In this week’s Queen The Greatest,
we complete our celebration of Queen’s biggest songs, and who wrote them,
by highlighting five classic tracks
that were composed by the band’s inimitable lead singer,
Freddie Mercury.
Some of Freddie’s biggest hits, such as We Are The Champions,
Somebody To Love, Crazy Little Thing Called Love,
and, of course, this masterpiece, Bohemian Rhapsody,
have already been featured in this series.
Yet there are still plenty of other treasured gems for us to enjoy,
such was his extraordinary ability to write timeless classics.
Starting us off is a song that
has become more popular as time has passed.
Don’t Stop Me Now was a hit on its release in 1979,
but proving its longevity, it also topped the UK charts
when covered by McFly in 2006.
A party favourite, and regularly voted as one of the best songs to drive to,
it is also currently Queen’s second most streamed song in the UK.
In 1982, Body Language provided a memorable example of how
Queen benefited from having such a strong international appeal.
Although not an obvious success in the UK, it went down a storm in the US,
probably helped by the notoriety of being the first video banned by MTV,
and raced up the North American charts.
Next up is It’s A Hard Life, featured on the 1984 album The Works,
it was the third single from that album to make the top ten.
And although for The Miracle album, all four band members
shared the writing credits for each song,
Freddie’s inspiration on the title track is widely acknowledged.
We appropriately finish this glimpse at some of Freddie’s finest hits
with the last one he ever wrote.
Featured on the Made in Heaven album,
it was a top ten hit when posthumously released in 1995 –
and is a fitting reminder of Freddie’s genius as a song writer.