"Who Wants to Live Forever" | ||||
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Single by Queen | ||||
from the album A Kind of Magic | ||||
B-side | "Killer Queen" | |||
Released | 15 September 1986 | |||
Length |
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Label | EMI | |||
Songwriter(s) | Brian May | |||
Producer(s) |
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Queen singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Who Wants to Live Forever" on YouTube |
"Who Wants to Live Forever" is a song by the British rock band Queen. A power ballad,[1] it is the sixth track on the album A Kind of Magic, which was released in June 1986, and was written by lead guitarist Brian May for the soundtrack to the film Highlander.[2] Queen was backed up by an orchestra, with orchestrations by film score composer Michael Kamen. The song peaked at No. 24 in the UK charts.[3] In 1991, it was included in the band's second compilation album, Greatest Hits II.[4]
Since its release, the song has been covered by many artists. Five months after Mercury's death in November 1991, Seal performed a live version of the song at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992. In 2014, Rolling Stone readers voted it their fifth favourite song by Queen,[5] and in 2018 it was listed at number 15 in "The top 20 Queen songs of all time" by Smooth Radio.[1]