"Las Palabras de Amor (The Words of Love)" is a

rock ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Ball ...

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 ...

. It was released as the third single from their 1982 album ''

Hot Space ''Hot Space'' is the tenth studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 4 May 1982 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. Marking a notable shift in direction from their earlier work ...

''. It is sung mostly in English, but with several Spanish phrases. Written by guitarist

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 ...

, the song proved more popular in the United Kingdom than their previous single ("

Body Language Body language is a type of nonverbal communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use o ...

"), reaching No. 17 in the UK Singles Chart. Despite the mixed response to its parent album, "Las Palabras de Amor" has become a fan favourite.

Background

The song's lyrics were written by guitarist

.Palabras De Amor Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)
Ultimate Queen. Retrieved 5 July 2011 Vocals were provided by lead singer

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 ...

with May on the high harmony vocal. The song was inspired by the band's close relationship with their Argentinian fans. It marked the band's final studio appearance on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'' (having previously appeared to promote " Seven Seas of Rhye", "

Killer Queen "Killer Queen" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was 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 U ...

", " Now I'm Here" and " Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" respectively). For this mimed performance May is seen playing a

grand piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

as well as his guitar and, on the recording, he plays both piano and

synths A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis an ...

in addition to acoustic and electric guitars. May also sang lead vocals for the harmonized line "this night and evermore" throughout the song. During

the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness was a benefit concert held on Easter Monday, 20 April 1992, at Wembley Stadium in London, England, for an audience of 72,000. The concert was produced for television by Ray Burdis, direc ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

in 1992, this was the third song of the second half, performed by

Zucchero Adelmo Fornaciari (; born 25 September 1955), known professionally as Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero (), is an Italian singer, musician and songwriter. His stage name is the Italian word for "sugar", as his primary school teacher used to ...

and Queen. In Queen + Paul Rodgers Rock The Cosmos-tour 2008 it was played in the Spanish speaking countries, sung by May. This song also made it onto 1999 Queen's '' Greatest Hits III'' and, more recently, on the '' Queen Forever'' compilation. It also appears on the '' Greatest Video Hits 2'' DVD released in November 2003.Queen Promo Videos: Las Palabras De Amor
Ultimate Queen. Retrieved 13 November 2019 Musical theatre actress

Elaine Paige Dame Elaine Jill Paige (born Elaine Jill Bickerstaff, 5 March 1948) is an English singer and actress, best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Chipping Barnet, Barnet, Hertfordshire, Paige attended the Aida Foster Theatre School, m ...

recorded the song on her album of Queen covers '' The Queen Album'' in 1988. The baby's face image of the single's cover would reappear on The Cross single for their song "New Dark Ages".

Personnel

Queen *

– lead and backing vocals *

– electric and 12-string acoustic guitars, keyboards, backing and co-lead vocals * Roger Taylor – drums, backing vocals *

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 ...

– bass guitar

Charts

References

External links

* Official YouTube videos
original music videoat Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert
(with

) * Lyrics at Queen official website
album versionversion
from '' Greatest Hits III'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Palabras De Amor, Las Queen (band) songs 1982 singles Songs written by Brian May 1980s ballads Macaronic songs Rock ballads Song recordings produced by Reinhold Mack EMI Records singles Hollywood Records singles 1982 songs