I Want To Break Free

About this song

The song is the second single from Queen's eleventh studio album, The Works. Its music video, in which the band dressed as the cast of the soap opera Coronation Street and Freddie Mercury danced with members of the Royal Ballet Theatre, drew controversy. Brian May said in a 2011 Q magazine interview that the video's idea came from Roger Taylor's girlfriend at the time rather than from Mercury. In the United States the soap opera parody was missed, the video was seen as a celebration of transvestism and was banned from MTV, which may have contributed to the song's weaker success there compared with the rest of the world.

What it's about

Mercury plays a housewife who wants to break free from his constraining life.

Fun facts

• Sampled in 3 other songs, like “Just Want To Break Free by L3GACY”.
• Covered 16 times, including “I Want To Break Free by Paul Dempsey”.
• Written by John Deacon.
• Produced by Queen and Reinhold Mack.
• Recorded at The Record Plant and Musicland Studios.