"Killer Queen" | ||||
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Single by Queen | ||||
from the album Sheer Heart Attack | ||||
A-side | "Flick of the Wrist" | |||
Released | 21 October 1974 | |||
Format | Vinyl (7") | |||
Recorded | 1974, Trident Studios | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:00 | |||
Label | EMI (UK), Elektra (US) | |||
Writer(s) | Freddie Mercury | |||
Producer(s) | Roy Thomas Baker, Queen | |||
Queen singles chronology | ||||
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"Killer Queen" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was their first big international hit, reaching number two in the UK and becoming their first US hit. Written by lead singer and pianist Freddie Mercury, the track was recorded for their third album Sheer Heart Attack.
The song is about a high-class call girl. It has been characterised as "Mercury's piano-led paean to a Moët-quaffing courtesan". It has also been described by AllMusic as the true beginning of Queen's "radio sound" and "recalls the cabaret songs of yesteryear, but also shows how Queen was fast becoming a master of power pop". Rock historian Paul Fowles has written that "Killer Queen", with its "sleazy Parisian imagery", allowed "free rein" to Mercury's "unique brand of rock theater". The song won Mercury his first Ivor Novello Award.
When released as a single, "Killer Queen" was Queen's breakthrough hit, reaching number two in the United Kingdom and number 12 in the United States. It was released as a double A-side in the UK, the US and Canada (where it reached number 15 in the RPM 100 national singles chart), with the song "Flick of the Wrist". In 1986, it was featured as the B-side to "Who Wants to Live Forever". The song marked a departure from the heavier material of the band's first two albums, as well as the beginning of a more stylistically diverse approach in songwriting. At the same time, "Killer Queen" retained the essence of Queen's trademark sound, particularly in its meticulous vocal harmonies. According to Q Magazine, Killer Queen's guitar solo is the 2nd best in all time.
Mercury commented that he wrote the lyrics before the melody and music, whereas he would typically do the opposite. The recording features elaborate four-part harmonies (particularly in the choruses, and also providing backing parts in the verses), and also a multitracked guitar solo by Brian May which makes use of the "bell effect". The song's first verse quotes a phrase widely attributed (falsely) to Marie Antoinette: "Let them eat cake," she says, Just like Marie Antoinette.