Written by Freddie Mercury
Recording information by Philipp (PraxisNothaft@t-online.de)
Recorded in June 1979 at Musicland-Studios Munich.
Released on the album The Game.
General:
The history of this song starts in the bathroom of the Munich Hilton hotel and reaches his peak with the no. 1 spot in the USA.
Drums & Percussion:
Roger used quite a "silent" drum-kit with a muted bass-drum a decent snare, a Hi-Hat and a crash cymbal.
Later there were handclaps added.
Bass (John):
Nothing spectacular about this. Probably played with Fender Precision Bass.
Recorded via D.I.
Guitars (Freddie & Brian):
Freddie played the acoustic rhythm guitar, picked up with two mics and mixed stereo. The signal was processed differently so it almost sounds like two different guitars, although it's only one.
Brian did the electric solo-guitar.
Sounds and Equipment:
Freddie played his stuff on a six-string Martin. On stage, he used a twelve-string Ovation (1979-1982) and a Fender Telecaster (1984-1986).
Brian played his solo-stuff with an old Fender Elite (owned by Roger) and a Mesa/Boogie amp. He played with that equipment under protest, but it suited the song very well.
Vocals:
Brian, Freddie and Roger did the backing-vocals.
Freddie did the lead vocals (not Elvis). With the previous producers he'd worked, he'd mostly used a Neumann U-87 mic for his vocals, but Reinhold Mack suggested an AKG C-414 for this song (the first one he engineered for the band). Freddie was reticent at first, but in the end he liked the sound and kept using the C-414 for most of his studio vocals during the Mack era, and even part of the David Richards days as well.
All voices and instruments have got a reverb (room type).