Love of My Life (Queen song): Difference between revisions
→Personnel: Do we really need the Ref Improve template? The article is full of references to the fact that Freddie Mercury played piano and Brian May played harp etc |
Since the only reason given is that the individual editor does not believe it to be true adding back into about Mary Austin |
||
| (11 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
| Line 15: | Line 15: | ||
| Tracks = {{A Night at the Opera tracks}} |
| Tracks = {{A Night at the Opera tracks}} |
||
}} |
}} |
||
"'''Love of My Life'''" is a song by the British [[rock music|rock]] band [[Queen (band)|Queen]] from their 1975 album ''[[A Night at the Opera (Queen album)|A Night at the Opera]]''.<ref name="allmusic"/> The [[Sentimental ballad|ballad]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/freddie-mercury-queen-songs/|title=Top 10 Freddie Mercury Queen Songs|website=Ultimate Classic Rock}}</ref> was written by [[Freddie Mercury]]. This song was written for Mary Austin, Mercury's ex-fiancée and close friend. After performing the song in South America in 1981, the version from their live album ''[[Live Killers]]'' reached number 1 in the singles chart in [[Argentina]] and [[Brazil]], and stayed in the charts in Argentina for an entire year.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=adNONbUWLjgC&pg=PT167&lpg=PT167&dq=Love+of+My+Life+CHARTS+-+ARGENTINA#v=onepage&q&f=false Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock] p.164. Voyageur Press. Retrieved 12 July 2011</ref> |
"'''Love of My Life'''" is a song by the British [[rock music|rock]] band [[Queen (band)|Queen]] from their 1975 album ''[[A Night at the Opera (Queen album)|A Night at the Opera]]''.<ref name="allmusic"/> The [[Sentimental ballad|ballad]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/freddie-mercury-queen-songs/|title=Top 10 Freddie Mercury Queen Songs|website=Ultimate Classic Rock}}</ref> was written by [[Freddie Mercury]]. This song was written for Mary Austin, Mercury's ex-fiancée and close friend.<ref>https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/07/18/mary-austin-the-woman-who-inspired-freddie-mercury-as-a-muse-and-stood-by-him-at-the-end/amp/</ref> After performing the song in South America in 1981, the version from their live album ''[[Live Killers]]'' reached number 1 in the singles chart in [[Argentina]] and [[Brazil]], and stayed in the charts in Argentina for an entire year.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=adNONbUWLjgC&pg=PT167&lpg=PT167&dq=Love+of+My+Life+CHARTS+-+ARGENTINA#v=onepage&q&f=false Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock] p.164. Voyageur Press. Retrieved 12 July 2011</ref> |
||
Freddie Mercury wrote it on the [[piano]] and [[guitar]] first, and [[Brian May]] rearranged the song for acoustic [[12-string guitar]] for live performances, also lowering the key by a minor third. May contributed occasional guitar phrases to the original recording and played the swooping [[harp]] glissandos by pasting together multiple takes of single chords. The song is an example of Mercury's familiarity with [[rubato]] phrasing, showcasing his classical piano influences, notably by [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]] and [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]. |
Freddie Mercury wrote it on the [[piano]] and [[guitar]] first, and [[Brian May]] rearranged the song for acoustic [[12-string guitar]] for live performances, also lowering the key by a minor third. May contributed occasional guitar phrases to the original recording and played the swooping [[harp]] glissandos by pasting together multiple takes of single chords. The song is an example of Mercury's familiarity with [[rubato]] phrasing, showcasing his classical piano influences, notably by [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]] and [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]. |
||
Revision as of 16:04, 23 November 2018
| "Love of My Life" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
"Love of My Life" is a song by the British rock band Queen from their 1975 album A Night at the Opera.[1] The ballad[2] was written by Freddie Mercury. This song was written for Mary Austin, Mercury's ex-fiancée and close friend.[3] After performing the song in South America in 1981, the version from their live album Live Killers reached number 1 in the singles chart in Argentina and Brazil, and stayed in the charts in Argentina for an entire year.[4]
Freddie Mercury wrote it on the piano and guitar first, and Brian May rearranged the song for acoustic 12-string guitar for live performances, also lowering the key by a minor third. May contributed occasional guitar phrases to the original recording and played the swooping harp glissandos by pasting together multiple takes of single chords. The song is an example of Mercury's familiarity with rubato phrasing, showcasing his classical piano influences, notably by Chopin and Beethoven.
With its similar lyrical theme, the Roger Taylor penned single "These Are the Days of Our Lives” would later hearken back to "Love of My Life", twice using the line "I still love you". At the end of "These Are the Days of Our Lives", Mercury simply speaks those words, as he would often do in live versions of "Love of My Life".[5]
During the voyage of the space shuttle Columbia (STS-107), Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, asked to play the song. The song was played in the shuttle and Ramon said: "A special good morning to my wife, Rona, the love of my life."[6] Ramon died in the Columbia disaster shortly thereafter, during its return to the atmosphere in 2003.
Live performances
Introduced during the News of the World Tour in 1977, "Love of My Life" was such a concert favourite that Mercury frequently stopped singing and allowed the audience to take over. It was especially well received during concerts in South America, and as a result, the band released the Live Killers version of the song as a single there.[1]
After Mercury's death, Brian May has frequently dedicated the song to him in his own live performances. A notable exception is the Sheffield show which yielded the Return of the Champions CD and DVD. At that show, May announced that Mercury's mother was at the show and he dedicated the song to her instead. In the Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour, May would sing a few lines of the song, then let the audience take over for every verse, as Mercury did. When played at the Glasgow SECC in the 2008 Cosmos Rocks tour, May dedicated the song to his recently deceased mother.
During Rock in Rio 6 in 2015, Queen + Adam Lambert was one of the artists to celebrate the festival's 30th anniversary. "Love of My Life" had both May singing a few lines and archive footage of Mercury performing the song during the inaugural Wembley concert in 1986.[7]
1979 live single release
| "Love of My Life (Live at Festhalle Frankfurt, 2 Feb '79)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Queen | ||||
| from the album Live Killers | ||||
| B-side | "Now I'm Here (Live at Festhalle Frankfurt, 2 Feb '79)" | |||
| Released | 29 June 1979 | |||
| Recorded | 1979 | |||
| Length | 3:43 | |||
| Label | EMI | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Freddie Mercury | |||
| Queen singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
The acoustic version of the song featured on the band's 1979 album Live Killers [1] was recorded at their concert at Festhalle Frankfurt on 2 February of that year. A shortened version was released as a single in the UK and other territories, which did not include the spoken intros and outros from the album. The liner notes for the DVD release "Greatest Video Hits 1" state that although the live audio is from Frankfurt, the accompanying music video that was edited to the track consisted of footage from a 1979 Tokyo concert. In fact, the footage was filmed before one of three Tokyo concerts the band played between 23–25 April. Some bits of footage from two concerts in Paris from earlier in the year are woven in. After performing the song in South America in 1981, it was this version that reached number 1 in the singles chart in Argentina and Brazil, and stayed in the charts in Argentina for an entire year.
Queen quotes
"Love Of My Life" is adapted on stage for guitar, but it was written on the piano. I've totally forgotten the original and if you asked me to play that now, I couldn't. Sometimes, I have to go back to the music sheet, and I can't read that well either.[8]
— Freddie Mercury, 1981
Interviewer: Did you learn to play harp for "Love Of My Life"?
Learning would be too strong a word. I did it chord by chord. Actually, it took longer to tune the thing than to play it. It was a nightmare because every time someone opened the door, the temperature would change and the whole thing would go out. I would hate to have to play a harp on stage. I just figured out how it worked – the pedals and everything – and did it bit by bit.[9]— Brian May, 1982
I hate this thing about trying to recreate the albums on stage. We sometimes deliberately change. Look at 'Love Of My Life', for instance. On record I play piano on that but on stage it's just Brian playing the guitar and me singing it, because it works on stage better that way.[10]
— Freddie Mercury, 1984
Personnel
- Freddie Mercury – vocals and piano
- Brian May – acoustic and electric guitar, orchestral harp
- Roger Taylor – cymbals
- John Deacon – bass guitar
References
- ^ a b c Love of My Life Allmusic. Retrieved 7 July 2011
- ^ "Top 10 Freddie Mercury Queen Songs". Ultimate Classic Rock.
- ^ https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/07/18/mary-austin-the-woman-who-inspired-freddie-mercury-as-a-muse-and-stood-by-him-at-the-end/amp/
- ^ Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock p.164. Voyageur Press. Retrieved 12 July 2011
- ^ Queen's Greatest Videos. Episode 1/1. 1999. 50 minutes in. Channel 4.
{{cite episode}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|episodelink=,|seriesno=, and|serieslink=(help) (Roger Taylor) - ^ CNN.com – Transcripts. Edition.cnn.com (24 June 2003). Retrieved on 2015-10-21.
- ^ "Queen repete coro de 1985 em 'Love of My Life' e lembra Freddie Mercury". Correio Braziliense (in Portuguese).
- ^ Queen Archives – Freddie Mercury Interview, Melody Maker 05-02-1981. Queenarchives.com. Retrieved on 2018-11-06.
- ^ Queen Archives – Brian May Interview, On the Record 1982. Queenarchives.com. Retrieved on 2018-11-06.
- ^ Love Of My Life – Queenpedia.com – Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon, Discography, Bibliography, Charts. Queenpedia.com (2009-08-19). Retrieved on 2015-10-21.
