It’s a Hard Life- Queen (1984)

Description

Additional information about this Queen vinyl art.

Queen  – The Artist/s

Queen are a British rock band that formed in London in 1970. Their classic line-up was Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (lead guitar, vocals), Roger Taylor (drums, vocals), and John Deacon (bass guitar). Queen’s earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works by incorporating further styles, such as arena rock and pop rock, into their music.

It’s a Hard Life – The Song

‘It’s a Hard Life’ is a song by the British rock band Queen, written by lead singer Freddie Mercury. It was featured on their 1984 album The Works, and it was the third single from that album. It reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart and was their third consecutive Top 10 single from the album. The opening lyric and melody of “It’s a Hard Life” is based on the line “Ridi, Pagliaccio, sul tuo amore infranto!” (Laugh, clown, at your broken love!) from “Vesti la giubba”, an aria from Ruggero Leoncavallo’s opera Pagliacci. The same melody is also quoted in the soundtrack of the movie A Night at the Opera after which Queen had named their 1975 album. The promotional video which accompanies the song has been created in an operatic “style,” with the band and extras appearing in period “operatic-style” costume. The video also featured an unusual “skull and bones”-themed guitar, played by May. This guitar is also on the single’s cover, and relied heavily on the use of alchemical and pagan symbols and symbolism.

The Skull – The Shape

This record has been modelled into a human skull which is inspired by the special ‘skull’ guitar that Brin May had made specially for the promotional video for the record and is on the records picture sleeve.

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