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Too Much Love Will Kill You

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"Too Much Love Will Kill You"
Song
B-side"I'm Scared"
"Too Much Love Will Kill You"
Song
B-side"We Will Rock You"/"We Are the Champions"
"Spread Your Wings"

"Too Much Love Will Kill You" is a song written by British guitarist Brian May of Queen, Frank Musker, and Elizabeth Lamers.[1] The song reflected the breakdown of May's first marriage and attraction to his future wife, Anita Dobson.[2] It was first recorded by Queen around 1988 or before, and was intended to be on the band's The Miracle album in 1989, but did not make the cut due to legal disputes following the band's decision that all songs on the album would be written by the group as oppose to individuals. After Freddie Mercury's death in 1991, May arranged a solo version, which he performed at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992,[3] and subsequently included on his solo album Back to the Light that same year. Released as a single, it reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. Because it was first played publicly at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, a common misconception is that it was written as a tribute to Freddie Mercury, although it had actually been written several years before he died.

Sales and certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[4] Silver 200,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Queen version

In 1995, the remaining members of Queen elected to include the original recording of "Too Much Love Will Kill You", with Mercury on vocals, on the Made in Heaven album, released four years after Mercury's death.[5] Queen's version is a power ballad characteristic of the late 1980s time period in which it was recorded, with heavy use of keyboards and electric guitar. It reached No. 15 on the UK Singles Chart in 1996. Although it failed to duplicate the chart success of May's solo version, Queen's version of the song has since come to be regarded as the definitive version, after being awarded "Best Song Musically and Lyrically" at the 1997 Novello Awards (May said later that if there was one song that he would have wanted to win an award for, it was this one[1]), and being included on Queen's Greatest Hits III.[6]

Music video

The video for the Brian May version of the song was directed by David Mallet and features May singing the song to the camera, and is intercut with footage from various home movies. The video for the Queen version of the song was directed by DoRo and is a montage-style video of clips mainly from live performances and promo videos, and uses the Promo Edit version of the song.

Personnel

Original version
Queen version

Other versions

In 2003, May and Luciano Pavarotti performed a rendition of "Too Much Love Will Kill You", at the tenor's benefit concert held in Modena, Italy.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Billboard 21 Jun 1997 Billboard. Retrieved 16 January 2011
  2. ^ Purvis, Georg (24 August 2012). Queen: Complete Works. Titan Books. pp. 869–871. ISBN 9781781162873. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  3. ^ The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert: Too Much Love Will Kill You Ultimate Queen. Retrieved 2 July 2011
  4. ^ "British single certifications – Too Much Love Will Kill You". British Phonographic Industry. Select singles in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Too Much Love Will Kill You in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  5. ^ Made in Heaven (Track 8) Ultimate Queen. Retrieved 2 July 2011
  6. ^ Brian May interview. BBC Radio 2. Broadcast 12 September 2005.
  7. ^ Pavarotti and Friends 2003; Press and News Retrieved 21 January 2011
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