Who wrote which of the songs attributed to 'Queen'?

[List edited 27/10/15]

This has been discussed plenty in the past, but hasn't come up for a while, and since there's been some contention since the last time they were listed off (particularly on who wrote The Hitman, as I understand it), it seems like a good idea to centralise the details again.

I'll be updating the main post as people contribute, because I'm not the most knowledgeable in this area.



Stone Cold Crazy - Freddie (arr. Freddie, Brian & Roger)

Soul Brother - Freddie

Under Pressure - Freddie (music), David Bowie (lyrics)

One Vision - Brian (music), Freddie, & Roger (lyrics)

Party - Freddie's initial idea, then collab. by Freddie, John, & Brian.
Khashoggi's Ship - Freddie (music & lyrics), Roger (lyrics), Brian (lyrics), & John (lyrics)
The Miracle - Freddie (music & lyrics), John (music, lyrics), Roger (lyrics), Brian (lyrics).
I Want it All - Brian
The Invisible Man - Roger
Breakthru - Roger, with Freddie's 'A new life is born' intro
Rain Must Fall - Freddie (lyrics), John (music)
Scandal - Brian
My Baby Does Me - Freddie (music & lyrics), John (music)
Was it All Worth It? - Mainly Freddie, with lyrics from all four

Innuendo - Freddie (music & lyrics), Brian (music), and Roger (lyrics)
I'm Going Slightly Mad - Freddie (music & lyrics), Roger (lyrics), possibly Peter Straker (lyrics, but the extent of his contribution is disputed)
Headlong - Brian
I Can't Live With You - Brian
Don't Try So Hard - Freddie
Ride the Wild Wind - Roger
All God's People - Freddie
These Are the Days of Our Lives - Roger
Delilah - Freddie
The Hitman - Freddie (music) and Brian (music & lyrics)
Bijou - Freddie & Brian
The Show Must Go On - John & Roger (main chord progression), Brian (music, bulk of lyrics), Freddie (small lyrical contribution)
Lost Opportunity - Brian

It's a Beautiful Day - Freddie
Let Me Live - Freddie (music & his lyrics). Completed by Brian & Roger for Made in Heaven (middle eight music, their lyrics)
My Life Has Been Saved - John
You Don't Fool Me - Freddie (music, lyrics), John (music)
A Winter's Tale - Freddie

Should Soul Brother and Lost Opportunity be on that list too?

I just read about The Miracle on Wikipedia, and according to "them":

"Rain Must Fall" is a collaboration between Deacon (music) and Mercury (lyrics) (as confirmed by producer David Richards and, more recently, May on his website). Taylor recorded a lot of Latin percussion but most of that was edited out in order to have more space for vocal harmonies, guitars and keyboards, the latter shared between Mercury and Deacon in this piece.

"My Baby Does Me" is another collaboration of Mercury and Deacon. Both of them had the idea of a simpler track in order to ease off the album. In a Radio 1 interview in 1989, both Mercury and Deacon claim each other constructed the bassline.

Regarding Under Pressure, according to Queenpedia.com : "Thus, Under Pressure was born, based on an idea by Roger called 'People On Streets' which, prior to Bowie's arrival, then became 'Feel Like'."

Funny story about the bassline, according to Wikipedia :
"There has been some confusion about who created the song's bassline. John Deacon said (in Japanese magazine Musiclife in 1982, and in the previously mentioned French magazine) that David Bowie had created it. In more recent interviews, Brian May and Roger Taylor have credited the bass riff to Deacon. Bowie, on his website, said that the bassline was already written before he became involved. Roger Taylor, in an interview for the BBC documentary Queen: the Days of Our Lives, stated that Deacon had indeed created the bassline, stating that all through the sessions in the studio he had been playing the riff over and over; he also claims that when the band returned from dinner Deacon had, amusingly, forgotten the riff, but fortunately Taylor was still able to remember it."

(the Queenpedia quote is missing some words, I think :P )

[QUOTE] [b]cmsdrums wrote:[/b]

Should Soul Brother and Lost Opportunity be on that list too?[/QUOTE]

Soul Brother was written by Freddie and I assume that Lost Opportunity was written by Brian.

Apparently, Soul Brother was credited to Queen because of all the references to other Queen song titles and lyrics.

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

Stone Cold Crazy - Freddie[/QUOTE]

Originally, yes, but the Queen version was reworked by the three founding members (John hadn't even met them at that point). That's why it got the joint credit.

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

Under Pressure - ?[/QUOTE]

There's never been, to my knowledge, any confirmation that 'Feel Like' is Roger's, it seems to be just a feeble attempt by Roger-ists to re-attribute the song to him.

Based on what we know so far, the song is chiefly Freddie's (musically) and David's (lyrically), but since it arose from a jam session then credits were split between all of them.

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

One Vision - Roger? [/QUOTE]

That's a tricky one since there's a lot going on. Musically, it's chiefly Brian's (with Freddie and Roger contributing to the arrangement). Lyrically, it was started off by Roger but then finished off by Freddie.

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

Party - Freddie
Khashoggi's Ship - Freddie[/QUOTE]

The original ideas, yeah, but lyrics were a collaboration (Roger had input on Khashoggi's Ship but not on Party). Some sections (choruses, middle-eights, etc.) could've arisen later on and been offered by someone other than Fred.

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

The Miracle - Freddie (& John?) [/QUOTE]

Freddie was the chief author although John was there to contribute some germinal ideas and the lyrics were reportedly written by all four (though the published manuscripts only feature Freddie's and Roger's handwriting).

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

Rain Must Fall - ?
My Baby Does Me - ? [/QUOTE]

Both of them are chiefly written by Freddie and chiefly composed and arranged by John, though Freddie had the original musical idea for 'My Baby Does Me'.

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

Was it All Worth It? - Freddie [/QUOTE]

Brian did have a lot to do with the arrangement, but that doesn't really count as being a co-author (GnR completely re-arranged 'Knocking on Heaven's Door', added guitar solos, etc., but the song is still Bob Dylan's).

Lyrically, it evolved from an individual statement ('what is there left for *me* to do in this life') to a collective one ('*we* bought a drum kit...') and it's been reported that the writing process mirrored that narrative, with Freddie coming up with the original idea but then letting the others contribute rhymes and lines. The 'we loved you madly' bit (which is similar to a line on 'Seaside Rendezvous') was reportedly suggested by Roger.

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

Innuendo - Freddie (music) and Roger (lyrics) [/QUOTE]

It's more like Freddie & Brian (music) and Freddie & Roger (lyrics).

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

I'm Going Slightly Mad - Freddie [/QUOTE]

Yes, but Roger contributed some lyrics, including some memorable parts. Fred still directed the process, so he was the chief author.

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

The Hitman - Brian (?) [/QUOTE]

The song itself was started off by Freddie. Then Brian changed the key to make it playable on guitar and made a demo with some lyrics he'd come up with. Eventually, the rest of the band contributed to tidying it up and John re-arranged the order. So it was basically a kind of foster child whose biological father (Fred) couldn't raise it so it went to one of its uncles (Bri) and was eventually educated by the collective Queen family.

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

Bijou - Freddie [/QUOTE]

And Brian. Brian was more involved with the vocal parts and Freddie with the guitar parts ... that's right - you don't need to be a guitarist to compose great guitar lines!

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

The Show Must Go On - Verse progression by Roger and John[/QUOTE]

It's not just the verse. The intro, chorus and all the guitar solos have the same progression. The only section of the song not to be based on that sequence is the middle-eight, which was Brian's.

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

some lyrics by Freddie. [/QUOTE]

Actually, Freddie just wrote a line and a half, Brian did the rest.

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

Let Me Live - ?[/QUOTE]

It was based on a discarded idea which was chiefly Fred's, and then Brian and Roger added lyrics and the middle-eight.

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

You Don't Fool Me - ? (this one will be messy to assign a composer to, I imagine) [/QUOTE]

Not really. Music was Fred & John, lyrics were Fred's. I know there's the whole heroic narrative about the late great David Richards having rescued it when all they had consisted of some bare bones and it was quite tricky to expand them into a full-length song, which was great and all but is not the same as writing or co-writing a track. If a doctor saves my life, that doesn't make him my dad.

It's worth noting that Peter Straker contributed quite heavily to the IGSM lyrics.

[QUOTE] [b]dysan wrote:[/b]

It's worth noting that Peter Straker contributed quite heavily to the IGSM lyrics.[/QUOTE]

Not necessarily. He was there with Freddie listening to his ideas and maybe offering some input as well but that doesn't mean he co-wrote the song. Plenty of authors run their ideas by their friends and relatives when they're in working stages, it's not the first or last time that happened.

[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]dysan wrote:[/b]

It's worth noting that Peter Straker contributed quite heavily to the IGSM lyrics.[/QUOTE]

Not necessarily. He was there with Freddie listening to his ideas and maybe offering some input as well but that doesn't mean he co-wrote the song. Plenty of authors run their ideas by their friends and relatives when they're in working stages, it's not the first or last time that happened.[/QUOTE]

But according to one of Freddie´s bios, i remember that there was a session in Freddie´s home where some of Freddie´s friends were having a good time helping Freddie with the words to IGSM. From Dysan reply i assume Peter Straker was there - i don´t remember the specifics, but if we´re talking about contributions to the song, even if they were not credit in the sleeves (or royalties) they still deserve a mention by Queen fans.

In this specific case, other people outside the band contributed to the lyrics. If they were not credited was because of some private gentleman´s agreement between them.

Actually lyrics wise Queen would have been better off with some outside collaboration like the above scenario. Lyrics are generally the weakest part of the song, usually just passable and no more with the occasional highlight.

[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

Under Pressure - ?[/QUOTE]

There's never been, to my knowledge, any confirmation that 'Feel Like' is Roger's, it seems to be just a feeble attempt by Roger-ists to re-attribute the song to him.

Based on what we know so far, the song is chiefly Freddie's (musically) and David's (lyrically), but since it arose from a jam session then credits were split between all of them. .[/QUOTE]

And David Richards contributed with some piano to it. I don´t know if he was already playing over chords or if he´d come up with something of his own, but David Richards felt later in life that he deserved some credit in UP too.

[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

Bijou - Freddie [/QUOTE]

And Brian. Brian was more involved with the vocal parts and Freddie with the guitar parts ... that's right - you don't need to be a guitarist to compose great guitar lines! .[/QUOTE]

This is the opposite of what i read some time ago. I believe it was David Richards or Brian himself who said that the guitar part was played in one(?) take and it was sort of improvised.
And Brian credits Jeff Becks´s "Where were you" as the inspiration for Bijou.

I´m not saying Freddie doesn´t know what tapping (the guitar technique) is, and he´s very capable of coming up with great guitar lines, but everything about this song screams Brian as the author of the guitar melodies. Now if you´re talking about the chords over which Brian plays, then that´s another story.

[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

The Show Must Go On - Verse progression by Roger and John[/QUOTE]

It's not just the verse. The intro, chorus and all the guitar solos have the same progression. The only section of the song not to be based on that sequence is the middle-eight, which was Brian's. .[/QUOTE]

But this view just belitles a LOT what Brian did to this song. Of course one could say that the chord sequence is the same throughout the song, so therefore everything is Roger and John´s except for the middle eight.
But that is far from the truth!

What Brian did with that chord sequence is extraordinary! He said that he felt that they had something very special in hands, and he worked his butt of to present what can be one of the best songs in rock - ever!
From my point of view it feature the best vocal performance in rock!

How can you discard the guitar solos that easily? You don´t appreciate Brian or something?
The care with which Brian constructed each guitar line and solo deserve more credit that what you gave him. Brian took that chord sequence and gave it a meaning that the other two could never give. He even coached Freddie´s vocals, so i can assume that the vocals melody are Brian´s too.

Simply put, without Brian we wouldn´t have "TSMGO". With or without his middle eight.

[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

Let Me Live - ?[/QUOTE]

It was based on a discarded idea which was chiefly Fred's, and then Brian and Roger added lyrics and the middle-eight. .[/QUOTE]

Are you referring to the 1984 version with Rod Stewart or the MIH version that came out in 1995?


[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

You Don't Fool Me - ? (this one will be messy to assign a composer to, I imagine) [/QUOTE]

Not really. Music was Fred & John, lyrics were Fred's. I know there's the whole heroic narrative about the late great David Richards having rescued it when all they had consisted of some bare bones and it was quite tricky to expand them into a full-length song, which was great and all but is not the same as writing or co-writing a track. If a doctor saves my life, that doesn't make him my dad.[/QUOTE]

And Brian wrote that brilliant guitar solo. In Brian´s words, he improvised it, and was happy that the tape was running. If this is true, and i don´t have a reason to believe otherwise, it is the best improvised solo i´ve ever heard caught on tape. Perfection!

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

These Are the Days of Our Lives - Roger
.[/QUOTE]

And Freddie wrote the musical bit after the second verse over wich Brian plays his solo. Roger said he was stuck with it and Freddie helped him out.

Another thing worth mention is that Brian wrote the guitar solo to "A Winter´s tale". He was in London at the time and the melody just came to his mind.

I know such things don´t get credited because the chord structure is already in place by it´s author, but for me a melody is as important as the chord structure created by the author.

I believe that this system incorporated in Rock only serves the purpose of deffending the not-so-good rock composers, who come out with a used-to-death chord progression, and then call some excellent session musician, and asked him/her to play over that chord progression without credits or royalties. They only get payed for the session!
This is very unfair, because the better musician and the person really creating something unique - the melody - is the one not being credited.

Having said this, of course Queen are not in this cathegory, but i still feel that Brian deserves being credited for his solo on "Bohemian Rhapsody", or any other solo he had created. "Heaven for everyone" is another great example of Brian´s genius.

Also interesting is that Wikipedia says that it was David Richard's idea to have the second verse of Show Must Go On be in a higher key.

[QUOTE] [b]Mr.QueenFan wrote:[/b]
Having said this, of course Queen are not in this cathegory, but i still feel that Brian deserves being credited for his solo on "Bohemian Rhapsody", or any other solo he had created. "Heaven for everyone" is another great example of Brian´s genius.[/QUOTE]

Freddie wrote the guitar solo for Bo Rhap, actually.

No he didn't. He wrote the riff in the rock part, and the runs towards the end of it though.