Although Queen’s captivating frontman Freddie Mercury passed away in 1991, his impact on music and pop culture can still be felt to date.
An outstanding songwriter, dazzling singer and all-round exceptional musician – Freddie is still revered as a music and cultural icon around the world. Still embodying the legacy of being one of the greatest showmen of all time – it’s hard to believe he left the physical plane over 33 years ago.
While it would be a nearly impossible task to compile a list of Queen’s greatest hits – how do you even embark on such a mammoth feat? – we’ve gone for the next best thing: a list of Freddie Mercury’s favourite songs, as revealed by his surviving Queen bandmates, Brian May and Roger Taylor. A 2022 Spotify playlist, created by Queen’s official profile on the music platform, gives us a rare glimpse into the mysterious workings of one of the most gifted minds that music has ever seen.
Songs from Freddie’s solo career, as well as selections by Queen, have been included in this list of, frankly, top-tier, eargasm-inducing tunes.
Somebody to Love is included in the list, with Freddie once saying of the song: “We had the same three people singing on the big choir sections, but I think it had a different kind of technical approach because there was this sort of Gospel way of singing, which I think was different to us. Sort of going to Aretha Franklin, sort of made them go a bit mad.
“I just wanted to write something in that kind of thing. I was sort of incensed by the Gospel approach that she had on her albums, the earlier albums. Although it might sound the same kind of approach on the harmonies, it is very different in the studio because it’s like a different kind of… a different range.”
Also on the list is It’s a Hard Life, which also happens to be one of Queen’s lead guitarist and backing vocalist, Brian May’s favourite tracks. In the notes for 2003’s Greatest Video Hits 2, May revealed: “To my mind, this is one of the most beautiful songs that Freddie ever wrote. It’s straight from the heart, and he opened up during the creation of it. I sat with him for hours and hours and hours, just pouring out every word and trying to get the most out of it. It’s a very revealing thing about how relationships are, and he was talking about his relationship.
“But there’s everybody’s relationship in there, whatever kind of relationship it is. To me, it’s one of his loveliest songs. On the face of it, I think I was mortified that he wanted to make this kind of video because it’s totally distracting, obviously. But in Freddie’s mind, I’m not gonna say it’s a joke; it’s an ironical take.”
Surprisingly not on the list is the 1975 smash-hit Bohemian Rhapsody which may well be Queen’s most popular track, catapulting its members to unprecedented fame.
See below the full list of Freddie Mercury’s favourite songs:
Somebody To Love
Written by Freddie Mercury at the piano, the soulful track used voice layering techniques through which Queen was able to create the hauntingly beautiful sound of a 100-voice choice just from three singers: Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor. Notably, John Deacon did not sing any backing vocals on this track or the album (A Day at the Races) it featured on.
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Freddie wrote this iconic, upbeat love-tune in 1979 and composed it on guitar. Written as a tribute to his musical idols Cliff Richard and Elvis Presley, Roger Taylor previously revealed in an interview that the Queen frontman wrote the song in just 10 minutes while he was lounging in a bath in the Bayerischer Hof Hotel in Munich – a fact which Freddie later confirmed himself.
It’s A Hard Life
Featured on Queen’s 1984 album The Works, this track was recorded with the band’s earlier ethos of ‘no synthesizers’. The song’s music video was shot in an operatic, period-style and the band members reportedly found their costumes uncomfortable and hot, with the “eyes” on Freddie’s outfit being likened to “a giant prawn” by his band members.
The Miracle
Composed by the whole band, although Freddie and John Deacon were the lead writers on the song, The Miracle appeared in Queen’s 1989 studio album of the same name. Both Brian and Freddie admitted this song was one of their favourites, and Roger Taylor shared in the audio commentary of Greatest Video Hits II that although the song was not his favourite, he did respect is as an “incredibly complex track”
Time
Time is a track from 1986 that Freddie Mercury recorded for Dave Clark’s musical of the same name. The music video was filmed at the Dominion Theatre in London, where the play had been running since its world premiere on April 9, 1986. Mercury and Austrian producer Rudi Dolezal met at 6:00 AM to shoot the video.
The Great Pretender
While originally this was a very popular song recorded by the Platters, the track found popularity again in 1987 due to Freddie Mercury. In spring 1987, during one of his last videotaped interviews, Freddie expressed that the song felt particularly fitting to the way he saw being on stage and his career.
Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow
Released in 1985, this was the final single from Freddie’s solo debut album Mr. Bad Guy. In his book Freddie Mercury: An Intimate Memoir by the Man Who Knew Him Best, Peter Freestone shared that the song was inspired by the Queen vocalist’s impactful relationship with Austrian actress Barbara Valentin.