The Great Pretender
| "The Great Pretender" | |
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| Single by The Platters | |
| B-side | "I'm Just a Dancing Partner" |
| Released | November 3, 1955 |
| Format | 45 rpm, 78 rpm |
| Recorded | 1955 |
| Genre | Rhythm and blues, doo-wop |
| Length | 2:36 |
| Label | Mercury |
| Writer(s) | Buck Ram |
| Producer(s) | Buck Ram |
| "The Great Pretender" | ||||||||
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| Single by Freddie Mercury | ||||||||
| B-side | "Exercises in Free Love" (3:58) | |||||||
| Released |
February 23, 1987 January 25, 1993 (reissue) |
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| Format | 7"/12" vinyl single | |||||||
| Recorded | January – February 1987 | |||||||
| Genre | Pop rock | |||||||
| Length |
3:25 (7" version) 5:55 (12" extended version) |
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| Label | Mercury | |||||||
| Writer(s) | Buck Ram | |||||||
| Producer(s) | David Richards, Freddie Mercury, Mike Moran | |||||||
| Freddie Mercury singles chronology | ||||||||
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"The Great Pretender" is a popular song recorded by The Platters, with Tony Williams on lead vocals, and released as a single on November 3, 1955. The words and music were created by Buck Ram, the Platters' manager and producer who was a successful songwriter before moving into producing and management. "The Great Pretender" reached the number one position on both the R&B and pop charts in 1956. It also reached the UK charts peaking at number 5.
Buck Ram reports that he wrote the song in about 20 minutes in the washroom of the Flamingo Hotel in order to have a song to follow up the success of "Only You (And You Alone)". Stan Freberg parodied this version.
In 2004, the song was voted 360th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone.Plas Johnson played tenor saxophone.
February 23, 1987
3:25 (7" version)
The song was repopularized in 1987 by Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the rock band Queen. Mercury's version reached number four on the UK Singles Chart.
Mercury's music video for the song became one of the most well-known of his career. It featured Mercury in many of his Queen guises through video medium over the years, including visual re-takes of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "It's a Hard Life", "I Want to Break Free" and "Bohemian Rhapsody". It was directed by David Mallet in February 1987, and also featured fellow Queen member Roger Taylor and Peter Straker (a friend of Freddie's) in drag. Mercury had shaved off his moustache, which had been his trademark feature since 1980. An extended video version appears on the video single on VHS, Freddie Mercury The Video Collection on VHS and DVD and Lover of Life, Singer of Songs on DVD.
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Wikipedia