Keep Yourself Alive

July 6, 1973

Keep Yourself Alive is a song by Queen from 1973, which was written by Brian May and appeared on the debut album Queen. On July 6, 1973, the song was first released as a Queen single. On the flip side, the title Son and Daughter was.

Formation background

According to Mark Hodkinson, author of Queen: The Early Years, was conceived during the band rehearsals with acoustic guitars at Imperial College London and the garden at the Ferry Road in 1970 Keep Yourself Alive by Queen. At this time Queen had not yet found a solid bass player. The group consisted of guitarist Brian May, singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor. In a radio report on their album News of the World from 1977 May said he had written the lyrics as ironic jokes, but the content would make sense, as Freddie Mercury sang the songs.

The original version of Keep Yourself Alive was recorded in the summer of 1971 at De Lane Lea Studios. The production was Louie Austin. Brian May played the intro on his Hair Fred acoustic guitar. All elements of the song were already in place, including the call- and-response vocals of Freddie Mercury in the verse and the break in which Roger Taylor sings a line and Mercury responds. This original recording of the song was Bryan May's favorite.

The second version of the song was recorded at Trident Studios in London. In this version, Brian May sings the line " two steps nearer to my grave" instead of the current Mercury. This version was not recorded with an acoustic guitar but with electric guitars, one of which uses a special phase effect. In this version also has a new line of text is included: " Come on and get it, get it, get it boy, keep yourself alive", which is missing on the usrpünglichen version.

There is yet a third version of the song; the so-called Long - Lost Retake was established in 1975 and was originally to be released in the U.S. as a single. In this version you can hear the traditional Queen sound with tight, layered vocals and extensive guitar parts. However, in the United States, a shortened version of the British single was coupled out and the Long - Lost Retake remained commercially unreleased until 1991 Hollywood Records issued a renewed version of Queens debut album in the United States.

Contributors

• Queen, Roy Thomas Baker, John Anthony: production
• Freddie Mercury: vocals, background vocals
• Brian May: Author, guitar, backing vocals
• John Deacon: bass guitar
• Roger Taylor: drums, tambourine, backing vocals

Live performances

The newly formed band took Queen Keep Yourself Alive rapidly in their live repertoire. Mercury said: "The song was a good way to show people how Queen was at these times. " (RAM, May 21, 1976, p 17) The piece includes a drum solo Roger Taylor and sung by him text line.

Keep Yourself Alive led the band until the early 1980s frequently. In the tours in 1980 and 1981, the band first played an impromptu jam before they started after the drum solo to play Keep Yourself Alive. Often followed by Taylor's drum solo, a guitar solo by May

In live performances Mercury sang often the line: "all you people keep yourself alive" ( which is sung only twice in the studio version ), instead of the line: " it'll take you all your time and a money honey you ' ll survive " (which happens more often in the studio version ).

Publication and reception

EMI published Keep Yourself Alive on July 6, 1973 as a single in the UK, a week before Queen hit the shelves. Some months later, on October 9, 1973 Elektra Records released the song in the United States as a single. However, Keep Yourself Alive was played by radio stations rarely and was ignored on both sides of the Atlantic for the most part; did not make it a place in the British or American charts. Keep Yourself Alive is the only Queen single, which was denied entry into the British charts.

The British music press picked up the song with mixed opinions. The New Musical Express praised the " clear picture" of the song, just like the "good singer ". In the issue dated 21 July 1973, the Melody Maker praised the song for his " guitar intro " and the " vocal attack", but the song was their opinion, "too unoriginal ". The South Yorkshire Times praised the song: "If this debut sound from Queen is typical for them, it will be interesting to hear their future things."

In 2008, Rolling Stone Magazine took the song to number 31 on the " The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".