Queen recently posted a video on their YouTube account in which they discussed how their studio recording sessions changed into live performances.
When Brian May wrote “We Will Rock You,” he had hoped for what might happen with the song. May clarified:
“Well, you kind of hope that they will evolve live. I mean, We Will Rock You, certainly was written with the absolutely clear intention that it would be an audience participation song. And it worked out, I’m happy to say.”
Later, he clarified how the song got unclear:
“But it’s different live. And for a start, there’s no drums on the original recorded version. It’s become a drum extravaganza, which is fine, and the audience do sing it. The stamping and clapping thing has evolved into a completely incomprehensible situation because some people will go bump bump punch, some people go boom, boom, punch, and you know, who knows? I don’t even know anymore.”
May explained how he generates song ideas as follows:
“But it doesn’t matter because the physicality is there and they sing and obviously it’s a staple. It’s always going to be with us, ‘We Will Rock You’, same with ‘[We Are The] Champions’. So yeah, it’s moments of discovery. ‘Oh, we can do this.’ I love waking up in the middle of the night and thinking, ‘Oh, you know what? We could do this’, you know? And you go in, you ‘Can we try this?’ and then you go ‘Actually yeah that could work, that can pretty much work’.”
May said that the excitement of the band’s followers contributed to the creation of “We Will Rock You.” ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are The Champions’ were inspired by a song that the crowd sang to the band during a live performance after they had finished performing. In an earlier interview, the guitarist explained:
“We did an encore and they went off. Instead of just keeping clapping, they sang [Elvis Presley’s] ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ to us, and we were just completely knocked out and taken aback. It was quite an emotional experience really, and I think these chant things are in some way connected with that.”
We Will Rock You has received multiple certifications since its debut and topped the OCC’s “UK Singles” list.
Watch the video down below.
