"Who Wants to Live Forever" is a song by the British rock 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 ...

. A

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

, it is the sixth track on the album '' A Kind of Magic'', which was released in June 1986, and was 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 (band), Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Fredd ...

for the soundtrack to the film '' Highlander''.Who Wants To Live Forever
UltimateQueen.co.uk Queen was backed up by an orchestra, with orchestrations by film score composer

Michael Kamen Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer (especially of film scores), orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter, and session musician. Biography Early life Michael Arnold Kamen was born in ...

. The song peaked at No. 24 in the UK charts. In 1991, it was included in the band's second compilation album '' Greatest Hits II''. Since its release, the song has been

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

by many artists. Five months after Mercury's death in November 1991,

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performed a live version of the song at

The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness was a benefit concert held on Easter Monday, 20 April 1992, at Wembley Stadium in London, United Kingdom for an audience of 72,000. The concert was produced for television by Ray Burdis, d ...

in 1992. In 2014, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' readers voted it their fifth favourite song by Queen, and in 2018 it was listed at number 15 in "The top 20 Queen songs of all time" by Smooth Radio.

Recording

In the 1986 film '' Highlander'', the song is used to frame the scenes in the film where

Connor MacLeod Connor MacLeod, also known as The Highlander, is a fictional character in the ''Highlander'' film series, and appears in the extended franchise of the television programs: '' Highlander: The Series'' and '' Highlander: The Animated Series''. In t ...

must endure his beloved wife

Heather MacLeod This is a list of characters from the '' Highlander'' franchise. Major characters Major characters appear in more than one movie or series. Works are presented in chronological order. Films ''Highlander'' (1986) ''Highlander II: The Qui ...

growing old and dying while he, as an

Immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film '' The Wisdom of ...

, remains forever young. 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. It was later used in the ''Highlander'' television series episodes " The Gathering", " Revenge is Sweet", " The Hunters", "

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", and "

Leader of the Pack "Leader of the Pack" is a song written by George "Shadow" Morton, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich. It was a number one pop hit in 1964 for the American girl group the Shangri-Las. The single is one of the group's best known songs as well as ...

". In the film version,

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 ...

provides all the main vocals. On the album version, May sings lead vocals on the first verse before Mercury takes over, with May also singing "But touch my tears with your lips" during Mercury's verse and the closing line "Who waits forever anyway?". An

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

version of the song, entitled "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 were backed up by an orchestra arranged by

Music video

The video was directed by David Mallet and filmed in a (now demolished) warehouse at Tobacco Wharf at London's

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

on 16 September 1986.Queen Promo Videos: Who Wants To Live Forever
Ultimate Queen. Retrieved 13 November 2019 It featured the

National Philharmonic Orchestra The National Philharmonic Orchestra was a British orchestra created exclusively for recording purposes. It was founded by RCA Records producer and conductor Charles Gerhardt and orchestra leader and contractor Sidney Sax. The orchestra was creat ...

with forty choirboys and several hundreds of candles which remain lit throughout filming as well as Mercury wearing a tuxedo suit. It is also the last time Freddie was depicted with a moustache as the next music video he was in his solo work

The Great Pretender "The Great Pretender" is a popular song recorded by The Platters, with Tony Williams on lead vocals, and released as a single in November 1955. The words and music were written by Buck Ram, the Platters' manager and producer who was a successfu ...

he shaved off his moustache and never grew it back. The video also features bass guitarist

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 ...

playing a white

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, 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.

Live performances

The song was performed by Queen during the 1986 Magic Tour. Live, May would begin playing

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

Yamaha DX7 The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units. In the early 1980 ...

) before moving to guitar halfway through the song.

Track listing

7-inch single A Side. "Who Wants To Live Forever" (Single Version) - 4:01 B Side. "Killer Queen" - 2:59 12-inch single A1. "Who Wants To Live Forever" (Single Version) - 4:01 A2. "Killer Queen" - 2:59 B1. "Who Wants To Live Forever" (Album Version) - 5:15 B2. "Forever" - 3:20

Personnel

;Queen *

– lead and backing vocals *

– lead and backing vocals, synthesiser, electric guitar, orchestral arrangements *

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, drum machine, backing vocals ;Additional musicians *

– orchestral arrangements, conductor *

–

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

and

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 ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

Legacy

Tributes

performed a live version of this song at

held at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

in April 1992 five months after Mercury's death. He said the song made him cry when he first heard it. Thomas Curtis-Horsfall of Smooth Radio stated Seal's performance of the song was "one of the standout moments" from the concert, adding "his spine-tingling rendition of the Queen classic had everyone in the arena close to tears." * The song serves as the opening track for '' Diana, Princess of Wales: Tribute'', a double CD released on 2 December 1997 in memory of

Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

three months after her death. * Closing the

Isle of Wight Festival The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970. The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early ...

in England on 12 June 2016,

Queen + Adam Lambert 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 mothe ...

performed the song as a tribute to the victims of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida earlier that day. * The song serves as the closing track of Episode 3 of

Russell T Davies Stephen Russell Davies (born 27 April 1963), better known as Russell T Davies, is a Welsh screenwriter and television producer whose works include '' Queer as Folk'', '' The Second Coming'', ''Casanova'', the 2005 revival of the BBC One scie ...

' AIDS drama ''

It's a Sin "It's a Sin" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, ''Actually'' (1987). Written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, the song was released on 15 June 1987 as the album's lead single. It became the duo's se ...

'' (set in 1986). * The animated television series ''

Rick and Morty {{Infobox television , image = Rick and Morty title card (cropped).png , alt = , caption = , genre = {{Plainlist, * Animated sitcom * Adult animation * Science fiction * Black comedy * ...

'' uses the song during the post-credits scene for the

Season 5 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

episode "Mortyplicity".

Funeral music

In a 2005 poll conducted by digital television station

Music Choice Music Choice (abbreviated as MC) is an American television music service that digitally broadcasts audio-based music channels and video-related content to cable television providers in the United States. Music Choice reaches 65 million househol ...

on what song Britons would most like played at their

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

, the song was voted the fifth most popular.

Dune version

German band

Dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

released their cover of "Who Wants to Live Forever", from their album, ''

Forever Forever or 4ever may refer to: Film and television Films * ''Forever'' (1921 film), an American silent film by George Fitzmaurice * ''Forever'' (1978 film), an American made-for-television romantic drama * ''Forever'' (1992 film), an American ...

'', as a single in October 1996. It is sung by German singer Verena von Strenge and sold more than 500,000 copies in Germany alone, after reaching number 2 there. The single also peaked at number 3 in Austria, number 8 in Hungary, number 9 in Switzerland, number 12 in the Netherlands and number 59 in Sweden. On the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

, it reached number 13 in January 1997. "Who Wants to Live Forever" was nominated to the 1997

Echo Awards Echo Music Prize (stylised as ECHO, ) was an accolade by the , an association of recording companies of Germany to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The first ECHO Awards ceremony was held in 1992, and it was set up to hono ...

for the most successful national dance single.

Music video

The music video for "Who Wants to Live Forever" was directed by

Matt Broadley Matt Broadley is a Swedish director. He has made music videos for several songs that went #1 on the charts, like "All That She Wants" and "Mr. Vain". Career Broadley has directed many TV commercials and music videos. His clients include: * Al ...

. It was shot in the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...

. The video begins on an old

churchyard In Christian countries a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster-Scots, this can also ...

, where

Oliver Froning Oliver Froning (born 25 July 1963 in Münster, West Germany) is a German musician. He began his music career in 1981 under the name djraw. Together with Jens Oettrich, he started the group Dune in 1992. The group performed from 1992 to 2000. ...

plays a man who stands by a grave. He sees von Strenge appearing in ghost-like form, dressed in a white dress, singing to him. When Froning leaves the churchyard, he walks into the highlands. By a river, he stops for drinking some water, and again sees von Strenge standing in front of a waterfall, singing to him. In the end, he reaches the top of the mountains, where he is united with von Strenge.

Track listing

#Who Wants to Live Forever (Sixtysix Radio Mix) (3:54) #Who Wants to Live Forever (South Bound Mix) (3:58) #''Highland Trilogy:'' One Day in Glencoe (4:49) #''Highland Trilogy:'' Valley of Tears (4:58) #''Highland Trilogy:'' In the Air, Part 2 (10:29)

Remixes

Released: 4 December 1996 #Who Wants to Live Forever (Komakino Remix) (5:32) #Who Wants to Live Forever (Future Breeze Remix) (7:03) #In the Air, Part 1 (5:13)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sarah Brightman version

Soprano

Sarah Brightman Sarah Brightman (born 14 August 1960) is an English classical crossover soprano singer, actress and dancer. Brightman began her career as a member of the dance troupe Hot Gossip and released several disco singles as a solo performer. In 1981, ...

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 This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1997. Specific locations * 1997 in British music * 1997 in Norwegian music Specific genres * 1997 in classical music * 1997 in country music * 1997 in heavy metal music * ...

). The single peaked at No. 45 in the UK singles chart.

Track listing

CD single

#"Who Wants to Live Forever" (Album version) #"Who Wants to Live Forever" (

Xenomania Xenomania is an English songwriting and production team founded by Brian Higgins and based in Kent, England. Formed by Higgins with his Creative Director Miranda Cooper and Business Director Sarah Stennett of First Access Entertainment, Xenoman ...

club mix)

Maxi CD single

#"Who Wants to Live Forever" #" A Question of Honour" #" Heaven Is Here" #"I Loved You"

12" vinyl

#"Who Wants to Live Forever (Trouser Enthusiasts 'Cybernetic Odalisque' Mix)" #"Who Wants to Live Forever (Xenomania Club Mix)" #"Who Wants to Live Forever (Xenomania Dub Mix)" #"Who Wants to Live Forever (X-Citing Mix)

References

* * §

External links

* A Kind of Magic

008 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to: * The Streetwear Brand @008us , inspired by Ian Fleming & Virgil Abloh *"030", the fictional 030 Agent of MI6 * '' 038: Operation Exterminate'', a 1965 Italian action film * '' Explosivo 030'' a 1940 Argentine c ...

* with

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Who Wants To Live Forever Queen (band) songs 1986 singles 1986 songs Songs from Highlander (franchise) 1997 singles Sarah Brightman songs Dune (band) songs Songs written by Brian May Song recordings produced by Reinhold Mack EMI Records singles Hollywood Records singles East West Records singles Virgin Records singles Music videos directed by Matt Broadley Songs about death Music videos directed by David Mallet (director) 1980s ballads