"Mother Love" is a song by

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 ...

, from the album ''

Made in Heaven ''Made in Heaven'' is the fifteenth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 6 November 1995 by Parlophone Records in the United Kingdom and by Hollywood Records in the United States. It was the band's first and only release so ...

'', released in 1995 after

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the ...

's death in 1991. It was written by Mercury and

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 (band), Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Fredd ...

. Mercury recorded two out of three verses before becoming too sickly to continue recording, so May recorded the final verse himself later.

Details

"Mother Love" was the final song co-written by Mercury and May, and was also Mercury's last vocal performance. Mercury's vocals were recorded between 13–16 May 1991 after the ''

Innuendo An innuendo is a hint, insinuation or intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called insinuation), that works obliquely by allusion ...

'' sessions. On his website, May discussed the writing process he and Mercury had (writing both separately and together, and conscious of the nature of the song and the lyrics), the statement that he made, "And Freddie at that time said 'Write me stuff... I know I don't have very long; keep writing me words, keep giving me things I will sing, then you can do what you like with it afterwards, you know; finish it off' and so I was writing on scraps of paper these lines of 'Mother Love', and every time I gave him another line he'd sing it, sing it again, and sing it again, so we had three takes for every line, and that was it... and we got the last verse and he said 'I'm not up to this, and I need to go away and have a rest, I'll come back and finish it off...' and he never came back". The last part of the song was sung by May. Close to the end of the song, it features a

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...

from the vocal improvisation recorded at Queen's famous 12 July 1986 concert at Wembley Stadium, and a sample from the intro of the studio version of "

One Vision "One Vision" is a song written and recorded by the British rock band Queen, first released as a single in November 1985 and then included on their 1986 album '' A Kind of Magic''. It was conceived by the group's drummer Roger Taylor.Tie Your Mother Down "Tie Your Mother Down" is a song by the British rock band Queen, written by lead guitarist Brian May. It is the opening track and the second single from their 1976 album '' A Day at the Races''. On its original release as a single in 1977 the s ...

". Afterwards, a snippet of every Queen song ever recorded can be heard, put together and then rapidly sped through a tape machine. Concluding the song is a sample from a cover of "

Goin' Back "Goin' Back" (also recorded and released as "Going Back") is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King in 1966. It describes the loss of innocence that comes with adulthood, along with an attempt, on the part of the singer, to recapture th ...

", a song written by

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...

and

Gerry Goffin Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the List of Billboard number-one ...

, for which Mercury had provided lead vocals in 1972. The cover was released as a b-side to "

I Can Hear Music "I Can Hear Music" is a song written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector for American girl group the Ronettes (credited as ''The Ronettes Featuring Veronica'') in 1966. This version spent one week on the ''Billboard'' Pop chart at nu ...

", a Ronettes cover, by Larry Lurex (a pseudonym of Mercury's), not long before the release of Queen's debut album. As the song fades out, there is a baby heard crying.

Personnel

– lead vocals, drum machine *

– guitar, lead vocals on last verse, keyboards *

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 Bit ...

– bass guitar *

Roger Taylor Roger Taylor may refer to: *Roger Taylor (Queen drummer) (born 1949), drummer for Queen *Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer) (born 1960), drummer for Duran Duran *Roger Taylor (author), author of epic fantasy Hawklan series *Roger Taylor (college pr ...

– drums

References

External links

* {{authority control Queen (band) songs 1995 songs Songs written by Freddie Mercury Songs written by Brian May