I'm in Love with My Car

"I'm In Love With My Car"
Song by Queen
from the album A Night at the Opera
A-side "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Released 1975
Recorded 1975 at Sarm East Studios
Genre Hard rock
Length 3:05
Label
Songwriter(s) Roger Taylor
Producer(s) Queen, Roy Thomas Baker
A Night at the Opera track listing

"I'm in Love with My Car" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released on their fourth album A Night at the Opera in 1975. It is the album's only song written entirely by drummer Roger Taylor.

History

The song lyrics were from a private joke shared by Brian May and Roger Taylor over a demo recording. Although having a somewhat campy style, the song was written seriously enough and sung as such. In terms of genre, it features a bombastic hard rock sound, generally reminiscent of other heavy tracks by the group such as later tune "Fat Bottomed Girls" and earlier tune "Now I'm Here".

Taylor played the guitars in the original demo, but they were later rerecorded by May on his Red Special and Taylor also doubled on electric guitar in addition to drums.[1] The lead vocals were performed by Taylor on the studio version and all released live versions.[2] The revving sounds at the conclusion of the song were recorded by Taylor's then current car, an Alfa Romeo. The lyrics were inspired by one of the band's roadies, Johnathan Harris, whose Triumph TR4 was evidently the "love of his life".[3] The song is dedicated to him, with the liner notes mentioning, "Dedicated to Johnathan Harris, boy racer to the end".

When it came down to releasing the album's first single, Taylor was so fond of his song that he urged Freddie Mercury (author of the first single, "Bohemian Rhapsody") to allow it to be the B-side and locked himself in a cupboard until Mercury agreed.[4] This decision would later become the cause of much internal friction in the band, in that while it was only the B-side, it generated an equal amount of publishing royalties for Taylor as the main single did for Mercury simply because it was the B-side to "Bohemian Rhapsody".[3]

The song was often played live during the 1977–81 period. Taylor sang it from the drums while Mercury played piano and provided backing vocals. During the News of the World Tour, Mercury would often sing the chorus lines with Taylor.

The song was used in a 2004 advertisement for Jaguar.[5] Music writer Tom Reynolds described the song as "[s]eriously, one of the greatest and most passionate love songs I've heard during the last thirty-plus years".[6]

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ http://www.queensongs.info/album-analysis/a-night-at-the-opera
  2. ↑ I'm In Love With My Car UltimateQueen Retrieved 27 August 2011
  3. 1 2 Mark Blake, Is This the Real Life?: The Untold Story of Queen (Da Capo Press, 2013), ISBN 978-0306819735. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  4. ↑ The Mojo Collection (4th ed.). Canongate Books. 2007. ISBN 9781847676436. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  5. ↑ "Queen Prepares To 'Rock' Again", Billboard, 16 July 2004.
  6. ↑ Tom Reynolds, Touch Me, I'm Sick: The 52 Creepiest Love Songs You've Ever Heard (Chicago Review Press, 2008), ISBN 978-1556527531, p. 249. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  7. ↑ http://www.queensongs.info/album-analysis/a-night-at-the-opera
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