Heaven for Everyone
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| “Heaven for Everyone” | |||||
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| Single by The Cross / Queen from the album Shove It / Made in Heaven |
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| Released | 1988 (The Cross) / 1995 (Queen) | ||||
| Format | 7" single, CD single | ||||
| Recorded | 1987-1995 | ||||
| Genre | Rock, Ballad | ||||
| Length | 5:36 (Queen: Album Version) 4:37 (Queen: Single Version) |
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| Label | Parlophone (Europe), Hollywood Records (U.S.) |
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| Writer(s) | Roger Taylor | ||||
| Producer | Queen (Queen version) | ||||
| The Cross / Queen singles chronology | |||||
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Heaven for Everyone is a song written by Roger Taylor. It appeared originally in his band's (The Cross) album Shove It, with Freddie Mercury as a guest vocalist, and it's the album's 4th track. It was reworked with Queen's music and appeared in the album Made in Heaven, where it was the 7th track and released as the first single. The single reached #2 on the charts in the UK.
The music video for The Cross version involved Taylor singing the song on a beach-like setting, while elderly people walked past the band and climbed up ladders to reach heaven.
Some reports have Roger Taylor writing the song in 1986 as part of Queen's A Kind of Magic album sessions, after their work on Highlander was complete. If he did, the song was not used, or was left incomplete when the album was finished. When Taylor started working on the material for the album Shove It, he recruited Freddie Mercury to record the backing vocals on the song. Two versions were recorded, one with Mercury doing only backing vocals to Taylor's lead vocals, and another with Mercury singing the lead vocals. The backing track of each was re-recorded as well, instead of the two lead vocals being recorded over the same instrumental backing. The Taylor-vocal version is about twenty seconds longer than the Mercury-vocal version.
The Cross versions also feature a spoken intro by Taylor, as well as a spoken refrain in the middle. The refrain in the Taylor vocal has an extra lyric not sung in the Mercury-vocal version (though it appears in the printed lyrics). Both versions end with Taylor saying "And that. Is the end. Of this section." It's unclear if he means 'section' as that half of the album, or the serious-issues section of the album (this song being the only serious song on the album).
The UK edition of the album Shove It featured Mercury's vocal version, while the UK single featured Taylor's vocal version. In the US, the album featured Taylor's vocal version and neither were released as a single.
[edit] 1988 The Cross single releases
March 20th UK 7" single: "Heaven for Everyone (Roger Taylor vocals)/Love On A Tightrope"
UK 12" single: "Heaven for Everyone (Roger Taylor vocals)/Love On A Tightrope/Contact"
After Freddie Mercury's death, as Queen prepared to complete their post-humous album, Made in Heaven, this song was selected to be re-done by the band as a Queen song. The lead vocal Mercury recorded in 1987 was given a new backing track and new backing vocals. A significant difference between The Cross versions and the Queen version is that there's no spoken introduction, refrain or "end" as done by Taylor on the original. Queen has offered no explanation as to why these elements were dropped, but it can be argued that without the spoken parts throughout, the song is more radio/listener friendly.
It was the first UK single (Cat. # QUEEN21) off the new album on October 23rd, 1995, two weeks before the album's release. A planned two-part single, the same song with different B-side tracks was issued October 30th, 1995, one week before the album's release. For the single releases, a single version was prepared, editing some instrumental portions of the song (almost a full minute's worth).
[edit] 1995 Queen single releases
October 23rd CDQUEENS21: "Heaven for Everyone (Single Version)" "It's a Beautiful Day (Single Version)" "Heaven for Everyone (Album Version)"
UK cassette TCQUEEN21: "Heaven for Everyone (Single Version)" "It's a Beautiful Day (Single Version)"
October 30th CDQUEEN 21: "Heaven for Everyone (Single Version)" "Keep Yourself Alive" "The Seven Seas of Rhye" "Killer Queen"
Was released as a CD single in the US with: "Heaven for Everyone (Single Version)" "Soul Brother" (recorded in 1981)
UK Promo CDDJHEAVEN21: "Heaven for Everyone (Single Version)"
UK Promo CDDJUKE21: "Heaven for Everyone (Single Version)"
UK Promo 12": "Heaven for Everyone (Single Version)"
UK 7" QUEENLHDJ21: "Heaven for Everyone (Single Version)" "Heaven for Everyone (Album Version)"
In 1998, Queen released The eYe PC game, featuring instrumentals, edits and remixes of their songs, all playable on normal CD players. One of the instrumentals was of the album version of Heaven for Everyone.
In 2003, Queen re-issued their Greatest Karaoke Hits DVD collection with added tracks from Made in Heaven, one of which was the instrumental for the single version of Heaven for Everyone.
[edit] Music video
A music video to commemorate Freddie Mercury was directed by David Mallet and released in 1995. It shows footage from the films A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune, 1902), The Impossible Voyage (Le Voyage à travers l'impossible, 1904) and The Eclipse (L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune, 1907) by Georges Méliès.
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