"Let Me Live" is a 1996 song by British rock 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 ...

, from the 1995 album ''

Made in Heaven ''Made In Heaven'' is the fifteenth and final studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 6 November 1995 by Parlophone Records in the United Kingdom and by Hollywood Records in the United States. It is the final studio album to ...

''.

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 ...

, Roger Taylor and

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 ...

share lead vocals, with Mercury singing the first verse, Taylor singing the second verse and bridge, and May singing the last verse. During the choruses, all of the band members sing (except for bass player

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 ...

), as well as a background choir, giving it a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

sound reminiscent of the band's 1976 single " Somebody to Love". The single reached No. 9 in the UK Single Charts, becoming the band's last Top 10 hit in that country.

History

Freddie Mercury stated in an interview that this song was originally recorded with

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

in 1983. It is suggested that this song was intended to be on Queen's '' The Works'' album in 1984. Some backing lyrics in the version intended for release on ''Made in Heaven'' had to be changed due to

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

problems, because it resembled a line from "

Piece of My Heart "Piece of My Heart" is a romantic soul song written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns, originally recorded by Erma Franklin in 1967. Franklin's single peaked in December 1967 at number 10 on the '' Billboard'' Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart ...

". The first Mexican and Dutch pressings of the album, however, had the original version. The song peaked at No. 9 on the UK singles chart. According to the Queen website,

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

did not playlist this song.

Track listing

Personnel

;Queen *

— lead vocals on first verse, piano *

— lead vocals on final verse, backing vocals, guitars, keyboards * Roger Taylor — lead vocals on second verse and bridge, backing vocals, drums, percussion *

— bass guitar ;Additional musicians *Rebecca Leigh-White – backing vocals *Gary Martin – backing vocals *

Catherine Porter Catherine Porter (born 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She is a former member of The Brian May Band and has appeared in several musicals and films. To date, Porter has released one album of solo material, '' Something ...

— backing vocals *

Miriam Stockley Miriam Arlene Stockley (born 15 April 1962) is a South African singer. She was born in Johannesburg, and her work is influenced by the Music of Africa, African music of her home country. Her distinctive ''vocal warm up#Vocalise, vocalise'' style ...

— backing vocals

Alternate version

*''Made in Heaven'' – The Film's Edit (0:29) (on the DVD only, on the 'Song Select' screen) (an edit of the album version from 0:25 to 0:55, fading out over three seconds)

Charts

References

External links

*
Lyrics at Queen official website
Queen (band) songs 1996 singles Anti-war songs Parlophone singles Rock ballads Songs written by Brian May Songs written by John Deacon Songs written by Roger Taylor (Queen drummer) Songs written by Freddie Mercury Songs released posthumously Hollywood Records singles Gospel songs 1995 songs {{1990s-rock-single-stub