Keep Yourself Alive - Citizendia

“Keep Yourself Alive”

Single by Queen
from the album Queen

B-side

Released

Format

Length

3:45

EMI,

John Anthony, Roy Thomas Baker and Queen

Queen singles chronology

"Keep Yourself Alive"
(1973)

"Liar"
(1974)

"Keep Yourself Alive" is the first track on the English rock group Queen's debut album, written by Brian May. Queen were an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist Queen is the self-titled debut album from the English rock band Queen, released in 1973. A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of 7 inch Vinyl records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s Queen is the self-titled debut album from the English rock band Queen, released in 1973. Events 1044 - The Battle of Ménfő takes place 1189 - Richard the Lionheart is crowned King of England Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. A gramophone A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other Hard rock (also referred to as heavy rock) is a variation of Rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage and Psychedelic rock In the Music industry, a record label can be a Brand and a Trademark associated with the Marketing of music recordings and Music The EMI Group is a British music company comprising the major record company EMI Music – which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in Elektra Records is a now-dormant American Record label owned by Warner Music Group (WMG and from 2004 on operating under WMG's Atlantic Records A songwriter is someone who writes the Lyrics to songs the Musical composition (chords or Melody to songs or both Brian Harold May, CBE In the Music industry, a record producer or music producer has many roles among them controlling the recording sessions coaching and guiding the musicians organizing John "Jack" Anthony (born 19 January 1988 is a Collingwood Magpies footballer in the Australian Football League. Roy Thomas Baker is an English Record producer who helped create a number of extremely popular pop and rock records from the 1970s to the present Queen were an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist Queen were an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist " Liar " is the fifth track (first on side two and in the USA and Canada second single of English rock band Queen 's first album Queen England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Queen were an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist Queen is the self-titled debut album from the English rock band Queen, released in 1973. Brian Harold May, CBE It was released as Queen's first single along with another song from the album, "Son and Daughter". Queen is the self-titled debut album from the English rock band Queen, released in 1973. The album reached #24 on the UK charts, where it remained for 18 weeks. While the single failed to chart anywhere, it helped establish Queen's large fan base in Japan. The song has quite a catchy arrangement and heavy guitars, and is about, as the titles implies, staying alive.

1 Songwriting
2 Live performances
3 Recordings
4 In popular culture
5 See also

Songwriting

Brian May wrote it when the band had already been formed, but before John Deacon joined (that's known thanks to Barry Mitchell, a former bassist of the band). John Richard Deacon (born 19 August 1951 is a retired English musician best known as the Bass guitarist for the rock band Queen. According to what May said in a radio special about their 1977 album News of the World, he had penned the lyrics thinking of them as ironic and tongue-in-cheek, but their sense was completely changed when Freddie Mercury sang them. News of the World is the sixth studio album by English rock band Queen, released in 1977 Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991 was a Zanzibar -born British Musician, best known as the lead

It's been suggested by some fans and Queen scholars that Mercury could have helped on the musical songwriting, based on the fact that (as it's been recalled by former bassists and the band themselves) they were in a more collaborative period in the pre-studio days and Mercury was usually the one getting his way with structural ideas. While it's highly possible that he contributed ideas to the song (the modulation types and the expanded form are closer to his style than May's), the bottom line is that even in that case Mercury would be more a co-arranger than a co-writer per se (like George Martin on The Beatles' songs). Sir George Henry Martin CBE (3 January 1926 is a British record producer arranger and Composer. The Beatles were a pop and rock band from Liverpool, England formed in 1960

Live performances

The newly-formed Queen quickly added "Keep Yourself Alive" to the live set. Mercury commented that the song "was a very good way of telling people what Queen was about in those days" (RAM, 21 May 1976, p 17). Indeed, the number included a drum solo by Roger Taylor and one line sung/spoken by him. Roger Taylor (born Roger Meddows-Taylor on July 26, 1949 in Dersingham, Norfolk later moved to Kings Lynn is an English Musician

"Keep Yourself Alive" was part of the band's live set until the early 1980s. On the 1980 and 1981 tours, the band would play an improvisational jam before the start of the song then after the drum solo, it would morph into Taylor's tympani drum solo followed by May's echo-plexed guitar solo spot before either segueing into the "Brighton Rock" finale or a drum and guitar climax or segued into a Flash Gordon medley (which consisted of "Battle Theme"/"Flash's Theme"/"The Hero"). Timpani (also known colloquially as kettledrums or kettle drums) are Musical instruments in the percussion family For the Queen song of the same name see News of the World (album. Flash Gordon is a 1980 album by English rock band Queen. It is the Soundtrack album to the Science fiction movie " Flash " is a song by Queen. It was written by Brian May. The band would not play it again until 1984 on The Works tour as part of a medley of old songs (with "Somebody to Love", "Killer Queen", "Seven Seas of Rhye", and "Liar"). The Works is a 1984 rock album by English band Queen. The band's eleventh studio album it marked a partial return to their rock " Somebody to Love " is a song written by Freddie Mercury and performed by English rock band Queen featured on their 1976 album " Killer Queen " is a 1974 song by the British rock band Queen. Seven Seas of Rhye is a song written by Freddie Mercury and performed by English rock group Queen. " Liar " is the fifth track (first on side two and in the USA and Canada second single of English rock band Queen 's first album Queen

On an interesting note, in live performances, Mercury would often sing the line "all you people keep yourself alive" (which is sung only two times in the studio version) in place of the more-repeated line "it'll take you all your time and a money honey you'll survive".

Recordings

The first version of "Keep Yourself Alive" is from summer 1971 at De Lane Lea Studios. It was produced by Louie Austin and includes the intro played on Brian May's Hairfred acoustic guitar. All of the song elements were already present, including call-and-response vocals by Freddie Mercury (verses) and during the break, where Roger Taylor sang a line and Mercury answered it. In Music, a call and response is a succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different Musicians where the second phrase is heard as a direct This demo version remains Brian May's favourite take of the song.

Subsequently they did several attempts to "recapture the magic" when they went on to do the "real" version at Trident Studios. The one mixed by Mike Stone was the only one moderately accepted, and it's the one released as single. Mike Stone ( 1951 – 2002) was an English recording engineer and Record producer. It includes Freddie Mercury doing all of the harmony vocals in the chorus (multi-tracking himself) and Brian May singing the "two steps nearer to my grave" line instead of Mercury (who did it live and in earlier versions). This recording does not use acoustic guitar; the printed transcription on EMI Music Publishing's Off the Record' sheet music lists at least seven electric guitar parts, one of which uses a prominent phasing effect. The phase of an oscillation or wave is the fraction of a complete cycle corresponding to an offset in the displacement from a specified reference point at time t = 0 It can also be noted that this recording includes the line "Come on and get it, get it, get it boy, keep yourself alive," which was not in the original version.

In popular culture

The song's title is shared with two songs called "Keep Yourself Alive I" and "Keep Yourself Alive II" which are the theme songs of Sol Badguy in the popular fighting video game series, Guilty Gear. is the main character and namesake of the Guilty Gear Fighting game series A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. subtitled The Missing Link, is the first game of the ''Guilty Gear'' series developed by Arc System Works. Sol Badguy's favorite band is also officially stated to be Queen. is the main character and namesake of the Guilty Gear Fighting game series

Yngwie Malmsteen covered the song in 1997 and released it as a single under the name 'Dragon Attack: A Tribute to Queen'. Yngwie Johann Malmsteen (ˈɪŋveɪ ˈmɑːlmstiːn in English (born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck on June 30 1963 in Stockholm Sweden) is a Swedish Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar Dragon Attack Tribute to Queen is a Queen Tribute album produced in 1997.

British heavy metal band Iron Maiden often plays the opening guitar riff of this song in the middle of live performances of "Sanctuary. For other uses see Iron maiden. " Sanctuary " is the second single released by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. "

Contents

Songwriting

Live performances

Recordings

In popular culture

See also