Freddie Mercury cherished writing songs and stated inspiration got here to him with such drive typically that he was “known to scribble down lyrics in the middle of the night without even putting the light on.” From his earliest songs with Queen, Mercury constructed a fame as one of the fashionable songwriters of his era, and the most effective Freddie Mercury songs reveal an artist dedicated to exploring each musical avenue open to him.
“A lot of my songs are fantasy, I can dream up all kinds of things,” stated the singer, who wrote a number of the rock band’s most memorable songs. He additionally went on to pen songs for an acclaimed solo album, Mr. Dangerous Man, in 1985.
Right here is our decide of the 20 finest Freddie Mercury songs, chosen to supply a rounded view of his work each with Queen and as a solo artist. Assume we’ve missed a few of yours? Tell us within the feedback part, beneath.
Hearken to the most effective Freddie Mercury songs on Apple Music and Spotify.
20: Let’s Flip It On
After his massively profitable profession with Queen, Freddie Mercury took a break within the mid-80s to document his solo album, Mr Dangerous Man. “I was always keen to do a solo album,” defined Mercury. “I just wanted it to be the right time and the right place so that I could actually work properly on the songs that I wanted to do before I got too old. I had a lot of ideas bursting to get out and there were a lot of musical territories I wanted to explore which I really couldn’t do within Queen.” The album opened together with his fast-paced, synthesizer-driven dance tune “Let’s Turn It On.” Mercury performed synthesizers on the document, together with Canadian session musician Fred Mandel.
19: Foolin’ Round
One among Freddie Mercury’s common sayings was “we’re fooling around” – it was how the singer described his collaboration with David Bowie for “Under Pressure” – and he used it to clarify his conduct on stage. For his first solo album, Mercury wrote “Foolin’ Around,” a disco tune a couple of “foxy lady” (“You’re the catch of the season every night and day”) which additionally served as a automobile for Paul Vincent’s funky guitar enjoying.
18: Information Me House
“With the Barcelona album, I had a little bit more freedom and a bit of scope to actually try out some of my crazy ideas,” stated Freddie Mercury. One consequence was the sweeping ballad “Guide Me Home,” one of many final songs he wrote (with the assistance of Mike Moran). The tune, which opens with the strains “Now my heart begins to bleed/Who will find me?”, was initially titled “Freddie’s Overture.” The only model was first launched in Japan and proved an outstanding tune to showcase his highly effective duet singing with Spanish operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé.
17: Your Type Of Lover
“Your Kind Of Lover,” an upbeat love tune from Mr. Dangerous Man, options some vibrant quick piano enjoying from Freddie Mercury, combined with the driving bass work of Stephan Wissnet. “I like to write nice little catchy tunes. It’s just something that I have to keep doing, but I do enjoy it, too. It’s a kind of hobby, in a funny way,” stated Mercury.
16: Seven Seas Of Rhye
By the point Freddie Mercury did his solo undertaking, he had been writing songs for practically 20 years. He received into his stride on Queen’s eponymous 1973 debut album, with 5 utterly solo-written songs, together with the instrumental “Seven Seas Of Rhye.” The tune proved so interesting that it was resurrected, with lyrics, for Queen II, the band’s second album, in 1974. “At that time, I was learning about a lot of things in songwriting, like song structure – I was just learning different techniques all the time,” admitted Mercury.
15: My Love Is Harmful
It took Freddie Mercury greater than two years to finish Mr. Dangerous Man, and his consideration to element comes throughout within the private tune narratives. “I once wrote a song called ‘My Love Is Dangerous,’” the singer recalled in Freddie Mercury: A Life, In His Personal Phrases. “I feel that maybe that’s what my love is – dangerous. I haven’t actually analyzed myself, but after all these years I just feel I’m not a very good partner for anybody, and I think that’s what my love is… Who wants their love to be safe, anyway? Can you imagine writing a song called ‘My Love Is Safe’? It would never sell.”
14: Loopy Little Factor Referred to as Love
One of many curiosities about songwriting is that inspiration can are available a flash or take a very long time to come back collectively, stated the singer. Freddie Mercury admitted that his 1974 tune “March Of The Black Queen” “took ages to complete”, however stated that the 1979 Queen hit “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” took him lower than 10 minutes to finish… and was penned whereas he was soaking within the bathtub.
13: Man Made Paradise
“Come into my life/It’s a man-made paradise,” sings Freddie Mercury on the Mr. Dangerous Man monitor “Man Made Paradise.” It was a tune that was initially written and recorded in 1983 throughout classes for Queen’s album The Works. Although the tune went unreleased on the time, Mercury appreciated the lyrics and returned to it for his solo album, the place it featured drum programming by the producer Reinhold Mack.
12: Dying On Two Legs
Although lots of Freddie Mercury’s songwriting displays his optimistic, fun-loving facet, he confirmed that he might pen a visceral tune with “Death On Two Legs,” which appeared on Queen’s 1975 album, A Night time At The Opera. “‘Death On Two Legs’ was the most vicious lyric I ever wrote,” stated Mercury. “Just listen to the words carefully, kiddies. It’s a nasty little number that brings out my evil streak. I don’t usually like to explain what I was thinking when I wrote that song, but it’s about a nasty old man that I used to know. The words came very easy to me.”
11: Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow
“Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow,” which was impressed by Freddie Mercury’s relationship with Austrian actress Barbara Valentin, reached No.76 on the UK singles chart in 1985. “One of my favorite tracks is ‘Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow,’ because of the way it came out,” stated Mercury. “It was a very personal thing. I wrote it in five minutes and everything just gelled into place. It was just very emotional, very strong. I love that track.”
10: Barcelona
The title monitor from the classical-pop crossover album Barcelona, that includes opera singer Montserrat Caballé, is a stirring and dramatic triumph that has proved to be one among Freddie Mercury’s largest successes within the digital age. The monitor, additionally written with the assistance of Mike Moran, peaked at No.8 on its 1987 launch. A reissue shortly after Mercury’s demise, to coincide with the 1992 Olympic Video games, despatched the tune again into the charts, reaching No.2. By 2019, it had been streamed greater than three million occasions.
9: Made In Heaven
“Made in Heaven” was Freddie Mercury’s unique alternative for the title of his solo album. The tune opens with a pulsating piano beat and a few of most potent opening strains Mercury composed: “I’m taking my ride with destiny/Willing to play my part/Living with painful memories/Loving with all my heart.” “Made in Heaven” was issued as a single in 1985 and reached No.57 within the charts. Following Mercury’s demise, the tune’s title supplied the title for Queen’s 1995 posthumous album, with the earlier vocals used over a newly-recorded instrumental monitor. “I think my songs are all under the label emotion – love and emotion and feeling,” stated Mercury. “Most of the songs I write are love ballads and things to do with sadness and torture and pain.”
8: I Was Born To Love You
“I’m a true romantic,” stated Freddie Mercury, whose tune “I Was Born to Love You,” from Mr. Dangerous Man, is one among his most catchy disco love songs. The only was accompanied by a surprising video, which was directed by David Mallet and choreographed by Arlene Phillips. The tune was successful in America, breaking into the Billboard High 100.
7: We Are The Champions
The 1977 tune “We Are the Champions,” which appeared on Queen’s album Information Of The World, confirmed that nobody wrote a greater anthem tune than Freddie Mercury. “‘We Are the Champions’ is the most egotistical and arrogant song I’ve ever written,” stated Mercury. “I was thinking about football when I wrote it. I wanted a participation song, something the fans could latch on to. It was aimed at the masses. I wanted to write something that everyone could sing along to, like a football chant. And at the same time, I thought it would be nice to have a winning song that’s meant for everybody.”
6: Mr. Dangerous Man
One fixed theme in Freddie Mercury’s remarks about his songwriting was that he hated attempting to over-analyze his songs. “You should never ask me about my lyrics,” stated Mercury. “People ask, “Why did you write such-and-such a lyric and what does it mean?’ I don’t like to explain what I was thinking when I wrote a song. I think that’s awful. That’s not what it’s all about. I don’t like to analyze it. I prefer people to put their own interpretation upon it – to read into it whatever they like.” He stated he didn’t wish to clarify the tune “Mr Bad Guy,” besides to say “Mr Bad Guy is me. I won’t explain that totally, you can take it from there.” In 2019, Belfast-born expressionist artist Jack Coulter produced a portray impressed by the tune. It went on show at a Queen exhibition in South Korea.
5: There Should Be Extra To Life Than This
“There Must Be More to Life Than This,” which appeared on Mr. Dangerous Man, was initially recorded by Queen for 1982’s Sizzling Area, as a duet with Michael Jackson. The model went unreleased on the time and Freddie Mercury returned to the lyrics for his solo album. The tune was partly impressed by the songwriting of John Lennon, one of many many formative influences on Mercury’s work. “I wrote a song called ‘There Must Be More to Life Than This’, and that is probably the nearest thing I could cite to a message song – and that’s not even a message as such,” stated Mercury on the time. “It’s the nearest I want to go to in terms of talking about world politics or the disasters that are happening in the world. I don’t really like writing songs in that sphere, but there comes a time when I feel emotional in that way and it’s just a very small part of what John Lennon actually did.”
4: Killer Queen
Freddie Mercury all the time talked about his delight at writing “Killer Queen,” which appeared on Queen’s 1974 album Sheer Coronary heart Assault. He stated it was written in a single night time and was a tune that he might have imagined Noël Coward singing. The tune received Mercury his first Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy Of Songwriters. “It just fell into place, as some songs sometimes do,” stated Mercury. “‘Killer Queen’ was one I wrote the words for first. It was one song that was really out of the format that I usually write in. Generally, the music comes first, but that time it was the words, along with the sophisticated style that I wanted to put across.”
3: Residing On My Personal
Freddie Mercury was trustworthy in his interviews and one of many causes that “Living on My Own,” a single from Mr. Dangerous Man, is such a fantastic illustration of his songwriting is that it captures his character, together with his scat-singing tribute to jazz star Ella Fitzgerald. “If you listen to ‘Living On My Own,’ that is very me,” stated Mercury. “It’s living on my own, but having fun. There’s a bit in the middle where I do my scat singing and I’m just saying that when you think about somebody like me, my lifestyle, I have to go around the world and live in hotels and that can be a very lonely life. But I chose it. That song is not dealing with people who are living on their own in basement flats, or situations like that, it’s my living on my own… I’m just saying that I’m living on my own and I’m having a boogie time!” In 1993, after Mercury’s demise, the No Extra Brothers mixture of the tune struck a chord with the general public and topped the UK charts for 2 weeks, and has since been streamed greater than three million occasions.
2: Don’t Cease Me Now
In 2011, Queen followers voted the refrain of “Don’t Stop Me Now” because the band’s “best ever lyric.” “Don’t stop me now/I’m having such a good time/I’m having a ball,” sang Freddie Mercury on a tune he penned for the band’s 1978 album, Jazz. “I like to think that I write songs in lots of different ways, depending on my mood,” stated Mercury. “Don’t Stop Me Now” displays Mercury at his feel-good, life-affirming finest.
1: Bohemian Rhapsody
“Bohemian Rhapsody” is thought to be one of many masterpieces of Twentieth-century fashionable music – but Freddie Mercury admitted that he virtually rejected it in its early levels. “People still ask me what ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is all about, and I say I don’t know. I think it loses the myth and ruins a kind of mystique that people have built up,” stated Mercury. “‘Rhapsody’ is one of those songs that has a fantasy feel about it. I think people should just listen to it, think about it, and then decide for themselves what it means to them.” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which gave its title to the 2019 biopic concerning the singer, has an operatic facet that ultimately knowledgeable “Barcelona.” The tune was filled with dazzling wordplay, delivered in great harmonies. “Somebody said it was like Cecil B De Mille meets Walt Disney,” stated Mercury, who sat on the piano and delivered a piece of this tour de drive tune at first of Queen’s legendary Reside Help set in 1985, the identical yr he launched his solo album, Mr Dangerous Man.
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