"I'm Going Slightly Mad" is a song by the British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

. Written by

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter who achieved global fame as the lead vocalist and pianist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. Regarded as one of the gre ...

but credited to Queen, with uncredited lyrical contributions by

Peter Straker Peter Straker (born 7 November 1943) is a Jamaican-born British singer and actor. Life and career Straker was born in Jamaica, and moved to London in his early childhood. He first became known in 1968, when he starred as Hud in the original Lo ...

, it was released as the second single from the band's 1991 album ''

Innuendo An innuendo is a wikt:hint, hint, wikt:insinuation, insinuation or wikt:intimation, intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called in ...

''. The song was released as a single on 4 March 1991, a month after the release of the album. The lyrics and the accompanying music video project the song as humorous and lighthearted, despite the lyrics dealing with the mental decline Mercury was experiencing as one of the effects of advancing

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. The single cover was inspired by a Grandville illustration (as are the others from the album).

Background

"I'm Going Slightly Mad" had been mentioned by

John Deacon John Richard Deacon (born 19 August 1951) is an English retired musician who was the bass guitarist for the rock band Queen. He wrote several songs for the group, including Top 10 hits " You're My Best Friend", "Another One Bites the Dust" a ...

in a letter printed in the Queen Fan Club magazine of Spring 1990. Deacon revealed that work was being done on the song, calling it the "whacky single". Mercury composed the song; he had the song's title in mind before anything else. During an evening with his friend

, Mercury explained his idea for the song, which he wanted to feature lyrics of tongue-in-cheek one-liners inspired by

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

. The pair then spent the night coming up with such lines. In his 1994 book ''Mercury and Me'', Mercury's partner Jim Hutton recalled: During 1991, Mercury recorded a short, "Totally Bonkers" version of the song as a message for Queen's 1991 fan club convention. The version, less than a minute in length, features different instrumentation, lyrics and vocal than that used in the main, full Queen recording of the song.

Critical reception

Upon its release as a single, Sylvia Patterson of ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' described "I'm Going Slightly Mad" as "blustering Queen pomp rock as usual". Chris Roberts of ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' remarked, "I am prepared to go along with the perennial seer and prophet Fred Mercury. This is the very song where he makes the now-infamous claim that he is "a banana tree". So it's Fyffes stars for this one!" Robin Smith of ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...

'' was negative in his review, calling it "more crud from Queen" and "another incomprehensible single with Freddie sounding strangely like Billy Mackenzie – a terrifying thought indeed".

Music video

The accompanying video was directed by

Rudi Dolezal Rudi Dolezal (, born 5 February 1958) is an Austrian film producer and film director best known for his music videos. He has directed and produced videos for artists such as Tom Waits, the Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Michael Jacks ...

and

Hannes Rossacher Hannes Rossacher (born 16 October 1952, Steyr) is an Austrian film director and film producer. Rossacher has worked with Rudi Dolezal since 1976 in their production company DoRo Productions. His contributions to the ORF (broadcaster), ORF youth pr ...

DoRo Productions DoRo Produktion Ges.mbH DoRo Productions is a film company based in Vienna, Austria. DoRo was named after the surnames of founders Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher. History Dolezal and Rossacher, also known as the "Torpedo Twins", first started ...

. Like all other ''Innuendo'' videos, it was filmed in February 1991 at Limehouse Studios. Costumes were created by Diana Moseley. It features the band dressed and acting in an absurd and surreal manner, including

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

Brian May Sir Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, animal welfare activist and astrophysics, astrophysicist. He achieved global fame as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Queen ...

dressed as a

penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

(a reprise of his outfit featured in the booklet of the first Queen album),

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

Roger Taylor wearing a tea kettle on his head and riding a tricycle while Mercury sneaks up on him and is chasing him, a man in a

gorilla suit Gorilla suits are a type of creature suit resembling a gorilla. The gorilla suit is a popular Halloween and costume party costume, and is also used as a source of humour, while more realistic suits have been used both to represent real gorillas ...

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

as a

jester A jester, also known as joker, court jester, or fool, was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch kept to entertain guests at the royal court. Jesters were also travelling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town ma ...

, and Mercury wearing a bunch of

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

s as a wig, which corresponds with the line "I think I'm a banana tree". "I'm Going Slightly Mad" is the last Queen video to feature significant creative input from Mercury. He was already considerably ill at the time due to

, which would claim his life less than a year later. Despite this, the viewer sees Mercury as very mobile and expressive in the scenes of the video. He even actively co-directed some of the video's storyboards. Mercury wore thick makeup to cover up the blotches on his face, and an extra layer of clothing underneath to conceal his weight loss. He also wore a wig, and a suit, both in the

goth Goth or Goths may refer to: * Goths, a Germanic people Arts and entertainment * Gothic rock or goth, a style of rock music * Goth subculture, developed by fans of gothic rock * ''Goth'' (2003 film), an American horror film * ''Goth'' (2008 f ...

-inspired style popular at the time. In contrast, in the video for "

These Are the Days of Our Lives "These Are the Days of Our Lives" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Although credited to the whole band, it was largely written by their drummer Roger Taylor, and is the eighth track on the band's 1991 album ''Innuendo''. The song was ...

", the last music video which Mercury ever filmed (in May 1991), he hardly moved around at all, as his condition had deteriorated further. However, both of these videos were shot in black and white.

Track listings

7-inch single :A. "I'm Going Slightly Mad" – 4:22 :B. " The Hitman" – 4:56 12-inch and CD single # "I'm Going Slightly Mad" – 4:22 # "The Hitman" – 4:56 # "Lost Opportunity" – 3:51

Personnel

– lead and backing vocals,

Korg M1 The Korg M1 is a synthesizer and music workstation manufactured by Korg from 1988 to 1995. It is one of the bestselling synthesizers in history, selling an estimated 250,000 units. The M1 was widely used in popular music and stock music in the ...

synthesizer, piano, sampler *

– guitars, backing vocals * Roger Taylor – drums, maracas, bar chimes, drum machine *

– bass guitar

Charts

References

External links

*
Lyrics at Queen official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Im Going Slightly Mad Queen (band) songs 1991 singles 1991 songs British synth-pop songs Hollywood Records singles Music videos directed by Hannes Rossacher Music videos shot in London Parlophone singles Songs about mental health Songs written by Freddie Mercury