It has three verses with one bridge, no chorus, and relatively little section repetition. Most of the song follows a traditional 12 bar blues progression in E major. The song was written in 1983 by John Deacon and released in April 1984. The song features on the band's compilation album, Greatest Hits II. It also topped the charts of Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The single reached only number 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100, but reached number three in the UK and was certified Platinum with over 600,000 copies sold/equivalent streams.
Īfter its release in 1984, the song was well received in Europe and South America and is regarded as an anthem of the fight against oppression.
Whereas the parody was acclaimed in the United Kingdom, where cross-dressing is a popular trope in British comedy, it caused controversy in the United States. The second part of the video included a composition rehearsed and performed with the Royal Ballet and choreographed by Wayne Eagling. The song is largely known for its music video for which all the band members dressed in drag, a concept proposed by drummer Roger Taylor, which parodied the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street. The track became a staple of the bands during their 1984–85 Works Tour and their 1986 Magic Tour. It appears on the album The Works (1984), and was released in three versions: album, single and extended. In fact, it even gets a mention in the recent biopic Bohemian Rhapsody." I Want to Break Free" is a song by the British rock band Queen, written by their bassist John Deacon. Once Freddie had whipped the disguise off, the crowd were pacified and the gig remains one of Queen’s biggest audiences. However, when he pulled this costume change in Rio, the crowd of 350,000 people “began tossing stones, beer cans and other missiles” at the legend.Īs Queen’s interpreter Maria Caetano explained to the group: “The song is sacred in South America because we consider it a political message about the evils of dictatorships.” When I Want To Break Free was performed live, the singer would don the wig and the false breasts in a callback to the video. At least, until the Bohemian Rhapsody scene in Wayne’s World.įreddie Mercury and Queen on stage at the Rock in Rio festival, Brazil, January 1985.īut the controversy with I Want To Break Free didn’t end there.Īccording to a contemporary report in People USA magazine, when Queen played Rio in January 1985, Mercury’s treatment of the song didn’t go down too well. While the video wasn’t banned outright, the cool reception to the clip meant that one of Queen’s best songs was something of a damp squib in America - and May considers that the video damaged the band’s reputation in that country. “I remember being on the promo tour in the Midwest of America and peoples’ faces turning ashen and they would say, ‘No, we can't play this. “All around the world people laughed and they got the joke and they sort of understood it,” May told NPR Radio in 2010. Singer Freddie Mercury performing with Queen at the Rock In Rio festival in Rio de Janerio, 24 January 1985. Across the Atlantic, however, drag was still a very niche activity and not the primetime, mainstream attraction it is today with shows like Drag Race.
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In the UK, the tradition of drag dates back to Shakespeare’s time and beyond and was carried over into popular TV comedies and even kids' entertainment with the pantomime dame. While Britain rolled its eyes and tittered at such shenanigans, over in America, people were less amused.
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Dressed in a tight sweater with fake boobs, pvc skirt, stockings and high heels, topped off with a wig and full make-up (while still retaining his trademark moustache), the singer cut a comical figure as he hoovered the carpet and dusted the ornaments in a parody of a “typical” housewife. The get the authentic Coronation Street vibe, the four members of Queen decided to adopt female characters who lived in the same terraced house: guitarist Brian May dressed up in hair curlers and dressing gown, bassist John Deacon was an old lady reading the paper and drummer Roger Taylor looked absolutely delightful as a schoolgirl.įrontman Freddie Mercury, meanwhile, took on the role of “Bet Lynch” - the glamorous barmaid of Coronation Street’s Rover’s Return pub. Some of the cast of the British television soap opera, 'Coronation Street' in the bar of the show's pub, 1978. While the fantasy sequence saw Mercury cavorting athletically with members of the Royal Ballet, the “everyday” scenes that framed the video could only be summed up by one thing - a soap opera! Specifically, ITV’s long-running show Coronation Street.
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