History TearJerker / QueenBand

* The final verse of "Under Pressure", a song about pressure and stress.

No one can ever accuse [[Music/{{Queen}} this classic rock band]] of not being able to perform [[TearJerker sad songs]]:

Can anybody find me somebody to love?\\

-->I work hard, every day,\\

-->Freddie: ''Fab!''

* Much of Brian's solo material is unbearably saddening. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufK7ryaVuqU His own rendition of]] Music/JohnLennon's "God", which he performed live]], is a prime example.

%% ** [[WebVideo/TheRageaholic Razörfist]] in his Music Mythos video of ''Queen'' elaborates on this track while reviewing ''Made In Heaven'', and you can clearly see the tone change as his usual energy and snark completely vanish:
%% ---> ''Razörfist:'' ...Then of course there's "Mother Love". His final song. One that begins, understandably given Freddy's condition at this time, in subdued fashion. Slow, somber-build, in a far lower vocal register than ''Queen'' listeners were accostumed to hear it. *Pauses for a second* Given his gravely tone, you're tempted to believe that, this being recorded by a man literally in his final extremity, he'll continue that way, delivering a sort of down-paced ballad, and no one would fault him for doing that. *Uncomfortable beat* And then out of nowhere, a man months from his demise, of all things of opportunistic respiratory infection, suddenly erupts into one of the single most impressive vocal passages he ever recorded in life. The song continues, and for a moment the band sorta plays on without him like, if you're watching a band live, and someone's mic gets accidentally cut off, and the band instead awkwardly fumbles on without him, waiting until the problem is remedied... *Razörist tries to find words to explain what happened there for a few seconds* ...And then there is this heartbreaking moment where the final verse comes in and... *Razör makes another uncomfortable pause* ...It isn't Freddy. It's Brian May's voice. Because Freddie Mercury passed away in the middle of making this song. *Razör gathers some more energy to talk* Whatever I may think about the somewhat uneven final product of ''Made In Heaven'', "Mother Love" remains one of the single most haunting moments in the history of music.

* The final verse of "Under Pressure".

* "Dear Friends" from ''Muisc/SheerHeartAttack''. A Brian May-penned lullaby that lasts for just over a minute, but it's enough to get you to break down. Once again, Freddie's passing makes the song even sadder.

* "Mother Love" was the last song Freddie recorded, and despite the powerful performance he pulled off, you can hear the weakness in his voice. Even the subject matter is somber, as it's about wanting to be with one's lover not for sex, but for nurture and companionship in one's final days. The reason Brian May sings the last verse is because [[HeroicRROD Freddie was too ill to finish the track]]. The random noise at the end is snippets from ''every Queen song ever recorded'', played super-fast, essentially the band's own goodbye to Freddie.

->''One by one\\
Only the good die young\\
They're only flying too close to the sun\\
Crying for nothing\\
Crying for no-one\\

* "Mother Love", it was the last song Freddie recorded, and you can hear the weakness in his voice. Even the subject matter is somber, as it's about wanting to be with one's lover not for sex, but for nurture and companionship in one's final days. The reason Brian May sings the last verse is because Freddie was too ill to finish the track. The random noise at the end is snippets from ''every Queen song ever recorded'', played super-fast, essentially the band's own goodbye to Freddie.

-->Freddie: ''[[FamousLastWords Fab!]]''

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[GoOutWithASmile I still love you.]]"]]

** ''[[HiddenTrack "13"]]''. [[{{Instrumental}} Wordless]], [[OutOfGenreExperience ambient]], [[EpicRocking 22 minutes long]]... [[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence And yet easily]] [[GoOutWithASmile the last]] [[GrandFinale great hurrah]]. It's been thought of as a [[MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes symbolic run-through of Queen's entire career]]. And the way it ends...

* "The Show Must Go On". All the more heartrending is the fact that this is the ''closing track'' of ''Innuendo'', itself a tearjerking album on the whole. [[FauxSymbolism What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?]]
** From the other wiki: "Demo versions featured May singing, having to sing some parts in falsetto because they were too high. When Music/BrianMay presented the final demo to Mercury, he had doubts that Mercury would be physically capable of singing the song's highly demanding vocal line, due to the extent of his illness at the time. To May's surprise, when the time came to record the vocals, Mercury consumed a measure of vodka and said "I'll fuckin do it, darling!" then proceeded to nail the vocal line in one take without problems."
** Even the version used in ''Film/MoulinRouge'' is tear-jerking. The combination of the old seamstresses doing their coloratura, the stark lighting and funereal imagery on Satine, Nicole Kidman's very effective emotional performance, and how the song segues into a very melancholy version of "Nature Boy" at the end (itself already something of a TearJerker) can really get to one.
** ''The Show Must Go On'' will make you cry in three ways: The sad lyrics, the RealitySubtext with Freddie dying of AIDS while singing it, and the [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome sheer, overwhelming awesomeness]].

* Want a Queen tearjerker? Listen to ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_Heaven Made in Heaven]],'' Queen's last album, released 4 years ''after'' Mercury's death. Mercury recorded the lead vocals for many of the tracks during his final days. Numbers such as "Made in Heaven" and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vCYkTx_5us "Winter's Tale"]] (the last song Mercury wrote -- reportedly, two weeks before he died) can be hard to listen through.

* "Dear Friends" from ''Sheer Heart Attack''. A Brian May-penned lullaby that lasts for just over a minute, but it's enough to get you to break down. Once again, Freddie's passing makes the song even sadder.

** After Music/GeorgeMichael's death on Christmas Day 2016, the official Youtube page [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYAR8RigqDA updated]] the description of his cover of "Somebody to Love" with a [[http://www.brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssbdec16.html#18 message from]] Brian saying that George is singing with Freddie now.
* Much of Brian's solo material is unbearably saddening. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufK7ryaVuqU His own rendition of Lennon's "God", which he performed live]], is a prime example.

* "Who Wants To Live Forever?" That song--the lyrics are a perfect tearjerker, considering it comes on when [[Film/{{Highlander}} Connor McLeod's]] wife grows old and dies, since [=McLeod,=] being Immortal, never will. Sheer emotion in the last line always gets the waterworks started.

** Made even worse at the 1986 Wembley concert. Freddie responds to rumours that the band are going to split up by triumphantly announcing "We're going to stay together until we fucking well die!", before introducing the next song - ''Who Wants To Live Forever''.

* "These Are The Days of Our Lives" and its video runs a close second. Especially the ending with Freddie Mercury visibly thin and weak speaking the final line 'I still love you'.

** It was already quite sad in 1975; it was just a case of LyricalDissonance coded in what seem like WordSaladLyrics but are actually a case of ViewersAreGeniuses. [[spoiler:The song describes the time dilation effects of Einsteinian relativity on spacefaring voyagers who embark on a voyage that, from their perspective, lasts for a year. When they return, a hundred years have passed on Earth, and everyone they ever knew or loved is dead (or at least massively aged).]] (Brian May had been an astrophysics student before the formation of Queen and earned his [=PhD=] in the subject in 2008; he has additionally worked on one of NASA's Pluto missions.) May also commented that the song was somewhat autobiographical:

* "Love Of My Life". It's even better live, when sometimes Freddie didn't even have to sing it at all because ''the whole audience was singing it for him''.

* "Somebody To Love" is painfully resonant for many people who've struggled with depression and/or loneliness and/or doubting their faith. Just listen to the lyrics:

* Finally, the long untitled track on ''Made In Heaven'', given the FanNickname of "[[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Ascension]]". Wonder, etherealness, laughing, memory, "Ascension" is an appropriate appellation.

* Queen's version of "Made In Heaven" not only launches the song into SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic territory, it also makes it sound pretty melancholy with the context of Freddie's death.

* "Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow" and "There Must Be More To Life Than This" from Freddie's solo album "Mr. Bad Guy".

** It was already quite sad in 1975; it was just a case of LyricalDissonance coded in what seem like WordSaladLyrics but are actually a case of ViewersAreGeniuses. [[spoiler:The song describes the time dilation effects of Einsteinian relativity on spacefaring voyagers who embark on a voyage that, from their perspective, lasts for a year. When they return, a hundred years have passed on Earth, and everyone they ever knew or loved is dead (or at least massively aged).]] (Brian May was an astrophysics student at the time and now has a [=PhD=] in the subject; he has actually worked on one of NASA's Pluto missions.) May also commented that the song was somewhat autobiographical:

** It was already quite sad in 1975; it was just a case of LyricalDissonance coded in what seem like WordSaladLyrics but are actually a case of ViewersAreGeniuses. [[spoiler:The song describes the time dilation effects of Einsteinian relativity on spacefaring voyagers who embark on a voyage that, from their perspective, lasts for a year. When they return, a hundred years have passed on Earth, and everyone they ever knew or loved is dead (or at least massively aged).]] (Brian May was an astrophysics student at the time and now has a PhD in the subject; he has actually worked on one of NASA's Pluto missions.) May also commented that the song was somewhat autobiographical: