<\/p>\n Part of the problem was its lyrics, in which Mercury moved from complaints about having paid his dues to telling his audience his climb to the top had been \u201cno bed of roses.\u201d<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n Worst of all was the title: \u201cWe Are the Champions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur initial sense of it was that it was something very big-headed,\u201d May told Guitar Player. \u201cWe all looked at Fred and said, \u2018Really?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cBut he had a very clear view of it. It was aimed at an audience that wanted to feel a togetherness and a power and an optimism. He knew people would sing it.\u201d<\/p>\n More than a gifted vocalist, Mercury was a performer who knew how to unite an audience. Which was only appropriate, considering that Queen had decided to bring them into the show with News of the World,<\/p>\n The genesis of this approach came after Queen\u2018s 1977 show at Bingley Hall in Stafford, England, where the audience sang along loudly and enthusiastically to every song.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did an encore and then went off,\u201d May explained in a BBC interview that year, \u201cand instead of just keeping clapping, they sang \u2018You’ll Never Walk Alone\u2018 to us, and we were just completely knocked out and taken aback.\u201d<\/p>\n As they began to work on News of the World, the band was inspired to write tracks that would harness that collective energy. May brought along \u201cWe Will Rock You,\u201d sensing its stomp-clap rhythm and simple vocal refrain would be good way to bring the audience together. Mercury, meanwhile, envisioned \u201cWe Are the Champions\u201d as a theme that would unify fans in a moment of collective celebration.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n \u201cThis was the first album where we contemplated audience participation. Up until that point, we were sort of tentative.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Brian May<\/p>\n \u201cThis was the first album where we contemplated audience participation,\u201d May told Guitar Player. \u201cUp until that point, we were sort of tentative. We didn’t expect the audience to sing along because they didn’t in those days. It was a big transition for us to realize that the audience was part of the show, and we decided to encourage that.\u201d<\/p>\n As he explained, this shift in audience behavior was evident more in England and Europre than in America.<\/p>\n \u201cThis phenomenon started in Europe way before in the states,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I used to prefer that people didn’t sing, to be honest. I liked them to hear all the delicate nuances of what we were doing. I found it kind of annoying, as if it was getting in the way of Freddie\u2019s vocals. It’s funny to look back on that.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Queen perform in New Haven, Connecticut, on the News of the World tour, November 16, 1977. (Image credit: David Tan\/Shinko Music\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Regarding \u201cWe Are the Champions,\u201d May recalls that it was recorded in what was a typical fashion for Queen at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cNormally, [Mercury] would put down the piano part with Roger and John live, and when it was good enough \u2014 after three or four takes \u2014 that would be what we used. And that’s pretty much what happened with \u2018Champions.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Working that way allowed May to think about his guitar parts while the others were recording their parts. But sometimes his best ideas came later, as they did for \u201cWe Are the Champions.\u201d Roughly two weeks after initially completing his part, he added two new guitar tracks of bell-like chimes using his Red Special electric guitar<\/a>.<\/p>\n Panned in stereo on the song\u2019s second verse, they ping-pong from speaker to speaker during the lines \u201cIt\u2019s been no bed of roses, no pleasure cruise,\u201d adding a bit of decoration as the arrangement builds to a new high ahead of the chorus.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember listening to it in the car the day it was to be mixed and thinking that my guitar wasn’t good enough. I told them to give me one more go.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u2014 Brian May<\/p>\n \u201cI remember listening to it in the car the day it was to be mixed and thinking that my guitar wasn’t good enough,\u201d he explained. \u201cI told them to give me one more go and planned that little piece in stereo that happens in verse two, which I really like, it’s that sort of bell effect between two guitars. So I know I did some extra work on this one in the light of having lived with it for a couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"(MANDATORY](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AEFMRfnEuXLp4MbiN2AESD.jpg\")
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