Love of My Life
Encyclopedia
"Love of My Life" is a ballad by the English rock band
Queen
from their 1975 album A Night at the Opera
. The song was written by Freddie Mercury
about Mary Austin, with whom he had a long term relationship in the early 1970s. After performing the song in South America, a live release of the single reached number 1 in Argentina
and Brazil
in 1981, and stayed in the charts in Argentina for an entire year.
Freddie Mercury wrote it on the piano
and guitar
first, Brian May
rearranged the song for acoustic 12-string guitar to facilitate live performances. 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
. An acoustic version of the song features in the band's 1979 album Live Killers
.
With its similar lyrical theme, later single "These Are the Days of Our Lives
" would hark 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 the words, as he would often do in live versions of "Love of My Life."
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 the band released the song as a single there.
After Mercury's death, Brian May usually dedicated the song to him. 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. 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 used to. When played at the Glasgow SECC in the 2008 Cosmos Rocks tour, May dedicated the song to his recently deceased mother. The song was played on the guitar by Brian May on concerts, unlike on the album A Night at the Opera
.
, Michael Burgess
, Extreme
(which featured Brian May
) Rose Marie
, Declan Galbraith
, Elaine Paige
, Mark Slaughter
, Antonio Vega
, Norma Waterson
, Iris
and the ladies gold medal winning quartet NoteOrious.
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
from their 1975 album A Night at the Opera
A Night at the Opera (Queen album)
A Night at the Opera is the fourth studio album by the British rock group Queen, released in November 1975. Co-produced by Roy Thomas Baker and Queen, A Night at the Opera was, at the time of its release, the most expensive album ever recorded...
. The song was written by Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
about Mary Austin, with whom he had a long term relationship in the early 1970s. After performing the song in South America, a live release of the single reached number 1 in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
in 1981, and stayed in the charts in Argentina for an entire year.
Freddie Mercury wrote it on the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
first, Brian May
Brian May
Brian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
rearranged the song for acoustic 12-string guitar to facilitate live performances. May contributed occasional guitar phrases to the original recording and played the swooping harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
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
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
and Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
. An acoustic version of the song features in the band's 1979 album Live Killers
Live Killers
Live Killers is a double vinyl and compact disc live album by English rock band Queen. It was released on June 22, 1979.It was recorded live during the European leg of Queen's Jazz world tour between January and March 1979...
.
With its similar lyrical theme, later single "These Are the Days of Our Lives
These Are the Days of Our Lives
"These Are the Days of Our Lives" is a song by English rock band Queen. It was written largely by their drummer Roger Taylor, and is the eighth track on the band's 1991 album Innuendo. It is harmonically and structurally one of the simplest songs of the band's catalogue...
" would hark 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 the words, as he would often do in live versions of "Love of My Life."
Live performances
Introduced during the News of the World TourNews of the World Tour
-Tour dates:-External links:* *...
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 the band released the song as a single there.
After Mercury's death, Brian May usually dedicated the song to him. A notable exception is the Sheffield show which yielded the Return of the Champions
Return of the Champions
Return of the Champions is a double live album by English rock band Queen + Paul Rodgers. It was recorded in May 2005 during the Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour at the Hallam FM Arena in Sheffield, England and released on 19 September 2005...
CD and DVD. At that show, May announced that Mercury's mother was at the show and he dedicated the song to her. In the Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour
Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour
Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour was a world concert tour by Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, joined by singer Paul Rodgers under the moniker of Queen + Paul Rodgers. The tour was Queen's first since the Magic Tour in 1986, and the death of lead singer Freddie Mercury in November 1991...
, May would sing a few lines of the song, then let the audience take over for every verse, as Mercury used to. When played at the Glasgow SECC in the 2008 Cosmos Rocks tour, May dedicated the song to his recently deceased mother. The song was played on the guitar by Brian May on concerts, unlike on the album A Night at the Opera
A Night at the Opera (Queen album)
A Night at the Opera is the fourth studio album by the British rock group Queen, released in November 1975. Co-produced by Roy Thomas Baker and Queen, A Night at the Opera was, at the time of its release, the most expensive album ever recorded...
.
Personnel
- Freddie MercuryFreddie MercuryFreddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
: Lead vocals, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal... - John DeaconJohn DeaconJohn Richard Deacon is a retired English multi-instrumentalist and song writer, best known as the bassist for the rock band Queen. Of the four members of the band, he was the last to join and also the youngest, being only 19 years old when he was recruited by the other members of the band...
: Bass GuitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Brian MayBrian MayBrian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
: Acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
, electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, harpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings... - Roger Meddows-TaylorRoger Meddows-TaylorRoger Meddows Taylor , known as Roger Taylor, is a British musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the drummer, backing vocalist and occasional lead vocalist of British rock band Queen. As a drummer he is known for his "big" unique sound and is considered one of...
: Cymbals
Other versions
Numerous other artists have released a cover of "Love of My Life" commercially, including ScorpionsScorpions (band)
Scorpions are a heavy metal/hard rock band from Hannover, Germany, formed in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker, who is the band's only constant member. They are known for their 1980s rock anthem "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and many singles, such as "No One Like You", "Send Me an Angel", "Still...
, Michael Burgess
Michael Burgess
Michael John Clement Burgess OBE is the Coroner of the Queen's Household. He was educated at King's College London. He was appointed deputy coroner in 1991 and was appointed coroner in 2002...
, Extreme
Extreme (band)
Extreme is an American rock band, headed by frontmen Gary Cherone and Nuno Bettencourt, that reached the height of their popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s.Among some of Extreme's musical influences are Queen and Van Halen...
(which featured Brian May
Brian May
Brian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
) Rose Marie
Rose Marie
Rose Marie is an American actress. As a child performer she had a successful singing career as Baby Rose Marie....
, Declan Galbraith
Declan Galbraith
Declan John Galbraith is an English singer. He is best known for his 2002 hit single, "Tell Me Why", which peaked at #29 in the UK Singles Chart.-Early influence:...
, Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
, Mark Slaughter
Mark Slaughter
Mark Allen Slaughter is an American singer and musician. He is one of the founders of hard rock band Slaughter, and he also has worked as a voice actor and composer...
, Antonio Vega
Antonio Vega (singer)
Antonio Vega Tallés was a Spanish pop singer-songwriter. He was born in Madrid and died in the same city, succumbing to pneumonia. He was 51 years old. In 1978 he formed the band Nacha Pop out of another band, Uhu-Helicopter. In 1980, Nacha Pop released their debut album...
, Norma Waterson
Norma Waterson
Norma Christine Waterson is an English musician, best known as one of the original members of The Watersons, a premier English traditional group. Other members of the group included her brother Mike Waterson and sister Lal Waterson, and in later incarnations of the group her husband Martin...
, Iris
IRIS (Romanian band)
Iris is a Romanian hard rock band established in 1977 by Ioan Dumitrescu , Ion Olteanu and Emil Lechinţeanu...
and the ladies gold medal winning quartet NoteOrious.