{"id":165629,"date":"2025-12-03T08:55:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T08:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/165629\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T08:55:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T08:55:08","slug":"freddie-mercury-once-wrote-a-song-for-john-lennon-decades-later-it-became-one-of-queens-most-unexpected-hits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/165629\/","title":{"rendered":"Freddie Mercury Once Wrote a Song for John Lennon \u2014 Decades Later, It Became One of Queen\u2019s Most Unexpected Hits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout their long and fruitful career, Queen<\/a> has written about many themes, from love and heartbreak to loss and fame. Freddie Mercury<\/a>, in particular, contributed greatly to the band\u2019s extensive discography. Not only was he a celebrated and powerful vocalist, but he also had a remarkable talent for songwriting. He penned hits such as \u201cKiller Queen,\u201d \u201cLove of My Life,\u201d \u201cSomebody to Love,\u201d \u201cWe Are the Champions,\u201d \u201cDon’t Stop Me Now,\u201d \u201cCrazy Little Thing Called Love,\u201d and Queen\u2019s magnum opus, \u201cBohemian Rhapsody.\u201d However, perhaps lesser known is that Mercury also wrote a song specifically inspired by his love and admiration for a late Beatle: John Lennon<\/a>. The song is called \u201cLife Is Real (Song For Lennon),\u201d a 1982 track off the band’s tenth studio album Hot Space.<\/p>\n

Songs about other artists are nothing new in the music industry. Over the past several decades, we\u2019ve seen musical acts (both old and new) craft tracks inspired by a certain celebrity<\/a>, whether the song is about love, heartbreak, hatred, or sheer admiration. In Mercury\u2019s case, that song is \u201cLife Is Real (Song for Lennon),\u201d which he wrote as a heartfelt tribute to the Beatle icon. Unlike many other Queen songs, this track is fairly straightforward; you don\u2019t even need to dive deep into the lyrics to realize it\u2019s about Lennon, as the title already gives it away. It\u2019s also no secret that both Lennon and Mercury are iconic figures in the world of music \u2014 each a member of an equally legendary band \u2014 so for Mercury to write a song about Lennon is nothing short of a remarkable homage between two legends.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury Wrote \u201cLife Is Real (Song for Lennon)\u201d Out of Love for John Lennon<\/p>\n

\"John-Lennon\"
\n John LennonImage via Lionsgate<\/p>\n

To say The Beatles<\/a> were an iconic band would be an understatement. They are one of the most influential and groundbreaking acts in the history of music \u2014 and, arguably, the biggest. Mercury himself knew this all too well. While everyone at the time had their favorite Beatle, Lennon was the one who resonated most with Mercury. And for a very specific reason. As he admitted in the book Freddie Mercury: A Life in His Own Words: \u201cJohn Lennon was larger than life, and an absolute genius. Even at a very early stage when they were The Beatles, I always preferred John Lennon\u2019s things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lennon is objectively one of the biggest names in music history \u2014 and so is Mercury. Their legacies are somewhat comparable, as both remain iconic figures even decades after their passing; Lennon on December 8, 1980, and Mercury on November 24, 1991. But Mercury refused to be likened or compared to his fellow legend. “To be honest, I would never like to put myself with any kind of parallel with John Lennon at all because he was just the greatest, as far as I was concerned,” Freddie said in an interview<\/a>. “It’s not a matter of less talent or more talent, it’s just that certain people are capable of doing certain things better than somebody else… I feel I’m not equipped to do certain things that John Lennon did, and I don’t think anybody should, because John Lennon was unique and one-off and that’s the way it is.”<\/p>\n

\"Bohemian-Rhapsody-Queen-band-members-Freddie-Mercury-Brian-May\"<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe 10 Greatest Queen Songs Ever, Ranked
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Galileo! (Galileo!)<\/p>\n

John Lennon\u2019s Passing Inspired Freddie Mercury To Write \u201cLife Is Real (Song for Lennon)\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLife Is Real (Song for Lennon)\u201d was never released as a single, which is presumably why only die-hard Queen fans are familiar with it. Despite that, the song performed fairly well for a non-single. Mercury wrote \u201cLife Is Real (Song for Lennon)\u201d as a tribute to the late former Beatle, who was tragically shot and killed in 1980, just as he was preparing to return with new solo music. The world mourned his untimely passing, and Mercury was no exception. But as shocking and sad as the news was, Mercury wanted his tribute to Lennon to be a celebratory one. And though it wasn\u2019t as upbeat as other Queen tracks, \u201cLife Is Real (Song for Lennon)\u201d carries a gentle, uplifting energy. It also serves as a nod to the lyric \u201clove is real\u201d from Lennon\u2019s 1970 soft-rock track, \u201cLove.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a shame, though, that Mercury and Lennon\u2019s paths never crossed. “The only person I wish I had met was John Lennon,” Mercury told MTV in 1984. “He’s the one that I did idolize and I just thought he was a very beautiful human being, and I’m sad to say that I didn’t get to meet him. He’s the only one.” Over a decade after Lennon\u2019s death, Mercury also met his demise. But even though their lives were cut tragically short, nothing can diminish their impact, their artistry, or their enduring legacy. Of course, Lennon was never able to witness Mercury\u2019s beautiful tribute, but we\u2019d like to think he was out there smiling down, appreciating the song from afar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Throughout their long and fruitful career, Queen has written about many themes, from love and heartbreak to loss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":{"0":"post-165629","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}