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| “We Are the Champions” | |||||
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| Single by Queen from the album News of the World |
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| B-side | "We Will Rock You" | ||||
| Released | October 7, 1977 | ||||
| Format | 7" | ||||
| Recorded | 1977 | ||||
| Genre | Hard rock | ||||
| Length | 2:59 | ||||
| Label | EMI (UK) Elektra Records (US) |
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| Writer(s) | Freddie Mercury | ||||
| Producer | Queen, assisted by Mike Stone | ||||
| Queen singles chronology | |||||
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"We Are the Champions" is a power ballad written by Freddie Mercury, recorded and performed by Queen for their 1977 album News of the World. One of their most famous and popular songs, it has since become an anthem for sporting victories and has been often used or referenced in popular culture (see below). The song has been covered by many artists.
Contents |
Original version
Music
Musically, it is based around Mercury's piano part, with Roger Taylor and John Deacon providing a drums and bass guitar backing. Brian May overdubbed some guitar sections, initially subtle, but building to a 'solo' played simultaneously with the last chorus. Mercury employed many jazz chords (major and minor 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th harmonies), and the choruses featured these voiced as 4 and 5-part vocal harmonies. The lead vocal is very demanding and strident, and in live performances, Mercury often deferred to let Taylor handle the highest parts of the melody.
The single featured "We Will Rock You" as a B-side, and preceded the song on the album. The two songs were often played consecutively at the close of Queen concerts, and are customarily played together on radio broadcasts (in album order). Keeping with tradition, it was also used to close the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert with all the show's acts joining in behind the lead vocal of Liza Minnelli.
Thematic relation
The verse has some similarities to the Stephen Sondheim song, "Send in the Clowns", both in melodic pattern and rhythm. The main difference is the key. Sondheim starts in major key, Mercury in the minor. The similarity may be intentional.
The chorus can be heard entirely as a set of modulations of the common children's 'taunting song', 'na nana na na', a melody also associated with many other nursery rhymes, e.g. It's Raining, It's Pouring.
Queen about the song
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All or part of this article may be confusing or unclear. Please help clarify the article. Suggestions may be on the talk page. |
| “ | Certainly it's a relationship that could be, but I was thinking about football [soccer] when I wrote it. I wanted a participation song, something that the fans could latch on to. It was aimed at the masses; I thought we'd see how they took it. It worked a treat. When we performed it at a private concert in London, the fans actually broke into a football chant between numbers. Of course, I've given it more theatrical subtlety than an ordinary football chant. You know me. I certainly wasn't thinking about the press when I wrote it. I never think about the British music press these days. It was really meant to be offered the musicians the same as the fans. I suppose it could also be construed as my version of "I Did It My Way." We have made it, and it certainly wasn't easy. No bed of roses as the song says. And it's still not easy. -Freddie Mercury (1978)1 |
” |
| “ | I have to win people over, otherwise it's not a successful gig. It's my job to make sure people have a good time. That's part of my duty. It's all to do with feeling in control. That song "We Are the Champions" has been taken up by football fans because it's a winners' song. I can't believe that somebody hasn't written a new song to overtake it. -Freddie Mercury (1985)2 |
” |
Other commentary
Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes in Allmusic that the song was written with the plight of the gay community in mind, and that it became a sporting event anthem somewhat by chance.3
Chart performances
In 1977-1978, "We Are the Champions" was released as a single for the time in many countries, including U.S. where it reached number 4 on the Billboard Pop Singles, UK, Ireland and Norway where it reached the top ten, and Germany, Austria and Sweden where it was a top 15 hit.
In 1992, 1993 and 1998, the single was re-released in France, totalling 45 weeks on the chart and peaking respectively at #19, #14 and #10. The song has thus its greatest success during the 1998 World Cup because the French team was the winner then.
Personnel
- Freddie Mercury: lead vocal, piano
- Brian May: electric guitar, backing vocals
- John Deacon: bass guitar, backing vocals
- Roger Taylor: drums, backing vocals
Track listings
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Certifications
| Country | Certification | Date | Sales certified | Physical sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| France | Gold4 | 1978 | 500,000 | 624,000+5 |
| Silver6 | September 30, 1998 | 125,000 | 165,000+5 | |
| U.S.7 | Platinum | April 25, 1978 | 2,000,000* |
- until 1989 U.S. single's Platinum certification was 2,000,000 copies sold
Charts
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Crazy Frog version
| “We Are the Champions (Ding a Dang Dong)” | |||||
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| Single by Crazy Frog from the album Crazy Frog Presents More Crazy Hits |
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| Released | June 5, 2006 | ||||
| Format | CD single, Maxi single, Digital download | ||||
| Recorded | 2005 | ||||
| Genre | Dance, Electronica | ||||
| Length | 3:03 | ||||
| Label | Ministry of Sound | ||||
| Producer | Erik Wernquist | ||||
| Crazy Frog singles chronology | |||||
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"We Are the Champions" was also covered by Crazy Frog under the title "We Are the Champions (Ding a Dang Dong)". It was released as a single on June 5, 2006. A cover of the 1977 Queen song of the same name, it was released to coincide with the 2006 World Cup, but Queen's vocals are featured in the song.
Track listings
- CD single
- "We Are the Champions (Ding a Dang Dong)" (radio edit) — 2:57
- "We Are the Champions (Ding a Dang Dong)" (club mix) — 5:49
- Maxi single
- "We Are the Champions (Ding a Dang Dong)" (radio edit) — 2:57
- "We Are the Champions (Ding a Dang Dong)" (house mix) — 6:04
- "We Are the Champions (Ding a Dang Dong)" (club mix) — 5:51
- "We Are the Champions (Ding a Dang Dong)" (club mix dub) — 5:17
- "We Are the Champions (Ding a Dang Dong)" (video)
Chart performances
The single had its greatest success in France. It went straight to #1 on June 10, 2006, and stayed at this position for five weeks. Then, it kept on dropping in the chart. It remained for 9 weeks in the top 10, 17 weeks in the top 50 and 25 weeks in the chart. On August 30, 2006, it was certified Gold disc two months after its release by SNEP, the French certificator, and became the 15th best selling single in 2006 in that country.
Certifications and sales
| Country | Certification | Date | Sales certified | Physical sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium15 | Gold | September 9, 2006 | 20,000 | |
| France16 | Gold | August 30, 2006 | 200,000 | 205,90817 |
Charts
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| Preceded by "Living on Video" by Pakito |
French (SNEP) number one single June 4, 2006 - July 1, 2006 (5 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Zidane y va marquer" by Cauet |
Other cover versions
- The song was covered by Live 2 Love as a dance track, where it appeared in the Japanese version of Dance Dance Revolution Extreme.
- Scatman John did a cover of this song along with Invisible Man.
- Era has also covered this song.
- Das Oath covered the song and has had it featured on more than one CD, including Dynamite with a Laserbeam: Queen as Heard Through the Meat Grinder of Three One G.
- La Unión, from Spain perform the song as "Somos Campeones" in Spanish on the 1996 album Tributo A Queen: Los Grandes Del Rock En Español.
- Queen (May/Taylor) re-recorded this song for the soundtrack of the 2001 film A Knight's Tale with Robbie Williams on vocals. Williams also made a music video for the song.
- William Hung covered this song for his 2004 album Hung for the Holidays.
- Gavin DeGraw covered this song for the 2005 album Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen.
- In addition to performing the song live in a medley with "We Will Rock You" during the show's seventh season, American Idol contestant Michael Johns also recorded a studio version of the medley.
- Jean-Sébastien Lavoie, a contestant of French TV show Nouvelle Star, covered the song in 2003. His version, released as a single, reached #38 in France and #53 in Switzerland.24
- A sound-alike cover appears on the 1977 album Top of the Pops, Volume 62. When the album was re-issued in 2008 on iTunes, it was credited to Top of the Poppers.
- Florent Pagny covered the song as duet with David Hallyday on his 2001 album 2.
Uses in popular culture
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (August 2008) |
- The song will be available as a bonus track on Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades
- The song has been played in 2002, UEFA Champions League Cup Final, after Real Madrid beat Bayer 04 Leverkusen(2-1) at Hampden Park, Glascow, Scotland
- The song has been used together with "We Will Rock You" in The Mighty Ducks' trilogy.
- The song has been sampled by Dame Dash, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Young Chris, Beanie Sigel, Cam'ron & Twista for their song, "Champions".
- The song appears in three episodes of The Simpsons - in "War of the Simpsons," Homer sings "I Am the Champions" after catching a legendary catfish, General Sherman. In "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken," Homer, Lenny, Carl, and Barney sing it after the Springfield Isotopes win the pennant. In "She Used To Be My Girl," it was played by the Fox News truck during the media circus followed by Major Quimby's paternaty scandal.
- The song appears in Season 5 of The Sopranos as the character Tony Blundetto's ring tone on his cell phone.
- At the end of the AFL Grand Final in Australia, the song is played over the stadium as the Premiership team does a lap of honor.
- The song is used as the entrance music of professional wrestling tag team The Kings of Wrestling.
- The song was used in the episode of Malcolm in the Middle where Hal shows his skating abilities.
- The song has been played to celebrate numerous sports championships. It was played at the finals of 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, after Italy won the cup. Usually, the winner of the German soccer championship plays the song during the celebration.
- The song was used during the end cutscene for The Matrix: Path of Neo.
- The song was used at the end of the South Park episode "Stanley's Cup", fore someone elses Happy ending, rarther then the Protagonist's.
- The song marked the climax of the ending of the 1984 hit comedy Revenge of the Nerds.
- The song was televised locally right after Sri Lanka won the 1996 Cricket World Cup on March 17, 1996.
- John Cusack dances to this song after he finds out that his ex-girlfriend has not had sex with his hated neighbor in the 2000 film High Fidelity.
- This song was the closing credits song for the movie 'A Knight's Tale' (2001.)
- Fernando Alonso sung the song after winning the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix, securing the Contructors' title for his team, Renault. The team later released an MP3 of the song being "played" by the engine they had used in that season, with the different notes played by changing engine speeds to adjust the pitch of the engine sound and exhaust note.
- The song was in the 2005 film, Kicking & Screaming.
- An Australian dart team - the Warilla Bowls All-Nighters adopted it as their 'team song' after winning back-to-back premierships in 2005.
- In the film Chicken Little (2005), Chicken Little sings the song after winning the big baseball game, but improvises the lyrics ("I Am The Champion" instead of "We Are the Champions"). Pro wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin also altered the song in this fashion in 2001.
- Liberal talk-radio personality Randi Rhodes used the song after the 2006 midterm elections to celebrate Democratic victories in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.
- It was used as a musical extract for which to answer questions on in the 2006 Level One NCEA Music Exam
- It was used as the introductory music prior to Prince's halftime TV performance at Super Bowl XLI on February 4, 2007 in Miami, Florida.
- On an episode of So You Think You Can Dance in 2007, Danny Tidwell performed a solo to Gavin DeGraw's version.
- A grunt sings a line of the chorus in Halo: Combat Evolved after you get killed by one.
- The song is used by the winning team in "Turkey Bowl 07" after their 21-0 win in the snow.
- The song was used in JJB Stadium after Manchester United won the league there in the 2007-08 season.
- The song was used in the movie What Happens in Vegas when Jack wins the jackpot in the casino.
- It was featured at the end an episode of The Big Bang Theory when the Perpetual Motion Squad won a science match.
- In the series Angel, Cordy, Wes, and Gunn sing the song in a karaoke bar after getting fired.
- During the campaign of Mayors Chile in 2008, there was a candidate used the song with a very bad translation made by the latter, being warned by the Copyright Society of the background and sent to England for being something illegal and be explicitly stated by Freddie Mercury at the time that never should address this single to political campaigns.
Live cover performances
- Green Day covered the song at the famous Live 8 in 2005. Also, they have often covered the song at their shows.
- The Bad Plus performs a jazz cover of this song in Blunt Object: Live in Tokyo (2005).
- Japanese singer-songwriter Angela Aki performs the song along with "We Will Rock You" in her live concert (2006).
- The Jonas Brothers, Rooney, and the entire tour crew performed the song at their final concert for the 'When You Look Me In The Eyes' tour. The brothers pulled their entire family onstage and sang with the fans.
Sampling and parodies
- Producer Rick Rubin remixed the song (along with "We Will Rock You") for Hollywood Records. (This mix also samples James Brown's "Funky Drummer".)
- The song has been sampled by Dame Dash, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Young Chris, Beanie Sigel, Cam'ron & Twista for their song, "Champions".
- J.B.O. released a spoof version, “Wir sind die Champignons” (We Are the Mushrooms), in 1997.
- David Strassman parodied it on the Teddy's Farewell Tour, making his puppets mock him by singing, "We are the Voices, in his Head."
See also
External links
References
- ^ Rosy Horide. "Queen Deserve Rock's Royal Crown? Freddie Mercury and Brian May Hawk their 'News of the World'". Circus, January 1978. Retrieved from Queenzone, June 15, 2006.
- ^ Nick Ferrari. "I Am The Champion. Why Fantastic Freddie Stole Live Aid Show". The Sun, July 19, 1985. Retrieved from queen.musichall.cz, June 15, 2006.
- ^ Erlewine, S.T. "Queen Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved November 18, 2008, from All Music -- Queen
- ^ French certifications Chartsinfrance.net (Retrieved July 29, 2008)
- ^ a b Queen's certifications and sales in France See: "Les Ventes" => "Toutes les certifications depuis 1973" => "QUEEN" Infodisc.fr (Retrieved July 29, 2008)
- ^ French certifications Disqueenfrance.com (Retrieved July 29, 2008)
- ^ U.S. certifications riaa.com (Retrieved July 29, 2008)
- ^ a b Billboard allmusic.com (Retrieved July 29, 2008)
- ^ a b c d e f "We Are the Champions", in various singles charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved July 29, 2008)
- ^ German Singles Chart Charts-surfer.de (Retrieved July 29, 2008)
- ^ Irish Single Chart Irishcharts.ie (Retrieved July 29, 2008)
- ^ UK Singles Chart Chartstats.com (Retrieved July 29, 2008)
- ^ 1978 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved July 29, 2008)
- ^ 1998 French Singles Chart Disqueenfrance.com (Retrieved July 29, 2008)
- ^ Belgian certifications Ultratop.be (Retrieved August 11, 2008)
- ^ French certifications Disqueenfrance.com (Retrieved December 16, 2007)
- ^ 2006 French Sinles Chart Fanofmusic.free.fr (Retrieved December 16, 2007)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "We Are the Champions (Ding a Dang Dong)", in various singles charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved December 16, 2007)
- ^ a b c "We Are the Champions (Ding a Dang Dong)", in various singles charts Acharts.us (Retrieved July 29, 2008)
- ^ 2006 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved May 17, 2008)
- ^ 2006 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart Ultratop.be (Retrieved July 29, 2008)
- ^ 2006 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart Ultratop.be (Retrieved July 29, 2008)
- ^ 2006 French Singles Chart Ifop.com (Retrieved December 16, 2007)
- ^ "We Are the Champions" by Jean-Sébastien Lavoie, in French and Swiss singles charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved July 29, 2008)
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- This page was last modified on 2 December 2008, at 22:58.
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