"Brighton Rock" is a song by British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, written by lead guitarist

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury and ...

. The song is the opening track on their third studio album ''

Sheer Heart Attack ''Sheer Heart Attack'' is the third studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 8 November 1974 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. Digressing from the progressive themes featured on ...

''. The song features one of Queen's longest guitar solos which is more than three minutes long. The solo has been performed live by

at most concerts since its release. The song gained popularity after its prominent use in the 2017

Edgar Wright Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English filmmaker. He is known for his fast-paced and kinetic, satirical genre films, which feature extensive utilisation of expressive popular music, Steadicam tracking shots, dolly zooms and a ...

film '' Baby Driver''.

History

May wrote the song shortly before the completion of ''

Queen II ''Queen II'' is the second studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 8 March 1974 by EMI Records in the UK and Elektra Records in the US. It was recorded at Trident Studios and Langham 1 Studios, London, in August 1973 wi ...

'' in 1973, but because the band did not have enough time to record it, it was not included. Before the song was recorded in 1974, variations of the solo were part of "Son and Daughter". The song, the first track on the album, tells the story of two young lovers named Jenny and Jimmy meeting in Brighton on a

public holiday A public holiday, national holiday, or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Sovereign nations and territories observe holidays based on events of significance to their history ...

. Jenny cannot linger because she is afraid her mother will find out "how I spent my holiday", but afterwards "writes a letter every day"; Jimmy, who was eager on the day, responds that he is afraid of discovery by "my lady". The song was listed among Guitar World's Top 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time, ranking at #41. The song was prominently featured in two scenes in the 2017

film '' Baby Driver'': early in the film, when Baby (portrayed by Ansel Elgort) and Buddy (portrayed by

Jon Hamm Jonathan Daniel Hamm (born March 10, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Don Draper in the period drama television series '' Mad Men'' (2007–2015), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Televis ...

) discuss it and Baby describes it as "his killer track", and during the climactic face-off between Baby and Buddy, who plays the song on his car stereo because of the earlier conversation. The song's usage in the film led to a resurgence of popularity for the track.

Live performances

The song is probably best known for its lengthy guitar solo interlude. This featured May's technique of using multiple echoes used to build up guitar harmony and

contrapuntal In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

melodic lines. The studio version only contains one "main" guitar and one "echoed" guitar for a short section, but live, he would usually split his guitar signal into "main" and two "echoed", with each going to a separate bank of amplifiers. The live piece is often between 9 to 13 minutes long. May performed part of the "Brighton Rock" solo at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Personnel

* Freddie Mercury - lead vocals, backing vocals *

- electric guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals (bridge) * Roger Taylor - drums, backing vocals *

John Deacon John Richard Deacon (born 19 August 1951) is an English retired musician, best known for being the bass guitarist for the rock band Queen. He wrote several songs for the group, including Top 10 hits " You're My Best Friend", "Another One Bite ...

- bass guitar

References

{{authority control Queen (band) songs 1974 songs Songs written by Brian May Song recordings produced by Roy Thomas Baker EMI Records singles Parlophone singles Elektra Records singles Hollywood Records singles British hard rock songs