As the 1980s turned into the 1990s, Queen were working on their final recording sessions with singer Freddie Mercury. These sessions would yield their fourteenth studio album Innuendo as well as material that was used on Made In Heaven (1995).
There was an unspoken acceptance that this would be their final sessions. Mercury was in bad shape, and his condition was worsening. The decline had started around the time of the band’s arena tour of 1986, which ended up being their final tour. Mercury still seemed to be in fairly good shape at that time, but those closest to him knew that something was wrong. The world did not know it yet, but Mercury was HIV positive. In the spring of 1987, it had developed into AIDS. Mercury continued to keep his illness a secret from the public until the very end, and denied numerous media reports that he was seriously ill.
Mercury shared the news with his band mates at the conclusion of the 1986 tour, making it clear that he considered the information private and that the subject was not to be brought up ever again. He just wanted to focus on making music as long as he was able to.
Over the years, combination antiretroviral drug treatments have been developed, transforming HIV infection from a fatal disease into a manageable chronic condition. Today, with early and consistent treatment, people living with HIV can expect a near-normal lifespan and quality of life. Sadly, these options did not arrive in time to help Mercury, whose health rapidly declined year by year.
Queen had released The Miracle in 1989. Mercury’s health complications played their part, but the situation was still manageable at that time. The band soldiered on as normal, delivering an album of relatively optimistic and largely upbeat songs true to their traditional style – songs like Party, The Miracle, I Want It All, and Breakthru.
The Miracle is a solid Queen album, more consistent than many of their previous albums released in the 1980s, but something was nagging at Mercury. He felt this wasn’t the right album to retire on. He knew his time was limited, and wanted to leave behind something more dramatic, real, impactful and innovative. A final statement that would represent him; something that he perhaps felt better suited to be judged by as the years went by.
With that ambition fully formed in mind, the Londoner summoned his colleagues and proposed them to undertake some intense recording hours for as long as they could. They all knew that this would be tough in every way. Mercury was not well at all at this stage, and they all knew that as the days went by, his health would likely deteriorate to the point where his voice and ability to perform would fail him. Still, this was a «now or never» situation, and if Freddie wanted to do it, there was no doubt. They knew this was something they simply had to do for as long as they could, however long that turned out to be. As it turned out, the sessions lasted from March 1989 to November 1990.
Innuendo is a great album, but it becomes something extraordinary when you take into account the context in which it was created. This is so crucial in understanding this work that the two really cannot be separated. Mercury’s deteriorating health and his need to release a grandiose product that would be a fitting farewell permeated these album sessions.
As it turns out, and rather incredibly, the album contains some of Mercury’s very best and most touching vocal performances. For a good while he was still more than capable of bringing the thunder when needed, but there was also a softness and emotion to several of the songs that called for those type of deliveries that he was truly able to tap into.
He needed to rest between takes, as the effort took more and more out of him. This focused him as well as the rest of the band. Every take mattered, there was no time to waste. That extended to the quality of the material as well – they had no time to waste on what they considered subpar of less important material. Innuendo became a powerful declaration.
That does not mean the album isn’t without its share of lighter moments. Songs like Headlong and The Hitman are solid good-time rockers, showing that for everything that was going on, Queen were still not afraid to delve into some energetic rock moments.
Delilah is a different type of song – lighter in tone, fun in spirit, but also full of love. Mercury was a cat person, and the song shared its name with Mercury’s favourite feline companion. He had eleven of them, but Delilah was special, as evidenced by lyrics like “You make me smile when I’m just about to cry” and “You bring me hope, you make me laugh.” People might have thought that the song could be about a partner, until you come to the line “You make me slightly mad / When you pee all over my Chippendale suite.” Oh well – you can’t have everything!
All God’s People also deserves mention. The track was initially part of Mercury’s Barcelona project, but May started adding guitars on it and soon enough it sounded like a Queen track. It serves as a showcase for the command Mercury still had over his voice on a good day, as this track contains the highest chest note ever achieved by Mercury in studio (second 0.46 of the song).
Although the type of songs on the album were varied, they were all powerful statements of intent, love, life, and/or purpose. But none of them ended up quite as poignant as The Show Must Go On.
Although the track is jointly credited to Queen, like all the tracks they released after the mid-1980s, it was primarily written by guitarist Brian May who based the music on a chord sequence that had shown up in rehearsal.
The track chronicles the effort of Mercury continuing to perform despite his health challenges, and with the end of his life clearly approaching. May and Mercury worked out the lyrics together, and it was a very poignant moment. They were dealing with things that were hard to talk about at the time – that Mercury refused to talk about – but in the world of music, through this song, they could do it.
“The Show Must Go On came from Roger and John playing the sequence,” May told the Queen fan club in 1994, “and I started to put things down. At the beginning, it was just this chord sequence, but I had this strange feeling that it could be somehow important, and I got very impassioned and went and beavered away at it. I sat down with Freddie, and we decided what the theme should be and wrote the first verse.”
The song was always thought of as a grandiose statement with a mighty vocal climax, worthy the end-of-life drama contained in the song. When the time came to record it in 1990, Mercury’s condition had however deteriorated to the point that May had serious concerns as to whether Mercury was physically able to sing it. May had sung on the demo version, but he had to sing several parts in falsetto because they were too high.
In the Days of Our Lives documentary, May said: “The melody called for some very demanding top notes, and I’d only been able to demo them in falsetto. I said to Freddie, ‘I don’t want you strain yourself – this stuff isn’t going to be easy in full voice, even for you!’
Freddie told me, ‘Don’t worry – I’ll fucking nail it, darling!’
I said: ‘Fred, I don’t know if this is going to be possible to sing.’ And he went: ‘I’ll fucking do it, darling’! He took a shot of vodka, went in, and just killed it – completely lacerated that vocal.”
It was still quite an effort. Mercury had to prop himself up against the mixing desk, but that’s where he delivered one of the most extraordinary performances of his life.
Empty spaces, what are we living for?
Abandoned places, I guess we know the score
On and on
Does anybody know what we are looking for?Another hero, another mindless crime
Behind the curtain, in the pantomime
Hold the line
Does anybody want to take it anymore?The show must go on
The show must go on, yeah
Inside my heart is breaking
My make-up may be flaking, but my smile
Still stays on
The lyrics are full of allusions, metaphors and other figures of speech, making it somewhat difficult to understand. Thinly disguised tragedy ahead is announced. In the end, the text refers to the determination, the furious desire to live (“I have to find the will to carry on with the show”) in spite of vanishing strength (“inside my heart is breaking, my make-up may be flaking”).
From the perspective of harmony, the song begins in B minor, then there is a modulation to C# minor as if the song implied a hope (an increase of tone); but eventually it falls back to B minor.
The song’s lyrics are about the need to press on and make the most out of life while you can still enjoy it. It is inevitably a comment on Mercury’s worsening condition, and his attitude towards life.
Brian May commented on his colleague’s incredible courage in the Days of our Lives documentary: “He never moaned, he never said ‘My life is shit, this is terrible, I hate it,'” said May. “He had an incredible strength and peace. In the final mix of The Show Must Go On, when you get to the final repeated ‘On with the show’ section, you are listening to a man who conquered everything to deliver his finest work.”
The song’s placing as the final track on Innuendo is notable. It’s the ultimate statement – a farewell, a summarization of a life, a mantra, and a defiant refusal to give up, even in the face of inevitability.
While the song is a true pronunciation of goodbye, it tries to soothe the sorrows of those left behind with the idea that “everything must go on.” Everything is cyclical. You know there is an end, but “my smile still stays on.”
The Show Must Go On could easily have been the lead-off single from the album. It is striking, quite dramatic both musically and lyrically, and extremely poignant. Perhaps that is the reason they held it back, knowing it would be used eventually.
Instead, Innuendo became the first single in most countries (except the US, where the more traditional Headlong was felt to be a better introduction to the new album). I’m Going Slightly Mad, Headlong, I Can’t Live With You, and These Are the Days of Our Lives would all eventually be used in the album campaign. There was no touring, but several music videos were released.
The Show Must Go On was finally released as a single on 14 October 1991, primarily promoting the release of Queen’s Greatest Hits II album that appeared shortly after on 28 October – an album that has gone on to be one of the biggest sellers of all time.
The music video for the song consisted of a montage of clips spanning Queen’s music videos from 1981 to 1991, which doubled as a poignant reminder of a life lived and a great career, as well as a precursor to the imminent release of the band’s Greatest Hits II album which spanning that period.
That single, the video, and Greatest Hits II were the final releases from Queen before the death of Freddie Mercury, who passed less than a month later on 24 November. He was 45.
The band all knew that Innuendo would be the final musical statement featuring Freddie in his lifetime. As such, there couldn’t have been a more fitting epitaph to an extraordinary musical career and legacy.
The show must go on, yeah
The show must go on
I’ll face it with a grin, I’m never giving in
On with the showI’ll top the bill, I’ll overkill
I have to find the will to carry on
On with the show, on with the show
The show must go on
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