Music Quiz: Queen Lyrics: 10 Questions | Queen

Answer: Don't Stop Me Now

"Don't Stop Me Now" was released as a track on the "Jazz" album, and in 1979 it was put out as a single. Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, it was performed for only a short time live, mainly on the "Crazy" tour.

The song was played on the soundtrack from "Shaun of the Dead", while a comic zombie scene was played out. A lot of young listeners became Queen fans after listening to this version.

Answer: I Want to Break Free

The video for "I Want to Break Free" shows the band members dressed as the actresses who are members of the cast of the long-running British soap opera "Coronation Street." Roger, Brian and John, if not Freddie, made very convincing ladies. Most fans were very amused by this video, but some people in the US were shocked and appalled, somehow believing that Queen was endorsing a TV lifestyle.

In fact, the comic tradition of men dressing as women has long been part of English entertainment. Examples are certain roles in Christmas pantomime, and the part of Lady Bracknell, in Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest", often played by a male actor. Of course, Wilde himself was seen as another degenerate, in his day!

Answer: Radio Ga Ga

The song "Radio Ga Ga" was extremely popular with the audiences of Queen's live concerts in Europe. As soon as the band would begin to play it, huge numbers of people would clap along in a syncopated beat, in honour of the video that went with the single.

The video for "Radio Ga Ga" was criticized by some listeners as being "Nazi-like"; however, the source of inspiration that Queen drew upon was in fact the silent film called "Metropolis" (1929) directed by the German filmmaker Fritz Lang. If one listens to the whole of the lyrics, it is obvious that the intention of the song is in a liberal tradition.

Answer: Hammer to Fall

"Hammer To Fall" is clearly about the experience of living through the Cold War between the US and the USSR, as in the phrase "in the shadow of the mushroom cloud." The song proved to be a fairly popular one with Queen fans; the band performed it as part of their appearance at Live Aid (London 1985).

Some years later, the song had a resurgence in popularity when it was included on the soundtrack of the film "Highlander".

Answer: Another One Bites The Dust

"Another One Bites the Dust" was written by Queen bass player John Deacon, and appeared on the 1980 album "The Game". It was very successful in the UK and the rest of Europe, as well as in the US, and inspired a number of remixes and covers.

In 1981, Weird Al Yankovich released a song entitled "Another One Rides The Bus".

Answer: Queen and David Bowie

"Under Pressure" was recorded by Queen and David Bowie in 1981. Queen included a live version of the song in every one of their concerts from 1981 to the end of their touring career in 1986. David Bowie never included the song in any of his concerts, until the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, when he duetted with Annie Lennox on the number.

However, after the death of Freddie Mercury, Bowie performed the song in all his live shows, and frequently dedicated it to Mercury. The Queen/David Bowie version went to number one on the charts in the UK and Canada.

Answer: Somebody to Love

"Somebody To Love" was taken from the 1976 album "A Day at the Races", and was written by Freddie Mercury. It used similar harmonies to those found on "Bohemian Rhapsody", but the song has more of a gospel music feel to it.

Answer: Seaside Rendezvous

The album "A Night at the Opera" (1975), from which this song is taken, contains an amazing variety of musical styles. "Lazing On a Sunday Afternoon" and "Seaside Rendezvous" are both in the 1920s, music-hall fashion that Brian May is so fond of. He actually owns an original George Formby mandolin!

The video for "Seaside Rendezvous" shows scenes from a beach that are set in the same time period. The video contains footage of many people, especially ladies, in old-style "bathing costumes"; they all look like they're having fun!

Answer: I'm Going Slightly Mad

"I'm Going Slightly Mad" appears of the album "Innuendo" (1991), which is the final album Queen released before the death of Freddie Mercury, also in 1991, from complications arising from the AIDS virus. Although many millions of fans around the world were brokenhearted at Mercury's death, this song, and the entire album, demonstrate that he had great personal courage despite physical trauma, and in fact if anything, his amazing voice became even stronger.

The video for "I'm Going Slightly Mad", a black-and-white romp through Queen's over-the-top humour, also shows that Mercury was determined to keep enjoying his work until the bitter end.

Answer: Bohemian Rhapsody

"Bohemian Rhapsody" has been number one on countless Top 100 Hits, Top 500 Hits, and so on, mainly in the UK and Europe. Japan also has a very enthusiastic Queen contingent.

This somewhat lengthy song is very unusual, as it is more or less divided into sections, and the type of music and singing changes from one section to the next. It seems to be tied loosely together by the repetition of the words "doesn't really matter" (or "as if nothing really mattered") and the related phrase "any way the wind blows." The other phrase (really an idiom or proverb) that recurs is: "Easy come, easy go". "Bohemian Rhapsody" was written by Freddie Mercury.