The Queen Song Freddie Mercury Wrote as a Tribute to Elvis

Like many artists of his generation, Freddie Mercury grew up listening to Elvis Presley. He believed that copying Elvis’ songs made him a better writer and he held a great deal of admiration for the American musician. When he became a professional musician himself, Mercury wrote a song that sounded so much like Elvis that people thought it was one of his songs. 

Freddie Mercury’s bandmate viewed 1 Queen song as an Elvis tribute

In 1979, Mercury sat in the bath and spent 10 minutes writing “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” According to his bandmate, this was his way of tributing Elvis, who died in 1977.

“It’s Freddie’s tribute to Elvis in a way,” Queen guitarist Brian May said, per UDiscover Music. “Freddie was very fond of Elvis.”

Mercury said that even though he didn’t intend for this to happen, he sang like Elvis in the song.

“My voice does sound a bit like Elvis Presley’s on ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love,’” he explained. “That wasn’t something I was trying to do, naturally, it was pure coincidence. It’s all sung rather low, so then you soon come close to Elvis, especially with such a 50s-type song. I don’t mind telling you that my girlfriend thought it was a cover song, but that is absolutely not true. I wrote it … while taking a bath.”

‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ does sound like an Elvis track

The song was an incredibly successful tribute to Elvis, to the point that people believed it was an Elvis song. While it was written at the tail end of the 1970s, it captured the spirit of ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll. Mercury’s vocals and intonation were very similar to Elvis. In addition, the guitar and drums had a bouncing, hip-shaking quality that would have fit in well with Elvis’ catalog. 

“I think the sounds that [sound engineer Reinhold] Mack managed to get, these very elemental, very real sounds, ambient sounds in the studio had a big contribution to make,” May said, per NME. “It does sound very authentic, everything about it is sort of like original rock and roll sounding.”

Freddie Mercury said he learned to write songs by copying Elvis

Given the way Mercury learned to write music, it’s not surprising that he was able to quickly write in Elvis’ style. He was in a choir at school and learned to write music by copying Elvis’ songs. 

“I think I always liked to sing but I didn’t look upon it as a career,” Mercury said, per the book Freddie Mercury: A Life in His Own Words. “When I was a little baby I was in the choir and I just liked to sing. I would copy Elvis Presley songs, then I suddenly realised that I could actually write songs and make my own music. Call it a natural gift, or whatever.”

While Mercury was never able to meet Elvis in person, it’s clear that the American artist’s music had a massive impact on his career.