Lily of the Valley (song)
"Lily of the Valley" is a song by British rock band Queen, which was originally released on their third studio album Sheer Heart Attack in 1974. "Lily of the Valley" features Mercury playing the piano and providing all of the vocals. The song has a reference to "Seven Seas of Rhye" in the line "messenger from Seven Seas has flown to tell the King of Rhye he's lost his throne". "Lily of the Valley" was released as a single the following year in 1975, but failed to chart anywhere. the B-side of the single was "Keep Yourself Alive". The song is one of the album's few slow ballads.
Queen comments on the record
| “ |
Freddie's stuff was so heavily cloaked, lyrically. But you could find out, just from little insights, that a lot of his private thoughts were in there, although a lot of the more meaningful stuff was not very accessible. 'Lily Of The Valley' was utterly heartfelt. It's about looking at his girlfriend and realising that his body needed to be somewhere else. It's a great piece of art, but it's the last song that would ever be a hit. |
” |
| —Brian May |
Covers
Lily of the Valley was covered by 1980s band Game Theory, whose frontman Scott Miller performed a version that appears as a bonus track on the 2015 Omnivore reissue of Game Theory's 1985 album Real Nighttime, produced by Mitch Easter.[1]
The song, together with "Tenement Funster" and "Flick of the Wrist", was also covered by Dream Theater on the bonus disc of their album Black Clouds & Silver Linings.[2]
Personnel
References
