Queen Album Review – Innuendo

The cover spread for Queen's Innuendo album. The front cover on the right features artwork of a happy jester with blonde hair, a blonde moustache and a black and white striped outfit, who is juggling colourful balls, while there are other colourful spheres floating around and above him. He appears to be standing in a field of globes showing blue seas and green areas of land. The back cover on the left has artwork of a gramophone standing in the centre, but it has feet and a tail to give it the feel of an animal like a dog. Shelving to the left and right has other instruments, but they also have large ears, as if listening to what the gramophone is playing.

By the time the 1990s began, Freddie Mercury’s health was in steep decline due to AIDS, which he was diagnosed with in 1987. The band denied it whenever they were asked about it, and the press couldn’t get definitive proof to back up the suspicions they’d had for at least a couple of years. But Freddie’s increasingly gaunt appearance fuelled the rumours, especially when the band accepted the award for Outstanding Contribution To British Music at the Brit Awards in 1990, to celebrate their 20th anniversary in the music business. A clearly emotional Brian May delivered their acceptance speech, with Freddie only having the energy for a quick “Thank you, goodnight” at the end. It would turn out to be Freddie’s last ever appearance in public, giving the footage particular poignancy in hindsight.

Behind the scenes however, tucked away at Mountain Studios in Montreux to avoid the intrusions of the media, Queen were busy in 1989 and 1990. Freddie was determined to keep recording until it was no longer possible, and the band agreed to credit all the songs they produced to the group as a whole to avoid any arguments, which made things a lot easier.

The Innuendo album that came out of those sessions in February 1991 was an immediate hit, going straight into the charts at number 1 in the UK for 2 weeks, and remaining in the top 10 for a further fortnight. It stayed in the top 100 for 19 weeks altogether until 22 June 1991, dropping out 5 months before Freddie passed away on 24 November. It then returned to the charts for a further 16 consecutive weeks from early December.

Colourful drawings of the 4 members of Queen, from the booklet with their Innuendo album. John is wearing a colourful jester's hat with bells on, and has a pointy white beard and curly moustache. Brian's hair is made of blue and green striped snakes, and his face is partially obscured by a white theatrical mask with colourful feathers sticking out of the top of it, as if he's just pulled it off to reveal himself. Freddie is wearing a black and white chequered top and has cats crawling over his shoulders plus a black cat on his head. Roger's outfit has red and white stripes along with blue stars, while a blue bandana around the top of his head has yellow stars and suns on it, and he has long blonde hair billowing out to the sides.

As an album in itself, it’s a beautiful mix of genres and themes in the way that Queen were renowned for, harking back to their 70s sound at times. But given what we now know about what the band were going through, it’s quite moving too, as there are clear references to the fact that things were drawing to an end. And while Freddie’s condition meant he was too unwell to go on tour, he still found it in himself to deliver some absolutely incredible vocals. So the difficult circumstances certainly didn’t diminish the quality of their work, and it’s widely regarded as one of their best albums.

A blue-tinted photo of the 4 members of Queen posing together, from the booklet with their Innuendo album.

One big frustration, however, is that the music videos have never had a proper release on DVD or Blu-ray, including the last one that Freddie ever recorded. They had been featured on the Greatest Flix II & Greatest Flix III VHS tapes, and some of them appeared on the Japanese-only Greatest Karaoke Hits VHS & DVD releases with on-screen lyrics. But they were omitted from the Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD, and while fans clamoured for a third DVD of videos to tie up all the loose ends, it never materialised. Thankfully they are on Youtube, but I like to have my own personal DVDs and Blu-rays of their work where possible.

So with all that said, here’s the latest in my series of in-depth Queen album reviews, looking at each of the tracks on Innuendo, including alternate versions, music videos, live performances, covers and more where appropriate. I hope you enjoy!

P.S. If you’re wondering why I seem to have skipped an album after my recent post about A Kind Of Magic, it’s because I already reviewed the Collector’s Edition of The Miracle 4 years ago. I have added a few little extras to it, but I didn’t need to write a whole new post.

Contents

Tracks:

  1. Innuendo
  2. I’m Going Slightly Mad
  3. Headlong
  4. I Can’t Live With You
  5. Don’t Try So Hard
  6. Ride The Wild Wind
  7. All God’s People
  8. These Are The Days Of Our Lives
  9. Delilah
  10. The Hitman
  11. Bijou
  12. The Show Must Go On
  13. Non-Album B-Sides

For more info, see also:

1. Innuendo

Written by Freddie Mercury & Roger Taylor

See also: Ultimate Queen / Wikipedia / Song Facts

At 6½ minutes in length, with a complex musical arrangement incorporating a mixture of styles, this wonderful, epic song is effectively a follow-up to Bohemian Rhapsody. It was the longest single that Queen released in Freddie’s lifetime, and gave the band their third number 1 in the UK, finally coming a decade after the last one (Under Pressure). The 12″ version is identical to the original, but ends with an explosion after Freddie’s final line.

A particular highlight is the flamenco guitar solo by Steve Howe from Yes, which Brian then mirrors on the electric guitar. The band had persuaded Steve to be a guest on the song after playing him the full album, and he had a lot of fun with it. As a result, he has the honour of being the only guest guitarist on any studio recording of a Queen song, and in the liner notes he receives the following credit:

“Additional Wandering Minstrel Spanish Guitar – Somewhere In The Middle – by Steve Howe. Many thanks Steve.”

Music Video

An exquisite and very elaborate music video is used to accompany this song, including animated versions of Queen performing and appearing in some of their other promos, stock footage of wars and people folk dancing, a claymation sequence of performing jesters, and a drawing book sequence with more images of the band. It’s as much a work of art as the song itself and won several awards, including a Gold Camera Award from the American Film And Video Festival and a Monitor Award for Best Achievement In Music Video.

Live Performances

  • Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, Wembley Stadium, London on 20 April 1992 – Innuendo had been partly inspired by Led Zeppelin’s track Kashmir. So their lead singer Robert Plant joined the remaining members of Queen to perform the song at this event, and included a few lyrics from Kashmir in the middle. It was a valiant effort, as it’s very difficult to sing, but by his own admission he just didn’t have the power to do it justice, and forgot a few of the lyrics too. So the performance has been left off the DVD and Blu-ray releases of the concert at his request. His rendition of Crazy Little Thing Called Love was included though.
  • We Will Rock You – This version from Queen’s stage musical was released on the London soundtrack album. It heavily cuts the song down to just over 2 minutes, and mixes Freddie’s original vocals with backing harmonies by the cast and new music.
  • Queen + Adam Lambert – While they’ve never actually performed the song, as far as I’m aware, they have used a newly recorded version of the instrumental introduction to open some of their concerts, leading into the first song Now I’m Here.

Cover Versions

There are a lot of covers out there for this song, more than I was expecting really given how complex it is. So I’ll only list a selection here, while there are many others on my covers playlist linked earlier in this post.

The most well known singers to have tackled it are:

  • Bryan Adams – He once recorded a video of himself playing part of the song on acoustic guitar, which Brian May then shared with his followers, and it does sound quite nice.
  • Kerry Ellis – She’s performed the song really well whilst backed by an orchestra, during a set of concerts called The Music Of Queen: Rock And Symphonic Spectacular.

Beyond that, Wolf Entertainment have a whole series of covers from this album on their Youtube channel, recorded by various artists. In this particular instance, Space Elevator did their own take on Innuendo. I won’t mention every cover from that channel in this post, but they are on my covers playlist, and I will be mentioning a few of my favourites as I go along. It looks like their eventual aim is to release a Queen tribute album with all the tracks on it.

Next, a few hard rock and heavy metal bands have also covered the song on their albums:

And in terms of instrumentals, these iconic musical groups have both done it:

Finally, various tribute bands have covered the song too of course, with one of the best live performances by a group named after it, while other good examples are by Queen Machine and Killer Queen.

2. I’m Going Slightly Mad

Written by Freddie Mercury & Peter Straker

See also: Ultimate Queen / Wikipedia / Song Facts

This song is both amusing and moving, because it has a lot of enjoyably daft lyrics, taking inspiration from Noël Coward, but also represents the impact that AIDS was having on Freddie’s mind. Peter Straker isn’t directly acknowledged on the album for the lyrics he contributed, as all the songs were credited to Queen as a whole, but he and Freddie were close friends and spent a night laughing together as they came up with the words.

The song reached number 22 in the UK, which seems unfairly low, but also performed well in Europe, and surprisingly got to number 1 in Hong Kong.

Music Video

The music video is suitably silly and eccentric to go with the song. While it’s not the final video Freddie recorded, it is the last one in which he had creative input, by being involved in the storyboarding and filming process. And his elaborate outfit – including a wig made of bananas at one point, along with heavy makeup, a goth-style costume suit, white gloves and pointed shoes – was designed to hide the skin blemishes and weight loss brought on by his illness. He was still able to move around and perform really well though, which wouldn’t be the case for much longer. And it’s lovely that he still had such a big sense of humour despite – or indeed to help him cope with – what he was going through.

Meanwhile, we see Brian dressed as a penguin (accompanied by real ones), John posing as a jester, Roger wearing a kettle on his head and later riding a tricycle, and a man in a gorilla suit. Diana Moseley was responsible for all of the costumes, while other props to represent the lyrics are also used very creatively. So altogether it’s a lot of fun to watch.

The video was filmed in black and white, again as a way to disguise Freddie’s illness, apart from a brief burst of colour at the end. However, some colour footage was later included in a behind the scenes video called Mad In The Making, which was available as an exclusive download with the 2011 iTunes reissue of the album. The band are clearly enjoying themselves, and we see Freddie talking to director Rudi Dolezal about the section of the video where he crawls past the other band members on the sofa. It’s also interesting to see how a fake penguin on wheels is used to keep the real birds moving around, and hilarity ensues when one of them disrupts a photoshoot by making a mess. There’s even more footage that has been leaked online as well.

Furthermore, at the Freddie Mercury Exhibition at Sotheby’s in 2023, I saw a lovely collection of colour photos from the shoot, which sold for £22,860. Freddie’s outfit from the video was sold for £48,260, while the wig and accessories also went for £22,860.

4 photos from the shoot for the Queen video I'm Going Slightly Mad, showing Freddie Mercury with a bunch of bananas on his head, walking through rows of yellow flowers, posing with a man in a gorilla suit, and posing in a furry jacket.

Alternate Versions

  • Instrumental Version – This was released on Greatest Karaoke Hits. It’s nice to fully appreciate the instrumentation and effects this way.
  • Mad Mix – This version, included as a bonus track on the 2011 reissue of the album, was found on the original stereo master tape from 1990. It has some additional lyrics, effects and guitar elements, while also removing most of the percussion. So it’s pretty interesting.
  • Totally Bonkers – This is a fun little track that Freddie recorded for the 1991 fan club convention, with a simple arrangement and lyrics that are very different to the album version.

3. Headlong

Written by Brian May

See also: Ultimate Queen / Wikipedia / Song Facts

This fantastic fast rocker was originally intended for Brian’s first solo album, Back To The Light. But once he heard Freddie sing it, he changed his mind. And rightfully so, it’s brilliant. It peaked at number 14 in the charts, which is respectable but is much lower than it deserves in my opinion.

Music Video

The music video shows the band performing the song in the studio and having a laugh by the mixing desk, as well as lying on shelves to sing some of the harmonies. They’re clearly having fun, which comes across well, including Freddie sticking his tongue out at us.

It was the last music video that presented Freddie in colour, as I’m Going Slightly Mad and These Are The Days Of Our Lives were produced in black and white (although colour footage from those shoots has also been released).

The video also includes an extra little burst of guitar from Brian before Freddie sings “He used to be a man with a stick in his hand”. It’s the audio equivalent of a blink and you’ll miss it moment, but if you compare it to the album version it’s obvious.

Alternate Versions

There are quite a few demos and mixes of this song that have appeared over the years:

  • Embryo With Guide Vocal – This version was included on the 2011 reissue of the album. In some ways it’s similar to the final track, but it has Brian on lead vocals instead of Freddie, some verses are missing, and there are differences in the musical arrangement. So it’s very interesting to hear.
  • Early Demo – Freddie and Brian share vocal duties on this unreleased demo, with lyrics that are close to the final version, backed only by a simple drum beat and bassline.
  • Hints Of Innuendo Demo – This extract from the song, released on a promo cassette tape, is much like the final mix, but is a bit rougher with no backing vocals.
  • Instrumental – Featured in Queen’s video game The Eye.

There’s also apparently another guide vocal demo by Brian that was played at a convention, and a so-called KEWB version that speeds up the song and adds more guitar to it, which was on an unofficial CD called Demories Please Majesties, but I haven’t heard either of those.

Live Performances

4. I Can’t Live With You

Written by Brian May

See also: Ultimate Queen / Wikipedia / Song Facts

As with Headlong, this is another track that Brian originally wrote for his solo album Back To The Light, but the other members of Queen rather liked it too. He saw it as relating to pain he had experienced in his own life, but kept the lyrics more generalised on the theme of conflicting emotions so that anyone could relate to it.

Brian also remarked in an interview with Guitar World that they ended up keeping in a lot of elements from the rough demo they did originally, because they had trouble getting the mix right when they tried to add other things to it.

It turned out very nicely anyway, because it’s a great track with a catchy rhythm. It was only released as a single in America, reaching number 28 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.

Alternate Versions

  • Instrumental – This slightly remixed version was included in the video game The Eye.
  • Brian Malouf Remix – This was included on a promo CD in the USA to accompany the single release. It stays faithful to the original mix, just being a bit heavier with some extra keyboards, so it works nicely.
  • 1997 Rocks Retake – Brian had found it difficult to get the mix right for the original song, so he ended up using programmed drums instead of Roger’s live percussion. But for the 1997 Queen Rocks compilation they used new technology to revisit Roger’s drum track and work it back into the song. And that in turn inspired Brian to record some new guitar parts as well. The result is a much heavier version that also has some different vocals, a new introduction and a proper ending instead of fading out. It’s much closer to what Brian and Roger had wanted in the first place, as it feels more like a live performance, so it’s really cool to listen to. As well as Queen Rocks, it was also included as a bonus track on the 2011 reissue of the Innuendo album.

5. Don’t Try So Hard

Written by Freddie Mercury

See also: Ultimate Queen / Song Facts

This beautiful song is all about staying grounded and embracing the good things in life, even if things are challenging – sentiments that I can relate to as both a disabled person and a carer. Sometimes you have to accept that there are things you can’t fix, or things that you can save until later, so there’s no point in dwelling on them too much and stressing yourself out unnecessarily.

It also clearly applies to Freddie’s fight with AIDS at the time, which makes it all the more heartfelt and meaningful. And Brian’s guitar playing is really nice here, sometimes moving between the stereo outputs. Meanwhile the 5 notes in the intro are actually the sound that the Korg M1 keyboard makes when it turns on, as they just happen to fit nicely.

Cover Versions

There aren’t many covers for this song, but some nice ones include:

6. Ride The Wild Wind

Written by Roger Taylor

See also: Ultimate Queen / Wikipedia / Song Facts

This is another song about Roger’s love of fast cars, following I’m In Love With My Car on A Night At The Opera, as well as referring to the excitement of life in general. But Freddie’s on lead vocals this time, and you can just imagine him speeding along thanks to the fast rhythm.

Alternate Versions

  • Instrumental – Another track from Queen’s video game The Eye.
  • Early Version With Guide Vocal – Roger sings the lead vocals here, to give Freddie a sense of what he’s after, with lyrics that are similar to the final version. There are some differences in the arrangement as well, including heavier drums and a new guitar solo. So it’s very interesting to listen to. It was included as a bonus track on the 2011 reissue of the album.
  • Live At Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London on 15 September 1994 – This performance from Roger’s solo tour was exclusively released on the single for his track Happiness. His voice is very different to Freddie’s of course, but it still sounds good.

7. All God’s People

Written by Freddie Mercury & Mike Moran

See also: Ultimate Queen / Song Facts

This originated from an idea that Freddie had for a track called Africa By Night, which would have been on his solo album Barcelona, with Brian making a guest appearance on guitar. But it ended up being a full Queen song instead. It has a nice gospel sound to it, and Freddie sings his highest note (F5), when he goes “yeah!” after the words “around the world”.

There are barely any covers of this song online, but there is a lovely instrumental version by a strings ensemble called BPM (Beats Per Munich). It’s one of the covers by Wolf Entertainment that I mentioned with the title track on this album.

8. These Are The Days Of Our Lives

Written by Roger Taylor

See also: Ultimate Queen / Wikipedia / Song Facts

This is the most touching song on the album, and perhaps in Queen’s entire catalogue, as it directly relates to Freddie’s illness, as well as Roger thinking about his own family too. It has beautiful lyrics that reflect on the past and the present, lovely gentle percussion on conga drums, and a sublime echoing guitar solo.

It was first released as a single in America on 5 September 1991 – Freddie’s 45th birthday. But shortly after his death 2 months later, the song was issued as a double A-side with Bohemian Rhapsody in the UK & Ireland, immediately topping the charts. In the UK it stayed at the top for 5 weeks, and in Ireland it held on for 6 weeks. It also won the Brit Award for British Single Of The Year in 1992.

Music Videos

The poignant music video for this song was the last one that Freddie ever made, being filmed on 30 May 1991, just 6 months before he died. By this point he was extremely frail, so he doesn’t walk around but is still very expressive with his upper body language, and it’s also why the video is filmed in black and white. It’s still obvious that he’s very unwell, but colour footage was later released that made it clear just how ill he was. He was nevertheless determined to do it, and it’s admirable that he managed it. Brian couldn’t be there for the main shoot, so recorded his part separately, hence he’s not on camera alongside the other three, apart from an edited shot that puts them all together.

The video is most memorable for the ending, where Freddie looks straight at the camera and whispers “I still love you”, before snapping his fingers and leaving the frame. He knew it was his last video, so it was his farewell message to the fans and the world. It never fails to make me well up every time. Even writing about it here is having the same effect. It’s such a heartbreaking moment that is perfectly delivered. So it’s a great shame that it’s covered up by links to other videos at the end on Queen’s Youtube channel – you’d think in this one instance they’d have changed that.

A Disney edit of the video was also produced for the North American market, featuring some animation from the team at Walt Disney. It was released on the Classic Queen VHS tape in 1992, and was later made available elsewhere on the iTunes reissue of the album in 2011.

There’s also a further alternate edit of the original video online with different camera shots. As well as some different footage of Freddie, there’s also more attention on John Deacon in this one, including him apparently singing in the chorus. He didn’t usually sing though, but mimed with the others in music videos to keep up appearances.

I got to see the beautiful and very colourful waistcoat that Freddie wore in the video at his Sotheby’s exhibition in 2023, after which it was sold with a black silk shirt for £139,700. It features hand-painted portraits by Nerissa Ratcliffe of Freddie’s 6 cats – Delilah, Goliath, Oscar, Lily, Romeo and Miko – who were all living with him at Garden Lodge when he died. Freddie’s last official colour portrait was taken in this outfit during the video shoot.

A silk waistcoat painted with a colourful design incorporating individual portraits of Freddie Mercury’s six beloved cats. It is on display over a black shirt.

Instrumental Version

An edited instrumental of the song was used to underscore the Wembley Towers tribute feature on the 2003 DVD edition of Live At Wembley. The full instrumental then emerged the following year on the Greatest Karaoke Hits DVD in Japan, but has never been officially released anywhere else.

Live Performances

Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert

Later Queen Concerts

Whenever Queen have performed the song since Freddie’s death, it’s always been sung really nicely by Roger, who steps away from the drums to the front of the stage. Brian then provides harmony in the chorus, as well as playing guitar.

During the tours with Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert, images of Freddie were also projected on to the back screen during the song, to cheers from the crowd. It’s lovely that Paul and Adam vacate the stage out of respect for this track, so that Roger and Brian can share this intimate moment with the audience, although in later shows there are occasions when Adam does come back on to sing the final chorus with Roger.

I like how Roger sings “I look and I find… Brian May” to lead in to the guitar solo, signifying the close bond they share. And he utters “oh yeah” at the end, rather than trying to mimic Freddie’s closing expression of love.

Examples of such performances include:

Roger’s Solo Performances

Musical

Cover Versions

Lots of people have posted covers of this song online, including tribute bands, solo singers and piano players. But the most well known artists to have performed it, apart from those already mentioned above, include:

9. Delilah

Written by Freddie Mercury

See also: Ultimate Queen / Song Facts

Freddie wrote this charming little song about his favourite cat. It sounds like it could be referring to a girl at first, but the line about peeing all over his Chippendale suite really gives it away, as well as the meows later on. Brian used a talk box to get the different sound for his guitar solo.

There is also a demo that has been leaked online, which has only basic instrumentation without any guitar. The lyrics are very similar to the final version, but there are some ad-libs and overdubs. An extract from the demo appeared on the Hints Of Innuendo promo cassette.

10. The Hitman

Written by Freddie Mercury, Brian May & John Deacon

See also: Ultimate Queen / Song Facts

This was very much a collaborative effort between the 3 band members. Freddie came up with the original version using keyboards, Brian made it heavier and recorded a demo version, John revised the structure, and they finalised the lyrics together. The result is a fabulous fast rock track, with the last couple of minutes being a great guitar solo for Brian.

Alternate Versions

  • Instrumental – Two instrumental edits of the track were included on Queen’s video game. The first edit covers the first minute of the song, while the second extract plays the last 2½ minutes.
  • Demo Version Extract – Brian sings the lead vocals for the first two verses here, with slightly different lyrics to the final version (in particular the line “Don’t gimme no shit man, you might get fried”). This extract was released on the Hints Of Innuendo tape.

11. Bijou

Written by Freddie Mercury & Brian May

See also: Ultimate Queen / Song Facts

It’s amazing how Brian makes his guitar ‘sing’, and this track is a magical example thanks to its inverted structure, with Brian playing the verses and Freddie singing the bridge. Meanwhile the orchestral backing is done on keyboards. So the vocals are just “a little gem, a Bijou” at the heart of the song, as Brian describes it. He’s also said that it was inspired by a budgie that was gifted to his mother, to which she gave the name Bijou, as it was a close companion for her after his father died.

Live Performances

Brian played a verse of this track, and a clip of Freddie’s vocals, during his guitar solos on the Rock The Cosmos tour that Queen did with Paul Rodgers. A couple of examples were officially released:

Lockdown Videos

During lockdown Brian also posted a video of himself performing the first part of the song. This was among a set of “microconcerts” that he shared online during the pandemic, and sometimes fans would respond by adding other instruments and vocals on top of his guitar playing to create full cover versions. In this case, while this isn’t one of Queen’s better known songs, there were a few people who did join in, including Cello vs Guitar and Ivan Petrac.

12. The Show Must Go On

Written by Brian May

See also: Ultimate Queen / Wikipedia / Song Facts

The final track on the album was also the last single to be released, just 6 weeks before Freddie’s death. It’s a glorious song that embodies his determination to keep working for as long as possible, and the fact he delivered such powerful vocals when recording the track the previous year, despite his frail state, is testament to that attitude.

Brian has recalled how he worked with Freddie to write almost a whole verse together, and while Freddie was too ill to do more than that, they had done enough to inspire Brian to come up with the rest of the lyrics. In one of the Blu-ray extras for the Days Of Our Lives documentary, Brian also talks about the doubts he expressed to Freddie as to whether he would be able to sing the higher notes. But Freddie downed a couple of vodkas, went for it and nailed it. The falsetto line “on with the show” at the end is the highest he ever got, it’s astonishing.

It peaked at number 16 in the UK, which seems surprisingly low really. But then the album had been out for several months already by that time, and the song was also on Greatest Hits II, which the single was helping to promote. So a lot of people probably didn’t feel they needed to get the single as well. Being in the top 20 is still very commendable though.

With Freddie too ill to make another appearance on screen, the promo video for this song is a very well edited montage from most of Queen’s music videos from the past 10 years (with the exception of Under Pressure, Hammer To Fall and These Are The Days Of Our Lives). It therefore also served as a promotional vehicle for Greatest Hits II.

Isolated Tracks

An instrumental version of the song was released on Greatest Karaoke Hits and the video game The Eye, which is wonderful to listen to in itself, to appreciate the arrangement.

But the multitracks for the song have also been made public, presumably through the Rock Band video games. It means you get to enjoy Freddie’s superb vocals in all their splendour, and you really wouldn’t know he was dying when he sang those. The keyboard and drum tracks provide a very simple foundation by comparison. Brian’s guitar track begins with the same riff as the keys, but then goes into a blissful world of its own that makes an epic tune in its own right. And John’s steady bass line is nicely varied too, much of which goes unnoticed in the final mix.

Live Performances

Queen + Elton John

Guest Vocalists

Queen + Paul Rodgers

While Paul is nothing like Freddie, he still has a great voice, and he really does this song justice, giving it real passion and power.

Queen + Adam Lambert

Despite saying in an online interview that this is the hardest Queen song to do because of its vocal range, he does it brilliantly on stage, making it look easy.

Roger Solo Collaborations

  • G-Live, Guildford on 3 December 2011 – This was a special Christmas concert by the SAS Band. Roger joined them on the drums, while Chris Thompson did the vocals.
  • Europe 1 Studios, Paris, France on 8 December 1994 – I have this solo performance by Roger in my music collection, along with a few other tracks I once downloaded from that particular concert. He doesn’t have the same power as Freddie, Paul or Adam, but still does it nicely.

Brian Solo Collaborations

  • We Will Rock You – The song wasn’t originally part of Queen’s stage musical, only being added after its 20th anniversary production. However, Brian did join the cast to perform it when celebrating some of the show’s earlier milestones, and members of the audience have shared footage online from 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012 & 2014. Roger joined him for the latter two examples, but in the 2012 performance for the 10th anniversary he only appears towards the end, as the lift meant to raise him up broke!
  • Starmus VI Festival, Yerevan, Armenia in September 2022 – Brian joined Serj Tankian and others for this performance at the science and arts festival, which Brian co-founded.

Cover Versions

As you can imagine, a lot of people have covered this classic song in a wide variety of styles, as shown on my covers playlist, so here are just some examples.

  • Queen Extravaganza – The official tribute band have performed the song at many of their concerts. But this particular performance led by Marc Martel, shared on Queen’s own Youtube channel, is from the official party for Freddie’s 70th birthday in Montreux, Switzerland in 2016. Marc has sung it elsewhere too, including at the Golden Wave Awards in 2019 and during a lockdown live stream in 2020 while playing piano. It’s amazing how close he gets to sounding like Freddie sometimes.
  • PiotreQ Remixes – This remixer has interpreted the song in various ways. I particularly like the Extended Rising Remix that lasts for 12½ minutes, as he uses the elements of the multitracks really nicely to build the song up. The shorter Rising Remix is good as well, but it’s more of an instrumental, whereas the longer version includes a lot more of the vocals in the middle. The Guitar Delay Remix is a good enhancement of Brian’s guitar part too, and the mashup with I Want It All works surprisingly well.
  • Bill Bailey – The comedian did a spectacular routine to the song with Oti Mabuse in the Strictly Come Dancing final in 2020, which they won.
  • Seann Miley Moore – While countless people have attempted the song on talent shows around the world, this particularly powerful audition for The X Factor UK has racked up over 23 million views on the show’s Youtube channel, and 9 million more on the X Factor Global channel. He got through and came 10th in the competition overall.
  • Inès – This talented youngster does an impressive version of the song in a blind audition for The Voice Kids France, which has over 5 million views. It’s always good to see kids getting into Queen early.
  • Cristina Ramos – This epic operatic version was performed on Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions and has nearly 5 million views.
  • Dimash Qudaibergen – The popular Kazakh singer performed this beautiful rendition backed by an orchestra at the Virtuosos: Young Prodigies and Superstars concert in Singapore, which has had over 2.7 million views.
  • Tommy Johansson – This version by the Swedish singer has around 1½ million views.
  • 2Cellos – This instrumental version has over 17 million views at the time of writing.
  • Gabriella Quevedo – This acoustic guitar instrumental has over 4 million views.
  • David Garrett – This live violin version with backing singers has over 3 million views.
  • Maksim – A spectacular piano version backed by an orchestra, which he’s also performed live. Both videos have over a million views.
  • Bel Suono – This is an incredible live piano duet backed by strings and drums, and they also performed a version online during lockdown.
  • Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – This lovely classical version was released on their Symphonic Queen album.
  • The Floppotron – The music made using this combination of floppy disc drives and other computer hardware is always very cleverly done, and this is no exception.

Non-Album B-Sides

These are a couple of additional tracks that were included on singles:

  • Lost Opportunity – This track was included on the 12″ and CD singles of I’m Going Slightly Mad in the UK, but was later released on the 2011 reissue of the album. It was written and sung by Brian, and recorded in a single take. It’s a nice slow blues number about putting on a brave face while carrying the regret of a missed opportunity.

Conclusion

So that wraps up another classic album, and a very significant one as it was the last to be produced in Freddie’s lifetime. However, he continued to record as much material as he could for the band to work with after his death, which ultimately led to the Made In Heaven album. So look out for my review of that soon as well.

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Author: Glen

Love London, love a laugh, love life. Visually impaired blogger, carer, accessibility advocate, culture vulture and London explorer.

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