"These Are the Days of Our Lives" | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Single by Queen | ||||||||||||||||||||
from the album Innuendo | ||||||||||||||||||||
B-side | "Bijou" | |||||||||||||||||||
Released | 5 September 1991 (First Issue) 9 December 1991 (Second Issue) |
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Recorded | March 1989 – November 1990 at Metropolis Studios (London, United Kingdom) Mountain Studios (Montreux, Switzerland) |
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Genre | Soft rock | |||||||||||||||||||
Length | 4:13 | |||||||||||||||||||
Label |
Parlophone (Europe) Hollywood (North America) |
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Writer(s) |
Queen (Roger Taylor) |
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Producer(s) | Queen and David Richards | |||||||||||||||||||
Queen singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||||||
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"These Are the Days of Our Lives" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Although credited to the whole band, it was largely written by their drummer Roger Taylor, and is the eighth track on the band's 1991 album Innuendo. Keyboards were programmed by the four band members in the studio, and conga percussion (a synthesised conga) was recorded by their producer David Richards (although it was mimed in the video by Roger Taylor).
It was released as a single in the US on Freddie Mercury's 45th birthday, 5 September 1991, and as double A-side single in the UK on 9 December, in the wake of Mercury's death, with the Queen track "Bohemian Rhapsody". The single debuted at #1 on the UK Singles Chart, and remained at the top for five weeks. The song was awarded a Brit Award for "Best Single" in 1992.
"These Are the Days of Our Lives" hearkens back to similarly themed 1975 Queen song "Love of My Life", twice using the line "I still love you". At the end of the song, Mercury simply speaks those words, as he would often do in live versions of "Love of My Life."
The song was first played live on 20 April 1992 at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, sung by George Michael and Lisa Stansfield. This live version was included on the 1993 album Five Live (EP), credited to 'George Michael with Queen & Lisa Stansfield'.
The song was played on the 2005/2006 Queen + Paul Rodgers tours with vocals provided by Roger Taylor. On stage the song was accompanied by a video of the band in their early days in Japan, including many shots focusing on ex-band members Freddie Mercury and John Deacon.