Who Wants to Live Forever

"Who Wants to Live Forever"
Single by Queen
from the album A Kind of Magic
Released	15 September 1986
Format	Vinyl record (7"/12")
Recorded	1986
Genre	Rock
Length	5:15 (album version) 4:55 (Greatest Hits II CD edit) 4:01 (single version)
Label	EMI
Songwriter(s)	Brian May
Producer(s)	Queen David Richards
Queen singles chronology
"Pain Is So Close to Pleasure" (1986) "Who Wants to Live Forever" (1986) "I Want It All" (1989)
"Pain Is So Close to Pleasure" (1986) "Who Wants to Live Forever" (1986) "I Want It All" (1989)

"Who Wants to Live Forever" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It is the sixth track on the album A Kind of Magic, released in June 1986, and was written by lead guitarist Brian May for the soundtrack to the film Highlander.^[1] The song peaked at No. 24 in the UK charts.^[2]

Recording

The song is used to frame the scenes in the film where Connor MacLeod must endure his beloved wife Heather MacLeod growing old and dying while he, as an Immortal, remains forever young. (It was later used in the episodes "The Gathering", "Revenge is Sweet", "The Hunters", "Line of Fire", and "Leader of the Pack" of the Highlander television series).

Brian May wrote the song in the backseat of his car after seeing a 20-minute first cut of the scene of Heather's death.^[3]

In the film, Freddie Mercury provides all the main vocals, while May sings lead vocals on the first verse on the album version, before Mercury finally takes over for most of the rest of the song, with May singing "But touch my tears with your lips" during Mercury's verse and then the final line of the song, "Who waits forever anyway?". An instrumental version of the song, titled "Forever", was included as a bonus track on the CD version of the album. This instrumental featured only a piano, with keyboard accompaniment during the chorus sections. The piano track was recorded solely by May. Queen was backed up by an orchestra, with orchestrations by the co-composer of the film's score, Michael Kamen.^[1] Since its release, the song has been covered by a number of artists.

Music video

The video was directed by David Mallet and filmed in a (now demolished) warehouse at Tobacco Wharf at London's East End in September 1986.^[4] It featured the National Philharmonic Orchestra with forty choirboys and hundreds and hundreds of candles which remain lit throughout filming as well as Mercury wearing a tuxedo suit.^[4] The video also features bass guitarist John Deacon playing a white double bass, despite not performing on the original recording.

An alternate version with clips from the film Highlander (which the song appears in) appears on the video single with "A Kind of Magic" in October 1986 and later as a hidden music video on the Queen Greatest Video Hits II DVD in November 2003.^[4]

Personnel

• Freddie Mercury – lead and backing vocals
• Brian May – lead and backing vocals, synthesiser, electric guitar, orchestral arrangements
• Roger Taylor – drum machine, backing vocals
• Michael Kamen – orchestral arrangements, conductor
• National Philharmonic Orchestra – strings, brass and percussion

Cover versions

• Luciano Pavarotti called Giorgia for his charity concert Pavarotti & Friends where she performed the song. The recorded Live-CD was released in 1995.^[5]
• Sarah Brightman covered this track on her 1997 album, Timeless.^[6]
• Polish singer Edyta Górniak recorded a cover called "Nieśmiertelni" in 2003, released on Moja i Twoja muzyka, RMF FM compilation album.
• The Ten Tenors recorded a version on their album Here's to the Heroes, released in 2006.
• Rock Star: INXS finalist, MiG Ayesa covered the song on his debut album MiG in 2007.
• Katharine McPhee covered this song on the "Queen" themed week on American Idol's fifth season.
• Eva Avila covered this song on the "1980's" themed week on Canadian Idol's fourth season.
• In 2007, the song was covered by the band Gregorian on their album Masters of Chant Chapter VI.
• Kady Malloy covered this song during "80's" week on American Idol's seventh season.
• Jonathan Ansell covered this song for his 2nd album Forever, released in 2008
• Rhydian Roberts covered this song on his debut album Rhydian, released on 24 November 2008.
• Katherine Jenkins covered this song on her seventh album Believe, released on 26 October 2009.
• Stacey Solomon performed the song on the sixth series of The X Factor.
• David Garrett covered this song for his eighth album David Garrett, released in 2009.
• During the 2009-2010 figure skating season, Chinese figure skating pair Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo performed their technical program to an instrumental version of the song. They included it at the 2010 Winter Olympics where they won gold
• Kitty Brucknell performed the song on series eight of The X-Factor.
• Jonathan and Charlotte performed a cover of this song in Italian on their 2012 album Together following their second-place finish on the 2012 season of Britain's Got Talent.
• In 2013, Il Divo, recorded from "A Musical Affair" album, and included a strong 'power ballad' version of the song in Italian and English. For the French version of the album, they recorded the song with Anggun.
• Lillie McCloud performed the song on the second part of the second live show of The X Factor U.S. season 3 (2013).
• The Tenors featuring violinist Lindsey Stirling on their 2015 album "Under One Sky". The song was shot as a music video with the Tenors as vampires in the Anne Rice tradition.
• On July 1, 2016, Anathema performed a cover of the song at the STARMUS Festival in Tenerife, which Brian May was also present at.

Tributes

• Seal performed a live version of this song at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992, noting that the song made him cry when he first heard it.^[7]
• In 2005, the song was covered by Breaking Benjamin on the album Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen. It is also included on their greatest hits album Shallow Bay.^[8]
• Closing the Isle of Wight Festival in England on 12 June 2016, Queen + Adam Lambert performed the song as a tribute to the victims of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida earlier that day.^[9]

Funeral music

In a 2005 poll conducted by digital television station Music Choice on what song Britons would most like played at their funeral, the song was voted the fifth most popular.^[10]

Dune version

"Who Wants to Live Forever"
Single by Dune
from the album Forever
Released	23 October 1996
Format	12" single CD single CD maxi
Genre	Classical music
Length	3:54
Label	Orbit Records Virgin
Songwriter(s)	Brian May
Dune singles chronology
"Million Miles From Home" (1996) "Who Wants to Live Forever" (1996) "Nothing Compares 2 U" (1997)
"Million Miles From Home" (1996) "Who Wants to Live Forever" (1996) "Nothing Compares 2 U" (1997)
Music video
"Who Wants to Live Forever" on YouTube

German band Dune released their cover of "Who Wants to Live Forever", from their album Forever, as a single in October 1996.

Dune's version of "Who Wants to Live Forever" sold more than 500,000 copies in Germany. The single peaked at No. 3 in the Austrian singles charts, No. 9 in the Swiss Charts, No. 12 in the Dutch Charts and No. 59 in the Swedish charts. It was nominated to the 1997 Echo Awards for the most successful national dance single.

Sarah Brightman version

"Who Wants to Live Forever"
Single by Sarah Brightman
from the album Timeless
Released	1997
Format	CD single
Genre	Operatic pop
Songwriter(s)	Brian May
Producer(s)	Frank Peterson
Sarah Brightman singles chronology
"Just Show Me How to Love You" (1997) "Who Wants to Live Forever" (1997) "Tu Quieres Volver" (1997)
"Just Show Me How to Love You" (1997) "Who Wants to Live Forever" (1997) "Tu Quieres Volver" (1997)

Soprano Sarah Brightman released her cover of "Who Wants to Live Forever", from her album Timeless/Time to Say Goodbye, as a single in 1997 (See 1997 in music). The single peaked at No. 45 in the UK singles chart.

Edyta Górniak version

"Nieśmiertelni"
Single by Edyta Górniak
Released	2003
Format	CD single
Genre	R&B
Label	Pomaton EMI
Songwriter(s)	Brian May
Producer(s)	Edyta Górniak
Edyta Górniak singles chronology
"Impossible" (2003) "Nieśmiertelni" (2003) "The Story So Far" (2003)
"Impossible" (2003) "Nieśmiertelni" (2003) "The Story So Far" (2003)

Polish singer Edyta Górniak released a cover of the song in 2003 called "Nieśmiertelni" (Immortals). She recorded the cover with Polish lyrics for the cover compilation album RMF FM – Moja i Twoja muzyka by Polish radio station RMF FM. It was released as a promo radio single by Pomaton EMI. The image on the cover was shot by photographer Robert Wolański.

References

External links

• Official YouTube videos: original music video, at Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert with Seal
• Lyrics at Queen official website

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