The Queen songs the band’s fans voted champions of them all
Queen songs, much like their albums, are the sorts of things which should be celebrated as much as analysed. There’s a great scene in the Bohemian Rhapsody movie where Freddie Mercury and the rest of the Queen gang come up with We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions. The idea, they say, is to write songs that songs that the audience can sing back at them; to make their audience part of the song. It’s a genius, simple idea, but it clearly worked. It makes you wonder why more bands don’t approach songwriting that way.
150. Bicycle Race (Jazz, 1978)
Freddie Mercury’s nimble whip though this hard rock tongue-twister presents Queen at their most ludicrously camp. The song itself is a thrilling ride, with references to cocaine, Star Wars, Watergate and John Wayne, and a solo played on bicycle bells. Musically, it’s a pretty good representation of the album that housed it: bonkers, scattershot, but above all, genius.
249. The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke (Queen II, 1974)
Inspired by a Richard Dadd painting of the same name, this Queen II album track is a good example of how Mercury’s natural creativity could be boosted by a bit of deft studio know-how. “I did a lot of research on it and it inspired me to write a song about the painting, depicting what I thought I saw in it,” he told Radio One in 1977. “It was just because I’d come through art college and I basically like the artist and I like the painting, so I thought I’d like to write a song about it.”
348. Dragon Attack (The Game, 1980)
Allegedly John Deacon’s favourite Queen song and begrudged by Roger Taylor for being “very hard on the right wrist”, this Another One Bites The Dust B-side has become something of a cult favourite among Queen fans over the years. Penned by Brian May, its minimalist disco-funk leanings are easier to understand when you learn it was the product of a drunken jam session which eventually made it onto tape.
447. Liar (Queen, 1973)
The second single to be released from Queen’s eponymous debut, this song served as a superbly dramatic vehicle for Queen’s harmony vocals, Brian May’s guitar and the band’s ability to tell stories with their music. This may have been Queen taking baby steps, but the sound of their future is all here: silks, satins, elaborate feathercuts, cod-Zeppelin riffs, wannabe Beach Boys harmonies and a mad gospel breakdown.
546. The Millionaire Waltz (A Day At The Races, 1976)
This camp and quirky slice of whimsy from the pen of Mr Mercury is light-hearted as hell, but proof of the band’s in-depth talent. Queen’s taste for the overblown is given space to luxuriate here, the pointed grandeur of this song leading Taylor to crown it a spiritual successor to Bohemian Rhapsody.
