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This article refers to the song written and performed by Queen . We Are the Champions was also the name of a British children's TV show. "We Are the Champions" is a song written by Freddie Mercury and recorded and performed by his band Queen . It is one of their most famous and popular songs, and has since become an anthem for sporting victories. Musically, it was based around Mercury's piano part, with Taylor and Deacon providing a drums and bass guitar backing. May overdubbed some guitar parts, initially subtle, but building to a 'solo' played simultaneously with the last chorus. Mercury employed many 'jazz' chords (major and minor 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th harmonies), and the choruses featured these voiced as 4 and 5-part vocal harmonies. The lead vocal is very demanding and strident, and in live performances, Mercury often deferred to let Taylor handle the highest parts of the melody. The song comes from the '' News Of The World '' (1977) album and follows " We Will Rock You ." This pair of songs was often used to close Queen concerts. Keeping with tradition, it was also used to close the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert with all the show's acts joining in behind the lead vocal of Liza Minnelli . QUOTES ON 'WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS' Queen themselves Freddie (1985): "I have to win people over, otherwise it's not a successful gig. It's my job to make sure people have a good time. That's part of my duty. It's all to do with feeling in control. That song We Are The Champions has been taken up by football fans because it's a winners' song. I can't believe that somebody hasn't written a new song to overtake it." Freddie: "Certainly it's a relationship that could be, but I was thinking about football when I wrote it. I wanted a participation song, something the fans could latch on to. It was aimed at the masses; I thought we'd see how they took it. It worked a treat. When we performed it at a private concert in London, the fans actually broke into a football chant between numbers. Of course, I've given it more theatrical subtlety than an ordinary football chant. You know me. I certainly wasn't thinking about the press when I wrote it. I never think about the British music press these days. It was really meant to be offered the musicians the same as the fans. I suppose it could also be construed as my version of " I Did It My Way ". We have made it, and it certainly wasn't easy. No bed of roses as the song says. And it's still not easy." Brian May (1991): "I can understand some people saying We Are The Champions was bombastic. But it wasn't saying Queen are the champions, it was saying all of us are. It made the concert like a football match, but with everyone on the same side." Brian: "You know, songs aren't always about what the words say. Messages in songs can appear different. I always see that as the difference between prose and poetry. Prose can mean exactly what it says, while poetry can mean the opposite. That goes for this song. Freddie's stuff is often tongue-in-cheek anyway, as you know. This song is very theatrical. Freddie is very close to his art. You could say, he's married to his music, whether it's 'I Did It My Way' or his 'There's No Business Like Show Business'. I must say, when he first played it for us in the studio we all fell on the floor with laughter. So many of the people in the press hate us because we've side-stepped them and got where we have without them. But there's no way the song says anything against our audiences. When the song says 'we,' it means 'us and the fans.' When we did that special concert, the fans were wonderful. They understood it so well. I know it sounds corny, but it brought tears to our eyes." Brian (1998): "His (Freddie's) songs say it all: Lily Of The Valley, Killer Queen , Bohemian Rhapsody , The March Of The Black Queen, We Are The Champions, The Miracle, Play The Game and many others all have the finest shades of emotion among the bold strokes. Freddie never wanted to discuss his lyrics: 'They should speak for themselves' was his curt dismissal. But the imagination in those lyrics compiled with a magical sense of melody, and a deft knack of sliding between keys at the drop of a hat, made him one of the truly original songwriters of our time." , the final as well, which was great actually." Brian (1999): "You can read it as pure arrogance. But in concerts there are no losers and the losing streaks in ourselves are forgotten, so it works as a self-affirming thing. I remember saying, you can't do this, Fred. You'll get killed. He just said, 'Yes we can.'" Roger (1999): "'No time for losers' is a silly line, but it wasn't written seriously. It was a throw-away." John Deacon (2001): "One of our best songs." Brian (2003): "I too remember finding it arrogant at the time Freddie first sang it to us, and I'm sure I said so. But there was an uncompromising arrogance in Freddie; that was his truth and he spoke his truth." COVER VERSIONS . In the charity concert Live 8 , the punk band Green Day covered this song |
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