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"Who Wants to Live Forever" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It is the sixth track on the album A Kind of Magic, released in June 1986, and was written by lead guitarist Brian May for the soundtrack to the film Highlander. Queen was backed up by an orchestra, with orchestrations by the co-composer of the film's score, Michael Kamen. The song peaked at No. 24 in the UK charts.
Since its release, the song has been covered by many artists. In 2014, Rolling Stone readers voted it their fifth favourite song by Queen.
Recording
The song is used to frame the scenes in the film where Connor MacLeod must endure his beloved wife Heather MacLeod growing old and dying while he, as an Immortal, remains forever young. (It was later used in the episodes "The Gathering", "Revenge is Sweet", "The Hunters", "Line of Fire", and "Leader of the Pack" of the Highlander television series).
Brian May wrote the song in the backseat of his car after seeing a 20-minute first cut of the scene of Heather's death.
In the film, Freddie Mercury provides all the main vocals, while May sings lead vocals on the first verse on the album version, before Mercury finally takes over for most of the rest of the song, with May singing "But touch my tears with your lips" during Mercury's verse and then the final line of the song, "Who waits forever anyway?". An instrumental version of the song, titled "Forever", was included as a bonus track on the CD version of the album. This instrumental featured only a piano, with keyboard accompaniment during the chorus sections. The piano track was recorded solely by May. Queen was backed up by an orchestra, with orchestrations by the co-composer of the film's score, Michael Kamen.
Music video
The video was directed by David Mallet and filmed in a (now demolished) warehouse at Tobacco Wharf at London's East End in September 1986. It featured the National Philharmonic Orchestra with forty choirboys and hundreds and hundreds of candles which remain lit throughout filming as well as Mercury wearing a tuxedo suit. The video also features bass guitarist John Deacon playing a white double bass, despite not performing on the original recording.
An alternate version with clips from the film Highlander (which the song appears in) appears on the video single with "A Kind of Magic" in October 1986 and later as a hidden music video on the Queen Greatest Video Hits II DVD in November 2003.
File Hashes
HASH1: 06853E78530D4591
HASH2: 4656219E8E9B2D80 (MP3)
HASH1: AD2F0A26DB57FF1B HASH2: D494A207D2492636 (MP3)
HASH1: 907D97BABA4C0541 HASH2: 418696F11CDFC2C5 (MP3)
HASH1: 425EA67759BE668C HASH2: 776335C8AAD89DC1 (MP3)
HASH1: 8C005DBCA061DC5B HASH2: 3C150B001F1D5C61 (MP3)
HASH1: 7BCC86D0CCEA741F HASH2: ECB6CA75E72962F3 (MP3)
HASH1: 1C893B0D78C3A530 HASH2: CB8E5568B09D18F9 (MP3)
HASH1: 1814911A0F1BF32B HASH2: 7ED1E009303D8E20 (MP3)
HASH1: AA982B9E9C2EA9F7 HASH2: 09CD87A163C5888E (MP3)
HASH1: 39720E14EB6DAE3D HASH2: 09CD87A163C5888E (MP3)
HASH1: 50AD0E31EFBB4F1D HASH2: 3B1905372C31764A (MP3)
Available in:
"Who Wants to Live Forever" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It is the sixth track on the album A Kind of Magic, released in June 1986, and was written by lead guitarist Brian May for the soundtrack to the film Highlander. Queen was backed up by an orchestra, with orchestrations by the co-composer of the film's score, Michael Kamen. The song peaked at No. 24 in the UK charts.
Since its release, the song has been covered by many artists. In 2014, Rolling Stone readers voted it their fifth favourite song by Queen.
Recording
The song is used to frame the scenes in the film where Connor MacLeod must endure his beloved wife Heather MacLeod growing old and dying while he, as an Immortal, remains forever young. (It was later used in the episodes "The Gathering", "Revenge is Sweet", "The Hunters", "Line of Fire", and "Leader of the Pack" of the Highlander television series).
Brian May wrote the song in the backseat of his car after seeing a 20-minute first cut of the scene of Heather's death.
In the film, Freddie Mercury provides all the main vocals, while May sings lead vocals on the first verse on the album version, before Mercury finally takes over for most of the rest of the song, with May singing "But touch my tears with your lips" during Mercury's verse and then the final line of the song, "Who waits forever anyway?". An instrumental version of the song, titled "Forever", was included as a bonus track on the CD version of the album. This instrumental featured only a piano, with keyboard accompaniment during the chorus sections. The piano track was recorded solely by May. Queen was backed up by an orchestra, with orchestrations by the co-composer of the film's score, Michael Kamen.
Music video
The video was directed by David Mallet and filmed in a (now demolished) warehouse at Tobacco Wharf at London's East End in September 1986. It featured the National Philharmonic Orchestra with forty choirboys and hundreds and hundreds of candles which remain lit throughout filming as well as Mercury wearing a tuxedo suit. The video also features bass guitarist John Deacon playing a white double bass, despite not performing on the original recording.
An alternate version with clips from the film Highlander (which the song appears in) appears on the video single with "A Kind of Magic" in October 1986 and later as a hidden music video on the Queen Greatest Video Hits II DVD in November 2003.
File Hashes
HASH1: 06853E78530D4591 HASH2: 4656219E8E9B2D80 (MP3) HASH1: AD2F0A26DB57FF1B HASH2: D494A207D2492636 (MP3) HASH1: 907D97BABA4C0541 HASH2: 418696F11CDFC2C5 (MP3) HASH1: 425EA67759BE668C HASH2: 776335C8AAD89DC1 (MP3) HASH1: 8C005DBCA061DC5B HASH2: 3C150B001F1D5C61 (MP3) HASH1: 7BCC86D0CCEA741F HASH2: ECB6CA75E72962F3 (MP3) HASH1: 1C893B0D78C3A530 HASH2: CB8E5568B09D18F9 (MP3) HASH1: 1814911A0F1BF32B HASH2: 7ED1E009303D8E20 (MP3) HASH1: AA982B9E9C2EA9F7 HASH2: 09CD87A163C5888E (MP3) HASH1: 39720E14EB6DAE3D HASH2: 09CD87A163C5888E (MP3) HASH1: 50AD0E31EFBB4F1D HASH2: 3B1905372C31764A (MP3) 
Rock 
Rousing 
Rock/Pop 
431,824 
9,464 (2%)
None 
Status
UnlockedData Complete
80%External Links
