You're My Best Friend (Queen song)
| "You're My Best Friend" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "'39" |
"You're My Best Friend" is a song penned by John Deacon and performed by British rock band Queen. It was originally included on the A Night at the Opera album in 1975, and later released as a single. The song also appeared on the Live Killers (1979) live album and on the compilation album Greatest Hits (1981).
History
Deacon wrote the song for his wife, Veronica, to whom he remains married to this day. In this song, he plays a Wurlitzer electric piano in addition to bass guitar.[2] The characteristic "bark" of the Wurlitzer's bass notes plays a prominent role in the song. During live performances, the band used a grand piano rather than an electric, and it would be played by Freddie Mercury, while Deacon played the bass guitar.
The music video shows the band in a huge ballroom surrounded by over one thousand candles, including a huge chandelier hung from the ceiling. The video was filmed in the summer of 1976. (May later mentioned that the video was shot in the middle of a very unpleasant heatwave and the ballroom in which they were filming did not have air conditioning.) Also, Deacon is seen playing a grand piano, even though he plays a regular electric on the recording.
The Supernaturals covered the song in 1998 as the B-side to their single "Everest". Straight No Chaser, a US a capella group, also covered the song for their 2010 album With a Twist, a collection of cover songs.
The song was used in promos for FX's Wilfred.
Composition
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (July 2010) |
The song was composed by John Deacon, with a meter of 4/4 (12/8), with one bar in 6/4 during the chorus, and a key of C-major, (a-minor).
The album A Night at the Opera features songs of numerous styles including this three-minute ballad rock/pop song. Very unusually for the genre there is no section appearing more than twice. On the other hand, in terms of phrases and measures, we find numerous repetitions or variants. The form is cyclic and very similar to that of "Spread Your Wings" (1977). Another similarity between the two songs is the lack of (real) modulation. The arrangement features 3- and 4-part vocal and guitar harmonies (no rhythm guitar), bass (melodic approach), drums, and electric piano. This is Deacon's second recorded song and the first one released on single (some six months after the album-release). Mercury's lead vocal features lot of "special effects" (voice, rubato-ized rhythms, ornaments, slided notes) resulting in a really passionate performance.
Queen about the song
The band answered Tom Browne on 24 December 1977 in a live BBC Radio One interview, regarding Deacon's control of the piano for the recording:
Well, Freddie didn't like the electric piano, so I took it home and I started to learn on the electric piano and basically that’s the song that came out you know when I was learning to play piano. It was written on that instrument and it sounds best on that. You know, often on the instrument that you wrote the song on.
— John Deacon[3]
I refused to play the damn thing (the Wurlitzer). It's tiny and horrible and I don't like them. Why play those things when you’ve got a lovely superb grand piano? No, I think, basically what he [John] is trying to say is it was the desired effect.
— Freddie Mercury[2]
Personnel
- John Deacon – Wurlitzer electric piano, bass guitar
- Brian May – guitar, backing vocals
- Freddie Mercury – lead and backing vocals
- Roger Taylor – drums, backing vocals
Notes
- ^ Prato, Greg. "allmusic". Allmusic. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
- ^ a b "You're My Best Friend by Queen". songfacts.com. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
- ^ "You're My Best Friend". queenpedia.com. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
