"There Must Be More to Life Than This" is the eighth track on

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 ...

singer

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 debut solo album '' Mr. Bad Guy'', released on 29 April 1985 by Columbia Records. The song was originally recorded by Queen for 1982's ''

Hot Space ''Hot Space'' is the tenth studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 21 May 1982 by EMI Records in the UK and by Elektra Records in the US. Marking a notable shift in direction from their earlier work, they employed many el ...

'', but failed to make the final version of the album. It was previously recorded as a duet between Mercury and

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

, along with two other songs: " State of Shock" (later reworked with

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

for a version by

the Jacksons The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

) and "Victory" (which remains unreleased).

Queen and Michael Jackson version

After

's death in 2009, Queen 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 (band), Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Fredd ...

and drummer

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 ...

took steps to secure all three Mercury/Jackson duets, with a view to releasing them in 2012. However, Taylor likened dealing with the Michael Jackson Estate to "wading through glue". Eventually, the parties agreed for "There Must Be More to Life Than This" alone to be released. "I was very pleased we had three new tracks to put on ''

Queen Forever ''Queen Forever'' is a compilation album by the British rock band Queen (band), Queen. Released on 10 November 2014, it features tracks the band had "forgotten about" with vocals from original lead singer Freddie Mercury. Queen's bassist John De ...

''," said Taylor. "As well as the Michael Jackson track 'There Must Be More to Life than This', there is another song Freddie did with him, called ' State of Shock', with a massive rock sound. But we could only have one track with Michael, which is a great shame." A contributing factor to the delay from the time it was recorded was Mercury's frustration over Jackson's insistence that his pet llama be allowed to attend recording sessions. According to manager

Jim Beach Henry James Beach (born 9 March 1942), known as Jim Beach or "Miami" Beach, is a British lawyer and band manager, best known for being the long-time manager of the rock band Queen, its individual members and the comedy group Monty Python. He ...

Mercury told him "Can you get me out of here. I'm recording with a llama." Jackson wasn't keen on Mercury's recreational drug use during their recording sessions. Mercury returned to London soon after and the track remained unfinished. The version on ''Queen Forever'' was produced and mixed by William Orbit, containing the original backing track from the ''

'' sessions with May on guitar, Taylor on drums and

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 ...

on bass. An alternative mix by May was rejected in favour of Orbit's. A solo version recorded by Jackson has been recorded and leaked but remains unreleased.

Personnel

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

- co-lead vocals

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1985 songs 2014 songs Freddie Mercury songs Song recordings produced by William Orbit Songs written by Freddie Mercury Queen (band) songs Michael Jackson songs Male vocal duets