Somebody to Love (Queen song)

The song has similarities to Queen's earlier hit "Bohemian Rhapsody" with its complex harmonies and guitar solos; however instead of mimicking an English choir, the band turned to a gospel choir. It reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100.^[5][6] The song demonstrated that "Queen could swing as hard as it could rock, by channeling the spirit of gospel music".^[7]


Written by Mercury at the piano, "Somebody to Love" is a soul-searching piece that questions life without love. Through voice layering techniques, Queen was able to create the soulful sound of a 100-voice choir from three singers: Mercury, Brian May, and Roger Taylor. John Deacon did not sing backing vocals on the recorded album. Mercury's fascination and admiration for Aretha Franklin was a major influence for the creation of this song.


Queen played "Somebody to Love" live from 1977 to 1985, and a live performance of the song is recorded on the album Queen Rock Montreal, Queen on Fire – Live at the Bowl.^[8] In addition to these live performances, there were collaboration tributes to "Somebody to Love" after Mercury's death in 1991. The song was played live on 20 April 1992 during The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, with George Michael on lead vocals.^[9]


Since its release in 1976, the song has appeared in several television shows, such as the Idol franchise, The X Factor, and Glee, as well as films, including Happy Feet and Ella Enchanted. It has also been covered by many artists, including Taylor Hawkins.

Live performances[edit]

The song was a staple of the A Day at the Races and News of the World tours in 1977–78.^[21][22] For the Jazz and Live Killer tours, it was also played consistently.^[23] In The Game Tour, it was only played early in the tour. It was also played for South America Bites The Dust, Live at the Bowl and Queen Rock Montreal.^[8][24] Later in The Works Tour, a shortened version was played as a medley preceding "Killer Queen".^[25] A live version from the 1984/85 tour was recorded and filmed on the concert film, Final Live in Japan 1985.^[26]


When performed live, Mercury would often alter the melodies of the song, but would generally hit the sustained A♭4 notes throughout the song. The A♭4 at the peak of the building line "can anybody find me" on the studio version was not part of Mercury's original melody, but the other band members felt that it worked better than his. Live, Mercury sang his original take on this line.


This was also one of few tracks where Deacon sang backing vocals when performed live. His voice was clearly heard on bootlegs from the band's performance at Earls Court in June 1977 and at the Houston Summit in December 1977.^[21]


Even after Mercury's death in 1991, renditions of "Somebody to Love" have been performed live with the remaining band members, May and Taylor, and a number of different lead singers. At the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert held at Wembley Stadium, the song was performed by George Michael. Michael's performance of "Somebody to Love" has been hailed as "one of the best performances of the tribute concert".^[27][28] The song was later rereleased in 1993 as the lead track of an EP called Five Live, which reached No. 1 in the UK. This version is also available on Greatest Hits III, released in 1999.^[4]


The song was performed on the setlists of their Queen + Adam Lambert tours in 2012, 2014-2015 & 2016 featuring Adam Lambert^[29] and at the iHeartRadio Festival 2013 as Queen + Fun.^[30]