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Crazy Little Thing Called Love

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For the 2010 Thai romantic-comedy film, see First Love (2010 Thai film).

"Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
Song

"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Written by Freddie Mercury in 1979, the track is featured on their 1980 album The Game, and also appears on the band's compilation album, Greatest Hits in 1981. The song peaked at number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1979, and became the group's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US in 1980,[4] remaining there for four consecutive weeks.[5][6] It topped the Australian ARIA Charts for seven weeks.[7]

Having composed "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" on guitar, Mercury played rhythm guitar while performing the song live, which was the first time he played guitar in concert with Queen.[8] Queen played the song live between 1979 and 1986, and a live performance of the song is recorded in the albums Queen Rock Montreal, Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl , Live at Wembley '86 and Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live in Budapest '.[9][10] Since its release, the song has been covered by a number of artists. The song was played live on 20 April 1992 during The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, performed by Robert Plant with Queen.[11] The style of the song was described by author Karl Coryat as rockabilly in his 1999 book titled The Bass Player Book.[12]

Composition

As reported by Freddie Mercury in Melody Maker, 2 May 1981, he composed "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" on the guitar in just five to ten minutes.[13]

'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' took me five or ten minutes. I did that on the guitar, which I can't play for nuts, and in one way it was quite a good thing because I was restricted, knowing only a few chords. It's a good discipline because I simply had to write within a small framework. I couldn't work through too many chords and because of that restriction I wrote a good song, I think.

— Freddie Mercury

The song was written by Mercury as a tribute to Elvis Presley.[14] Roger Taylor added in an interview that Mercury wrote it in just 10 minutes while lounging in a bath in the Bayerischer Hof Hotel in Munich during one of their extensive Munich recording sessions.[15] Mercury took it to the studio shortly after writing it and presented it to Taylor and John Deacon.[8][16] The three of them, with their then new producer Reinhold Mack, recorded it at Musicland Studios in Munich. The entire song was reportedly recorded in less than half an hour (although Mack says it was six hours).[17] Having written "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" on guitar and played an acoustic rhythm guitar on the record, for the first time ever Mercury played guitar in concerts, for example at Live Aid at Wembley Stadium, London in 1985.[8][18]

Music video

The music video for the song was filmed at Trillion Studios in September 1979 and directed by Dennis De Vallance featuring four dancers and a floor of hands. An alternate version featuring alternate angles, out-takes and backstage footage from the original video shoot was included on the Days Of Our Lives DVD and Blu-ray releases.

Live performances

Whenever the song was played live, the band added a solid rock ending that extended the under-three-minute track to over five minutes, with May and Mercury providing additional guitars and vocals. An example of this is on the CD/DVD Set Live at Wembley '86, where the song runs over six minutes.

Single release

The "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" single hit number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1979, and became the first US number-one hit for the band, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks. It was knocked out of the top spot on this chart by Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II".[5][6] The song also topped the Australian ARIA charts for seven consecutive weeks from 1 March to 12 April 1980.[7] The UK release had "We Will Rock You (live)" as the b-side and America, Australia, Canada had "Spread Your Wings (live)".

Personnel

Although Mercury would play an acoustic-electric twelve-string Ovation Pacemaker 1615 guitar and later on an electric six-string Fender Telecaster, both owned by May, in the studio he recorded it with a six-string acoustic with external mics. Mercury also played the original guitar solo on a version which has been lost.[19]

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[citation needed] Platinum 70,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[citation needed] Gold 100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[23] Gold 500,000^
United States (RIAA)[24] Gold 1,000,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Dwight Yoakam version

"Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
Song
B-side"Let's Work Tegether"/"Doin' What I Did"

American country music singer Dwight Yoakam included a cover of the song on his 1999 album Last Chance for a Thousand Years: Dwight Yoakam's Greatest Hits from the 90's.[25] Yoakam's version was released as a single. It debuted at number 65 on the US Billboard "Hot Country Singles & Tracks" chart for the week of 1 May 1999, and peaked at number 12 on the US country singles charts that year. It was also used in a television commercial for clothing retailer Gap at the time of the album's release. The music video was directed by Yoakam. This version appears in the movie The Break-Up (2006), starring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston.

Charts

Chart (1999) Peak
position
Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[26] 19
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[27] 1
UK Singles Chart 35
US Billboard Hot 100[28] 64
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[29] 12
Year-end chart (1999) Rank
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[30] 22
US Country Songs (Billboard)[31] 64

Other cover versions

See also

References

  1. ^ Crouse, Richard (1998). Who Wrote The Book Of Love?. Doubleday Canada. ISBN 978-0385257329.
  2. ^ Bogdanov, Vladimir (2003). All Music Guide to Country: The Definitive Guide to Country Music. Backbeat Books. p. 368. ISBN 978-0879307608.
  3. ^ Bret, David (2014). Freddie Mercury: An Intimate Biography. Lulu.com. p. 88. ISBN 978-1291811087.
  4. ^ "Billboard Hot 100 Chart History for Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen". Song-database.com. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  5. ^ a b Whitburn, Joel (2006). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. Billboard Books
  6. ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums. London: Guinness World Records Limited
  7. ^ a b Kent, David (1993) (doc). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W
  8. ^ a b c Lights! Action! Sound! It's That Crazy Little Thing Called Queen Circus Magazine. Retrieved 29 June 2011
  9. ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (30 October 2007). "Queen Rock Montreal – Queen | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  10. ^ "Queen "Live At Wembley 1986 / Live At Wembley Stadium" album and song lyrics". Ultimatequeen.co.uk. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  11. ^ "Queen "The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert" video and song lyrics". Ultimatequeen.co.uk. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  12. ^ Coryat, Karl (1999). The Bass Player Book. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. p. 59.
  13. ^ "Queen Interviews – Freddie Mercury – 05-02-1981 – Melody Maker – Queen Archives: Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon, Interviews, Articles, Reviews". Queen Archives. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  14. ^ Queen interview: Brian May on Crazy Little Thing Called Love on YouTube Absolute Radio. Retrieved 18 December 2011
  15. ^ ROGER SPEAKS: COLOGNE AUDIO PRESS KIT BrianMay.com. Retrieved 29 June 2011
  16. ^ Billboard 18 Jul 1980 p.33. Billboard. Retrieved 29 June 2011
  17. ^ "Interview with Reinhold Mack, Esq". iZotope. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  18. ^ Crazy Little Thing Called Love UltimateQueen. Retrieved 29 June 2011
  19. ^ "May confirms Mercury played solo". Guitar & Bass. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  20. ^ "Chart Archive – 1970s Singles". everyHit.com. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  21. ^ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.0272&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=mhe12pta2k83e08udtq66ot062
  22. ^ "Top Selling Singles of 1980 | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 31 December 1980. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  23. ^ "British single certifications – Queen – Crazy Little Thing Called Love". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 19 August 2012. Select singles in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Crazy Little Thing Called Love in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  24. ^ "American single certifications – Queen – Crazy Little Thing Called Love". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  25. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Last Chance for a Thousand Years review". Allmusic. Retrieved 4 June 2009.
  26. ^ "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 8469." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. 30 August 1999. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  27. ^ "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 8364." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. 16 August 1999. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  28. ^ "Dwight Yoakam Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  29. ^ "Dwight Yoakam Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  30. ^ "RPM Top 100 Country Tracks of 1999". RPM. 13 December 1999. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  31. ^ "Best of 1999: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 1999. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  32. ^ Doug Stone. "Chipmunk Punk – The Chipmunks | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  33. ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Tributo a Queen: Los Grandes del Rock en Espanol – Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  34. ^ Charlotte Dillon. "American Girl – Juice Newton | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  35. ^ Aaron Latham (11 February 2003). "Michael Bublé – Michael Bublé | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  36. ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (3 June 2003). "Jump, Jive an' Wail: The Best of the Brian Setzer Orchestra 1994–2000 – The Brian Setzer Orchestra,Brian Setzer | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  37. ^ McFly – Room On The 3rd Floor. discogs.com
  38. ^ J. Scott McClintock (9 August 2005). "Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen – Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  39. ^ "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" With Diana Ross BrianMay.com. Retrieved 10 July 2011
  40. ^ Maroon 5 AllMusic. Retrieved 10 July 2011
  41. ^ "Relaxing Bossa Lounge [Multimusic] – Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  42. ^ "Drake Bell—Ready Steady Go!". AllMusic web site. Retrieved 6 July 2014.

External links

Preceded by Canadian "RPM" Singles Chart number-one single
23 February 1980 – 1 March 1980 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
23 February 1980 – 15 March 1980 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
"Please Don't Go" by KC and the Sunshine Band
 Australian Kent Music Report number-one single
1 March 1980 – 12 April 1980 		Succeeded by
Preceded by RPM Country Tracks number-one single (Dwight Yoakam version)
16 August 1999 		Succeeded by
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