Who Wants to Live Forever

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Who Wants to Live Forever
Queen
publication June 2, 1986 (album)
length 5:15 (Album)
4:00 (Single)
4:57 ( Greatest Hits II )
Genre (s) skirt
Author (s) Brian May
album A kind of magic
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Who Wants to Live Forever (Queen)
  DE 52 10/20/1986 (6 weeks)
  UK 24 09/27/1986 (6 weeks)
Who Wants to Live Forever (Dune)
  DE 2 11/11/1996 (19 weeks)
  AT 3 December 01, 1996 (15 weeks)
  CH 9 December 01, 1996 (15 weeks)
Who Wants to Live Forever (Sarah Brightman)
  UK 45 08/23/1997 (2 weeks)

Who Wants to Live Forever is a power ballad by the English rock band Queen . The song was written by guitarist Brian May for the soundtrack of the film Highlander and was released in a different version on June 2, 1986 on the album A Kind of Magic . The single reached number 24 in the UK charts. Since then, a large number of cover versions have been made.

style

Brian May sings the first verse and is then replaced by singer Freddie Mercury , who - apart from the line "but touch my tears with your lips" and the last words "who waits forever anyway" - sings the rest of the song. The instrumental accompaniment is provided by the National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Michael Kamen . In live performances, however, Freddie Mercury sang the entire text.

background

In Highlander , Who Wants to Live Forever accompanies a scene in which Connor MacLeod's wife Heather ages with the years by his side and eventually dies while he is an immortal (he is as long as he is not forcibly killed by beheading) stays young forever. In the film version, Mercury also sings the first verse. The song can also be heard in some episodes of the later TV series Highlander .

An instrumental version entitled Forever is included as a bonus track on the CD edition of the album A Kind of Magic . Here Brian May plays the piano with some keyboard accompaniment during the chorus phases.

The compilations Greatest Hits II (1991) and Absolute Greatest (2009) contain a slightly abridged version of Who Wants to Live Forever .

A live interpretation of Queen, in which May can be heard on keyboards as well as guitarist, was released on the album Live at Wembley '86 in 1992 and on DVD in 2003.

occupation

Cover versions

  • In 1988 Elaine Paige released an album of Queen songs, The Queen Album , which included a power ballad version of the song.
  • In 1989 Brian May recorded a version sung by two children named Ian and Belinda. John Deacon played bass, Roger Taylor drums. This version was released as a benefit single in favor of the organization "British Bone Marrow Donor Appeal", which supports bone marrow donation for leukemia sufferers. The 12 "edition also contains a demo version sung by May's daughter Louisa - who was eight years old at the time.
  • In 1992, Seal presented the title as a guest singer for the remaining members of Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert .
  • In 1995 Brian May produced a version with Jennifer Rush , which is included on her album Out of My Hands . Brian May sings a verse and background vocals and plays the guitar.
  • In 1995 a live CD of the charity concert "Pavarotti & Friends" was released, on which Luciano Pavarotti sings the song with Giorgia .
  • Shirley Bassey sang the title at several concerts.
  • In 1996 Dune released an orchestral version as a single, which is also included on the 1997 album Forever . The band reached their biggest chart success and the music video was played frequently on the music channels. It mainly shows the singer Verena von Strenge on foot in the Highlands . The single sold more than 500,000 times. It reached number 3 in the Austrian charts, number 9 in Switzerland, number 12 in the Netherlands and number 59 in Sweden.
  • In 1997 Sarah Brightman released her cover version for the album Time to Say Goodbye and as a single. The single reached number 45 on the UK charts.
  • In 2002, the band After Forever released a cover version of the single Emphasis / Who Wants to Live Forever . This also impacted Arjen Lucassen (guitar) and Damian Wilson (vocals) with that already in Ayreon worked together.
  • In 2003 the singer Edyta Górniak recorded a Polish version called Nieśmiertelni for the album Moja i Twoja muzyka , a compilation album of the radio station RMF FM . The song was released as a promotional radio single by Pomaton EMI. The cover photo was taken by photographer Robert Wolański.
  • In 2005 the band Breaking Benjamin covered the title for the album Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen .
  • In 2006 The Ten Tenors recorded a version for their album Here's to the Heroes .
  • In 2007 the debut album "MiG" was released by MiG Ayesa , a finalist on the show Rock Star: INXS , which included Who Wants to Live Forever .
  • In 2007 the band Gregorian covered the song for their album Masters of Chant Chapter VI .
  • In 2008 Jonathan Ansell recorded the song for his second album Forever .
  • In 2008 Rhydian Roberts recorded the song for his debut album Rhydian .
  • In 2009 the tenor Amaury Vassili sang a version for his album Vincero that comes very close to the operetta-like original.
  • In 2009, Katherine Jenkins released the album Believe , which in addition to Who Wants to Live Forever contains other well-known and successful titles by other artists.
  • In 2012 the classical pop duo Jonathan and Charlotte - then 17 and 16 years old respectively - reached number 2 on the show Britain's Got Talent . In the same year they released the album Together with a selection of classic tracks on which u. a. Includes an Italian- sung version of Who Wants to Live Forever .

swell

  1. ↑ Charts DE Charts UK
  2. ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH
  3. ↑ Charts UK

Web links