I Was Born to Love You is a song by Freddie Mercury. It was written for his 1985 solo album Mr. Bad Guy. It was also released as a single with Stop All The Fighting on the B-side.
The music video that accompanies the song, and specifically that of Mercury dancing in a room of mirrors, have made I Was Born To Love You one of Mercury's most successful solo singles. It peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart, and has since sold 50,000 copies in Japan.
After Mercury's death, the remaining members of Queen reworked the original song for their album Made in Heaven in 1995. The new instrumentation added to the track transformed it from a disco number to a rock song. The song would be played live for the first time on the 2005 tour of Japan, given by Queen + Paul Rodgers. Brian May and Roger Taylor performed the song acoustically. The song was also performed during the concerts given by Queen + Adam Lambert in South Korea and Japan, which was the first time that a full live band was used for the performance.
History[]
Composition[]
The original track is one of Mercury's most disco-oriented numbers, filled with synths and other electronic instruments. Mercury never explained the meaning behind the song, but the lyrics "Take a chance with me, let me romance with you," imply that it is about the narrator professing their love to someone. The general themes of love, combined with Mercury's intense vocal performance, fits in with many other tracks from the Mr. Bad Guy album.
Music Video[]
Production stills from the music video for I Was Born To Love You.
The video for the original Freddie Mercury version of the song was directed by David Mallet and filmed at the now demolished Limehouse Studios, London. The video was choreographed by Arlene Phillips and shows Freddie singing in front of a wall of mirrors, then running through a house with a woman (Debbie Ash of Hot Gossip), before dancing on a podium.
The video for the version used on Made in Heaven was directed by Richard Heslop for the British Film Institute, and included on Made in Heaven: The Films. It shows inhabitants of a block of council flats. Couples kiss, kids play, and teenagers steal and destroy a car in a monochrome film. The audio also uses the vinyl edit.
For the 2004 re-release, a video was created mixing footage of Mercury's original solo video intercut with footage of Queen performing live at Wembley Stadium, "One Vision", "A Kind of Magic" and "Now I'm Here", plus his solo video "Living on My Own". This video is included on Queen Jewels, the 2004 Greatest Karaoke Hits DVD, and the Japanese release of the documentary Days of Our Lives.
Made in Heaven Remaster[]
Although originally debuting on Freddie Mercury's solo work Mr. Bad Guy, the remastered version by Queen has extra guitar solos, vocals, and has added lines of Mercury from prior songs such as "It's A Kind Of Magic" (Haha it's magic!) and "Hammer to Fall" (Give it to Me!). The song has a more pop flavor than most Queen songs.
The "I get so lonely" lyric comes from Freddie Mercury's solo track "Living On My Own," which became a #1 UK hit in 1993 with the No More Brothers remix.
Appearances in other media[]
The song has appeared in multiple television advertisements, mainly in Japan. The original version recorded by Mercury appeared in the TV commercial of Japanese cosmetics company Noevia in the mid 1980s. The Queen version was released as a single exclusively in Japan in February 1996, because the song was used in a TV ad for Kirin Ichiban Shibori, one of the best-selling liquors of the country produced by the Kirin Brewery Company. The single became their first song that entered the Japanese chart since "Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)", released in 1977.
In 1987, Brazilian singer Gretchen made a cover version.
In 2004, Queen's version was used as the theme for Pride, the successful Japanese drama starring Takuya Kimura and Yūko Takeuchi. Jewels, Queen's tie-in compilation album released only in Japan, includes "I Was Born to Love You".
The song was used in episode 29 of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, during a competitive game of gym-class volleyball.
In Malaysia, Mercury's version, using a different mix, was used by Astro in TV advertisements to promote their coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The advertisement, commissioned by Astro through agency Dentsu LHS Malaysia and created by Pesona Pictures Indonesia, also have an unused version, which used Queen's version of the song.
Cover versions were released by Hannah Jones, Worlds Apart and Andrew W.K. in February 2011.
In 2011, a performance of I Was Born To Love You was used for a Japanese Nissan commercial with altered lyrics. Freddie Mercury imitator Gary Mullen was called in to do vocals for the commercial, while an altered version of the original music video is synced to the new lyrics.
A cover version based on Queen's version is used in the fourth level of the Nintendo DS video game Elite Beat Agents.
Charts[]
Original Release[]
| Chart (1985) | Peak
position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report) | 19 |
| German Media Control Chart | 10 |
| Ireland (IRMA) | 7 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) | 34 |
| UK Singles Chart | 11 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 20 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 24 |
| Japanese Oricon Singles Chart | 55 |
| South African Singles Chart | 4 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 76 |
| Chart (2016) | Peak
position |
| Poland (Polish Airplay Top 100) | 69 |
Queen Remaster[]
| Year | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Japanese Oricon Chart | 45 |
| 2004 | 1 (Re-Entry) |
| Chart (2018) | Peak
position |
|---|---|
| Japan (Japan Hot 100) | 63 |
Gallery[]
Main article: I Was Born to Love You/Gallery
Trivia[]
- According to director David Mallet, Mercury's hair began smoking and nearly caught fire during the filming of the music video.