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The Show Must Go On is a song by Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury and Brian May for the band's 1991 album Innuendo. It was also released as a single with Keep Yourself Alive on the B-side.

Written as a collaborative effort between Mercury and May, the song tells the listener to face life head-on, no matter the hardships that come their way. The lyrics themselves allude to Freddie Mercury's declining health from his battle with AIDs, which he was slowly succumbing to at the time of recording.

It was released as a single in the United Kingdom on 14 October 1991 in promotion for the Greatest Hits II album, just six weeks before Mercury died. Following Mercury's death in November 1991, the song re-entered the British charts and spent longer in the top 75 than it did on its original release, reaching #16.

The song was performed with Elton John accompanied by the remaining members of Queen at the Theatre National De Chaillot in 1997, later releasing as a track on Greatest Hits III.

History[]

Composition[]

After listening to John Deacon and Roger Taylor playing the chord sequence that later on would be the basis for almost the entire song, Brian May sat down with Freddie Mercury and the two of them decided the theme of the song and wrote some lyrics. May wrote down the rest of the words as well as the melody, and put a bridge with chord sequence inspired by Pachelbel's Canon. Demo versions featured May singing, having to sing some parts in falsetto because they were too high. When Brian May presented the final demo to Mercury, he had doubts that Mercury would be physically capable of singing the song's highly demanding vocal line, due to the extent of his illness at the time. To May's surprise, when the time came to record the vocals, Mercury consumed a measure of vodka and said "I'll fucking do it darling!" then proceeded to nail the vocal line in one take without problems. To this day, Brian May regards this vocal performance as one of Mercury's best. For the record, May sang most of the backing vocals (including the very last line) and played Yamaha DX7 synthesiser as well as guitar. Producer David Richards suggested the key-shift in the third verse.

Music Video[]

Due to Mercury's deteriorating health at the time, no new footage of the lead singer could be shot. With the song released within just a few weeks of his death, shots of Freddie Mercury instead had to be salvaged from previous videos. The video was conceived and released as a montage of clips spanning Queen’s music video career from 1981 to 1991. During the section of the video where a number of masks appear sequentially, one of the masks is of a Roboto, from the music video of "Mr. Roboto" by Styx. The music video was compiled and edited by Austrian director team DoRo, consisting of Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher.

Distribution[]

The Single version of The Show Must Go On was released in the UK, the US, Germany, Italy, France and Australia and was available on cassette, 7", 12" and CD. There was various other tracks alongside it, depending on format and country.

Chart performance[]

Chart (1991-92) Peak position
Australia (ARIA) 75
Belgium (Ultratop 50) 22
France (SNEP) 2
Germany (Official German Charts) 7
Ireland (IRMA) 17
Italy (Musica e dischi) 5
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) 7
Netherlands (Single Top 40) 6
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) 20
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) 30
Switzerland (Swiss Hitparade) 11
United Kingdom (Official Charts Company) 16

Certifications[]

Country Certification Certified units/sales
France (SNEP) Gold 250,000
Italy (FIMI) Platinum 50,000
United Kingdom (BPI) Silver 200,000


Gallery[]

Main article: The Show Must Go On/Gallery

Trivia[]


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