Queen Song of the Week: Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Apologies for the lateness of today's Queen Song of the Week post. Husband and I had to attend a seminar last night and didn't get home until after 9pm! Unacceptable!

We're still working our way through the set list of Queen's 1982 concert at the Milton Keynes Bowl. That show has been released on CD and DVD as Queen: On Fire at the Bowl.

Now, I'm about to blow everyone's mind: the song Crazy Little Thing Called Love was not written or originally performed by Elvis Presley. Nor was it written by Dwight Yoakam or any other artist who has subsequently recorded the song.

Crazy Little Thing Called Love was written by Freddie Mercury...in his bathtub! The song appeared on the band's 1979 album, The Game. It was released as a single in 1979 where it peaked at #2 in the U.K. and #1 in the U.S. The song was the band's first #1 song in the U.S. and is their fourth best selling single of all time.


As the boys recall, the song came together rather quickly. Freddie wrote it while in the bath and the background vocals were recorded in less than 30 minutes! Another notable fact about the song is that Dr. May does not play his famous Red Special guitar. In fact, he uses a Telecaster owned by RT in order to add to the "period" feel of the song. And of course, the visual aspect of Freddie playing acoustic guitar on this song is  rather famous for Queen fans and non-Queen fans alike!

This is a song that sounds nothing like Queen yet still somehow sounds like Queen: the vocals are immediately recognizable and, even using a different guitar, Dr. May has a distinctive style and, of course, the band's trademark background vocals are used here.

Often I forget about this song, but then after hearing it again, I'm reminded of how catchy and infectious it is! And obviously Fred did a great job of capturing the era he was going for since so many people thing the song is about thirty years older than it actually is! Well done, Freddie!

Happy Listening!