Who Wrote What?

STONE COLD CRAZY: The skeleton of this song was already on one of Freddie's pre-Queen bands. Contrary to what a lot of sources say, *that* version was the slower one; the Queen version was always at a fast tempo, even before John joined. As to why it was credited to all of them, it's sort of a mystery. My speculation is that Roger, Freddie and Brian worked on a new version of it, based on Freddie's old one. John was credited but didn't participate on it creatively.

UNDER PRESSURE: Freddie and David. The rest of them contributed, but more as arrangers than as co-writers. The final mix was done by Freddie, Reinhold and David.

SOUL BROTHER: Freddie. He wrote it in about fifteen minutes and apparently wrote it about Brian.

ONE VISION: The germinal idea was Roger's, and from then on it was a collaboration: Freddie re-wrote a lot of the words, Brian came up with the opening section, etc. John was credited but didn't participate much on its creation.

PARTY: Freddie had the original idea, and from then on he worked on it with John and Brian. Roger was skiing elsewhere, so he didn't participate on it.

KHASHOGGI'S SHIP: All four worked on it together, but judging by the harmony, it seems Freddie had a dominant role musically.

THE MIRACLE: Freddie and John sat together and came up with a basic outline, then Freddie worked on it further and the four of them discussed and edited the lyrics until they agreed on the final version of them, which were a collaboration between Freddie and Roger.

I WANT IT ALL: Brian from beginning to end. In fact, some recent releases credit it just to him.

THE INVISIBLE MAN: Roger came up with the original idea, then they all participated.

BREAKTHRU': Roger's song, with all four of them (and David Richards) as co-arrangers. The intro was taken from an idea Freddie had for a different track.

RAIN MUST FALL: Music by John, lyrics by Freddie.

SCANDAL: Brian's, both musically and lyrically.

MY BABY DOES ME: Freddie wanted something that could ease things off and came up with the basic concept and the bass-line. From then on, it was a collaboration between him and John.

WAS IT ALL WORTH IT: Freddie had the initial idea, and from then on all four took part.

HANG ON IN THERE: Freddie, but Brian took over the arrangement and added bits of his own.

MY LIFE HAS BEEN SAVED: John wrote it and then David Richards helped him recording a demo. Freddie heard it, loved it and sang on it.

HIJACK MY HEART: Roger, most likely.

STEALIN': Freddie had the basic idea and then they all contributed.

CHINESE TORTURE: Brian had the guitar bit as early as 1986. Freddie mixed it.

INNUENDO: The beat came from the three of them (Brian, John and Roger) jamming at the Casino Hall. Freddie then started singing along and wrote some lyrics and melody, Roger then took over and finished off the lyrics, including swapping the order of the verses (the one Freddie wrote came in second). Freddie added the bit in the middle.

I'M GOING SLIGHTLY MAD: Freddie had the idea for it and composed the music. For the lyrics, he wanted a lot of the lines to be camp one-liners in the style of Noël Coward, and there was input from Peter Straker and Peter Freestone, with the final revision penned by Roger (first verse + the 'one needle' bit) and Freddie (everything else).

HEADLONG: Brian. In fact, some recent releases credit just him. Originally written for his solo album.

I CAN'T LIVE WITH YOU: Both lyrics and music were Brian's. Originally written for his solo album but given to the band as he thought Freddie could sing it better.

DON'T TRY SO HARD: Freddie wrote it in Montreux and from then on the four of them discussed the details.

RIDE THE WILD WIND: Roger, both lyrically and musically.

ALL GOD'S PEOPLE: Freddie wrote it for a solo project which was cut off short because of the duet album with Montserrat Caballé. He then got Mike Moran to orchestrate it with him and asked Brian to play some guitar. Then he also asked John and Roger to be on it and it became a Queen song.

THESE ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES: Roger wrote it, but not about Freddie, he was just thinking about life and his kids and growing old and all that. Lyrics are often broad enough that they can acquire new meaning, and this is no exception.

DELILAH: Freddie wrote it in Switzerland.

THE HITMAN: The riff came from Freddie, then Brian took over, wrote the lyrics and melody, and then John took over and re-arranged it.

BIJOU: Freddie and Brian were inspired by Jeff Beck's Where Were You and decided to write a piece that instead of being sung throughout and featuring a guitar solo in the middle, was played throughout and had a vocal solo in the middle. Freddie had a lot to do with the guitar lines (including singing the intro melody to Brian) and Brian had a lot to do with the vocal lines.

THE SHOW MUST GO ON: John and Roger came up with the chord sequence, which Brian then took as the basis for the music: he wanted a cyclic progression over which everything else would happen, based on Pachelbell's Canon in D, and he sat with Freddie to write some lyrics. Freddie wrote the first two lines of the song, everything else was penned by Brian, as well as the chords of the middle-eight.

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY: Freddie wrote it and recorded it in 1980. The two versions on 'Made in Heaven' are re-arranged by the surviving band members, with John quoting a bit from Frederick Delius' Koanga.

LET ME LIVE: The original idea was Freddie's, but he never got around to finishing it. Brian, John and Roger re-arranged it, finished off the lyrics and added the middle-eight.

YOU DON'T FOOL ME: Freddie wrote the lyrics, and the musical idea came from him and John in 1991. Not a lot was recorded back then, and David worked very hard on stretching the existing recordings to make the song a full-length one. Then John and Roger added ideas and at the end Brian listened to it, liked it and came up with the solo.

A WINTER'S TALE: Freddie wrote it in Montreux inspired by the scenery. He'd planned to spend Christmas '91 there with his boyfriend, but sadly couldn't make it.

TRACK NO 13: Brian and David experimented with samplers and synthesisers and built it up in an overnight session. Roger also added some ideas later on.