Sweet Lady (Queen song)

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"Sweet Lady" is a song by British rock band Queen, which was written by Queen guitarist Brian May.

Details[]

"Sweet Lady" is a distortion-driven fast rocker written by May. The song is an unusual rock style in 3/4 meter (which gives way to 4/4 at the bridge).

According to an online source, Roger Taylor once said that because of its unusual time signature, "Sweet Lady" was the hardest song for him to play live on the drums.^{[3][user-generated source?]}

The backing track was probably recorded live, as one can hear the wires on the snare drum of Taylor's kit vibrating along with John Deacon's bass guitar riff.

Comments[]

“Sweet Lady” musically came from a riff and I was fascinated with the idea of a heavy riff in 3/4 time rather than 4/4. Because 3/4 is the time of the waltz, traditionally it’s a very gentle sound. People used to dance it and whatever. So the fact that I could find this riff in 3/4 which seemed to have an urgency and heaviness to it was a fascinating thing for me. And I think in your head, you kind of refuse to hear it in 3/4, which is why it’s still powerful I think. Well it’s my theory anyway. And lyrically, as a lot of my stuff it’s about relationships and what I saw in my own relationships and the relationships of people around me which I still really feel is the fundamental building material of our lives. I’m not very good on politics on a grand scale but i’m intrigued by what happens one to one between people. I think some of those are the strongest forces in our lives and so that’s what the song’s about.

— Brian May

There's an old song called "Sweet Lady", which Brian wrote, on A Night At The Opera, and he was saying, 'I want it to go like this,' and he wanted it to do three different things at once and that was a bit hard to understand.

— Roger Taylor

Live performances[]

"Sweet Lady" was first performed live on the A Night at the Opera Tour in November 1975. It was one of only three songs from the soon to be released album (A Night At The Opera) to be performed live (the others being "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "The Prophet's Song"). The band were still completing the album a week before it was to be released, so they only had a couple of days to rehearse.

The song would remain on Queen's live set to its last performance in June 1977. Like many Queen tracks performed live, the song has never been released on an official live album.

Legacy[]

The song's line "You call me sweet like I'm some kind of cheese" was mentioned in the 2018 Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody during an argument between Taylor (Ben Hardy) and May (Gwilym Lee) about I'm in Love with My Car, wherein Taylor asks May about the song's content, gets the lyrics, and reads "You call me sweet like I'm some kind of cheese".

Personnel[]

• Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals
• Brian May - electric guitars, backing vocals
• Roger Taylor - drums, backing vocals
• John Deacon - bass guitar

References[]