Killer Queen
Mercury's piano-led paean to a Moët-quaffing courtesan.
"Killer Queen" is a song by the British rock band Queen, written by lead singer Freddie Mercury and recorded for their third album Sheer Heart Attack in 1974. It reached number two in the UK singles chart and became their first US hit, reaching number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is about a high-class call girl and has been characterised as "Mercury's piano-led paean to a Moët-quaffing courtesan." It is included in Queen's 1981 Greatest Hits compilation and appears on the live albums Live Killers and Queen Rock Montreal.
Quick Facts
- Artist
- Queen
- Album
- Sheer Heart Attack
- Released
- 11 October 1974
- Recorded
- July–August 1974
- Studio
- Trident (London, England); Rockfield (Wye Valley, Wales)
- Genre
- Glam rock
- art pop
- power pop
- experimental rock
- music hall
- pop rock
- hard rock
- Length
- 3:00
- Label
- EMI
Lore & Background
Mercury commented he wrote the lyrics before the melody and music, whereas normally he would do the opposite. He stated that the song was about a high-class call girl. The song's first verse quotes a phrase traditionally but falsely attributed to Marie Antoinette: "'Let them eat cake,' she says, Just like Marie Antoinette." Unlike the first two Queen albums, this song was partly recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales. The recording features elaborate four-part harmonies (particularly in the choruses, and also providing backing parts in the verses), and also a multitracked guitar solo by Brian May which makes use of the bell effect. At one point, there are two distinct bass guitar lines, one of which diverges into a descending run. Brian May said, "'Killer Queen' was the turning point. It was the song that best summed up our kind of music, and a big hit, and we desperately needed it as a mark of something successful happening for us... I was always very happy with this song."
Reader's Guide
Freddie Mercury said of the song: "People are used to hard rock, energy music from Queen, yet with this single you almost expect Noël Coward to sing it. It's one of those bowler hat, black suspender belt numbers – not that Coward would wear that. ... It's about a high class call girl. I'm trying to say that classy people can be whores as well." Brian May recalled: "The first time I heard Freddie playing that song, I was lying in my room in Rockfield [a residential recording studio in Wales], feeling very sick. After Queen's first American tour, I had hepatitis, and then I had very bad stomach problems and I had to be operated on. And when I came out again, we were able to finish off 'Killer Queen.' They left some space for me and I did the solo." On the single's release, Cash Box said that it had "fine lead vocals, solid harmonies and an inventive production" and that "this song is bound to make you smile with its lighthearted whimsy and confident approach." Record World described it as "a cross between Bowie and Wings." Retrospectively, "Killer Queen" was described by AllMusic as the true beginning of Queen's "radio sound" and "recalls the cabaret songs of yesteryear, but also shows how Queen was fast becoming a master of power pop." Rock historian Paul Fowles wrote that "Killer Queen", with its "sleazy Parisian imagery", allowed "free rein" to Mercury's "unique brand of rock theater." American pop singer Katy Perry cited "Killer Queen" as an important influence on her, saying it "made me discover music and helped me come into my own at the age of 15."
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