill and came up (thankfully) with nothing. Which of course leads me to believe that perhaps Deacon took this information quite seriously back in 1977 and took a deep interest in maintaining his good health. However, there’s other stuff in the palm reading results that once again relate back to Deacon pretty accurately. In “Figure D” Yasuo divulges that Deacon has the tendency to become “easily emotional.” While this insight could quickly be chalked up to a random observation it actually isn’t when it comes to a man who was Queen’s “secret weapon.”
Deacon’s father passed away when he was only eleven—an incredibly difficult event which the soon-to-be musician struggled for years to recover from. When vocalist Freddie Mercury died in 1991 his passing affected Deacon profoundly, sending him into a deep depression (a condition he is said to have suffered from at various times in his life, just like many of us) and by 1997after playing a handful of gigs with the band sans Mercury he left Queen, retreated from the spotlight and according to his childhood friend, Robert Ahwai it’s unclear to this day if the musician has “ever come out of it.” As recently as 2014 when Queen was preparing to set back out on tour drummer Roger Taylor used the word “fragile” to describe Deacon who simply seems to not want anything to do with the music industry. Both Brian May and Taylor have said that they have had little to no contact with Deacon since he retired. May says his former bandmate wishes to be in his “own little universe.” Though this may sound a bit bleak I must remind you that as of 2016 Deacon (who turned 65 last month) was named one of Great Britain’s wealthiest residents when it comes those of the musical variety and is reportedly worth over $100 million bucks. Not too shabby for happily married father of six who “retired” almost twenty-years-ago.
So am I saying that a maybe (and possibly fictional) Japanese fortune teller was able to accurately foretell some of John Deacon’s future (as well as describe his past personal life) for a fluff piece in a music magazine? Probably not, but it sure makes for some pretty great mythology now doesn’t it? If you’re in need of a pallet cleanser after all that, then I’ve got just the thing for you—ass-kicking live footage of Queen:.
Queen performing ‘Tie Your Mother Down,’ and ‘Ogre Battle’ at London’s Earls Court, 1977.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Stunning images & footage of Queen’s first visit to Japan in 1975 & their triumphant return in 1976