"Too Much Love Will Kill You" is a song written by British

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themsel ...

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 ...

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 ...

Frank Musker Frank John Musker (born 1951) is a British songwriter and composer. Most prolific in the 1980s and 1990s, he worked with artists such as Sheena Easton, the Babys, Robert Miles, Jennifer Rush, Bucks Fizz, Air Supply, Lucio Battisti, Zucchero, ...

and Elizabeth Lamers.Billboard 21 Jun 1997

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

. Retrieved 16 January 2011 The song reflected the breakdown of May's first marriage and attraction to his future wife,

Anita Dobson Anita Dobson (born 29 April 1949) is an English stage, film and television actress, and singer. She is best known for her role from 1985 to 1988 as Angie Watts in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. In 1986, she reached number four in the UK Si ...

. It was first recorded by Queen around 1988 or before, and was intended to be on the band's '' The Miracle'' album in 1989, but did not make the cut due to legal disputes following the band's decision that all songs on the album would be written by the group as opposed to individuals. 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, May arranged a solo version, which he performed 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 ...

in 1992, and subsequently included on his solo album ''

Back to the Light ''Back to the Light'' is the debut solo studio album of Queen guitarist's Brian May, released on 28 September 1992 by Parlophone Records in the UK, and on 2 February 1993 by Hollywood Records in the US and Canada. May's second solo release fol ...

'' that same year. When released as a single, it reached number five on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, number two in Belgium, and topped the charts in the Netherlands. Because it was first played publicly at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, a common misconception is that it was written as a tribute to Freddie Mercury, although it had actually been written several years before he died, and he sang lead vocal on the Queen version. A version of this song recorded in 1989, with Mercury on vocals, was included on the band's 1995 album '' Made in Heaven''. Released as a single in 1996, this version was less successful than May's version in Europe but did allow the song to chart in North America for the first time. In 1999, it was included in Queen's compilation album '' Greatest Hits III''.

Track listings

* 7-inch and cassette single :A. "Too Much Love Will Kill You" – 4:29 :B. "I'm Scared" – 4:00 * UK CD single # "Too Much Love Will Kill You" # "I'm Scared" # "Too Much Love Will Kill You" (guitar version) # " Driven by You" (new version)

Personnel

– lead and backing vocals, piano, keyboard, acoustic and electric guitar

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Queen version

In 1995, the remaining members of Queen elected to include the original recording of "Too Much Love Will Kill You", with Mercury on vocals, on the '' Made in Heaven'' album, released four years after Mercury's death. Queen's version reached number 15 on the

and number 19 on Canada's ''RPM'' Top Singles chart. Although it failed to duplicate the chart success of May's solo version, Queen's version of the song has since come to be regarded as the definitive version, after being awarded "Best Song Musically and Lyrically" at the 1996 Novello Awards (May said later that if there was one song that he would have wanted to win an award for, it was this one), and being included on Queen's '' Greatest Hits III''.

Critical reception

Steve Baltin from ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...

'' wrote, "One of the last remnants of the late, great

, the first single from the band’s new ''Made In Heaven'' album is vintage Mercury. After the wimpy opening that could’ve come from

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, Mercury’s grandiose vocals kick in, eclipsing the lame melody. Hearing Mercury again, especially in such fine form vocally, is a surprisingly touching experience."

Track listings

* 7-inch single :A1. "Too Much Love Will Kill You" – 4:20 :B1. "

We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded by British rock band Queen for their 1977 album ''News of the World''. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and it placed at num ...

" – 2:00 :B2. "

We Are the Champions "We Are the Champions" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released from the band's sixth album ''News of the World'' (1977). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, it remains among rock's most recognisable anthems.

" – 3:00 * CD single # "Too Much Love Will Kill You" – 4:20 # " Spread Your Wings" – 4:32 # "We Will Rock You" – 2:00 # "We Are the Champions" – 3:00 * US single :A. "Too Much Love Will Kill You" – 4:20 :B. "Rock in Rio Blues" (live in Rio, January 1985) – 4:29

Personnel

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

–

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

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 ...

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 ...

* Roger Taylor –

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

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 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 ...

* David Richards – keyboards, keyboard programming

Charts

Certifications

Music videos

The video for the Brian May version of the song was directed by David Mallet and features May singing the song to the camera, and is intercut with footage from various home movies. The video for the Queen version of the song was directed by

DoRo Doro may refer to: * Doro (musician), rock singer, former vocalist of the German heavy metal band Warlock ** ''Doro'' (album), a 1990 album by Doro * AKA (rapper) (born 1988), South African hip hop recording artist * Dorothy Bush Koch, often calle ...

and is a montage-style video of clips mainly from live performances and promo videos, and uses the Promo Edit version of the song.

Other versions

In 2003, May and

Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numero ...

performed a rendition of "Too Much Love Will Kill You", at the tenor's benefit concert held in Modena, Italy.Pavarotti and Friends 2003; Press and News
Retrieved 21 January 2011

References

External links

* Official

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videos of Queen version
music video based on short film "Heart-Ache"at Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert

Lyrics at Queen official website
{{Authority control 1988 songs 1992 singles 1996 singles Brian May songs Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Hollywood Records singles Music videos directed by David Mallet (director) Queen (band) songs Songs released posthumously Songs written by Brian May Songs written by Frank Musker