Save Me (Queen song)

"Save Me"
Artwork for UK release
Single by Queen
from the album The Game
B-side
Released
  • 25 January 1980 (UK)
  • April 1980 (Japan)
RecordedJune–July 1979
GenrePower ballad[1]
Length3:48
Label
Songwriter(s)Brian May
Producer(s)
Queen singles chronology
"Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
(1979) 		"Save Me"
(1980) 		"Play the Game"
(1980)
Music video
"Save Me" on YouTube

"Save Me" is a song by the British rock band Queen from their 1980 album The Game. Written by guitarist Brian May, it was recorded in 1979, and released in the UK on 25 January 1980, nearly six months prior to the release of the album. "Save Me" spent six weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 11.[2] It was the band's first single release of the 1980s.

The power ballad[3] was played live from 1979 to 1982[4][5][6][7] and was recorded for their live albums, Queen Rock Montreal at the Montreal Forum, Quebec, Canada in November 1981 and Queen on Fire – Live at the Bowl at the Milton Keynes Bowl, Buckinghamshire, England in June 1982.[8] The song is also included on Queen's Greatest Hits,[9] and Queen Forever albums. The earliest circulating video of a Live Performance is during the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1979.

History

Brian May wrote "Save Me" about friend and bandmate Freddie Mercury.[10] Recorded in the summer of 1979 in Munich,[11] the song was written when Mercury's relationship with American chef Joe Fanelli had just ended. During an interview for the radio show In the Studio with Redbeard, May stated: "I wrote ['Save Me']—to cut a long story short—I wrote it about a friend, someone who was going through a bad time, and I imagined myself in their shoes, kind of telling the story. Someone whose relationship is totally fucked up and how sad that person was."

Technical details

Musically, the song is complex, with the verses in the key of G major, and the chorus in the key of D major. An instrumental solo, in the related key of G major, serves as a verse.

Music video

The video for the song was filmed at Alexandra Palace on 22 December 1979 and directed by Keith "Keef" MacMillan and features animation of a woman and a dove. The video would be the last to feature Freddie without a moustache until 1984, as he would sport it starting with the next video for "Play the Game" until he shaved it off for the music video for "I Want to Break Free".[12]

Personnel

Additional musicians
  • Reinhold Mack - additional synthesizer

Charts

References

  1. ^ July 2016, Paul Elliott 13 (13 July 2016). "Every song on Queen's Greatest Hits, ranked from worst to best". loudersound. Retrieved 4 December 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums. London[[: Guinness World Records Limited
  3. ^ July 2016, Paul Elliott 13 (13 July 2016). "Every song on Queen's Greatest Hits, ranked from worst to best". loudersound. Retrieved 4 December 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Queen live on tour: Crazy tour: Setlist Queen Concerts. Retrieved 5 July 2011
  5. ^ Queen live on tour: The Game (world): Setlist Queen Concerts. Retrieved 5 July 2011
  6. ^ Queen live on tour: Japan 1981: Setlist Queen Concerts. Retrieved 5 July 2011
  7. ^ Queen live on tour: Hot Space (world): Setlist Queen Concerts. Retrieved 5 July 2011
  8. ^ Queen Rock Montreal Allmusic. Retrieved 16 July 2011
  9. ^ Greatest Hits Ultimate Queen. Retrieved 16 July 2011
  10. ^ May, Brian (host) (3 December 2021). Brian May: Queen and Beyond (Motion picture). UK: MTV.
  11. ^ Purvis, George (30 October 2018). Queen: Complete Works (revised and updated). Titan Books. ISBN 978-1789090499.
  12. ^ "Freddie Mercury".
  13. ^ "Queen – Save Me" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  14. ^ "Queen – Save Me". Top Digital Download. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  15. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 10, 1980" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  16. ^ "Queen – Save Me" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  17. ^ "Queen – Save Me". VG-lista. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  18. ^ "Queen: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  19. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Queen – Save Me" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  20. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1980". Ultratop. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  21. ^ "Top Annuali Single 1980". Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  22. ^ "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1980". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  23. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1980". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 1 November 2021.