The Great Pretender - wikipedia The Great Pretender This article is about the original song by The Platters. For other uses, see The Great Pretender ( disambiguation ). `` The Great Pretender '' Single by The Platters B - side `` I 'm Just a Dancing Partner '' Released November 3, 1955 Format 45 rpm, 78 rpm Recorded 1955 Genre Rhythm and blues, doo - wop Length 2 : 36 Label Mercury Songwriter ( s ) Buck Ram Producer ( s ) Buck Ram `` The Great Pretender '' is a popular song recorded by The Platters, with Tony Williams on lead vocals, and released as a single on November 3, 1955. The words and music were written by Buck Ram, the Platters ' manager and producer who was a successful songwriter before moving into producing and management. `` The Great Pretender '' reached the number one position on both the R&B and pop charts in 1956. It also reached the UK charts peaking at number 5. Contents 1 Platters ' version 2 Freddie Mercury version 2.1 Music video 2.2 Releases 2.3 Interview 2.4 Personnel 3 Other cover versions 4 Popular culture 5 References 6 External links Platters ' version Buck Ram reports that he wrote the song in about 20 minutes in the washroom of the Flamingo Hotel in order to have a song to follow up the success of `` Only You ( And You Alone ) ''. Stan Freberg parodied this version. In 2004, the song was voted 360th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone. Plas Johnson played tenor saxophone. Freddie Mercury version `` The Great Pretender '' Single by Freddie Mercury B - side `` Exercises in Free Love '' ( 3 : 58 ) Released February 23, 1987 January 25, 1993 ( reissue ) Format 7 `` / 12 '' vinyl single, cassette, CD Recorded January 1987 Genre Pop rock Length 3 : 25 ( 7 '' version ) 5 : 55 ( 12 '' extended version ) Label Mercury Songwriter ( s ) Buck Ram Producer ( s ) David Richards, Freddie Mercury, Mike Moran Freddie Mercury singles chronology `` Time '' ( 1986 ) `` The Great Pretender '' ( 1987 ) `` Barcelona '' ( 1987 ) 1993 reissue Front cover of the 1993 reissue The song was repopularized in 1987 by Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the rock band Queen. Mercury 's version reached number four on the UK Singles Chart. Music video Mercury 's music video for the song became one of the most well - known of his career. It featured Mercury parodying himself in many of his Queen guises through video medium over the years, including visual re-takes of `` Crazy Little Thing Called Love '', `` It 's a Hard Life '', `` I Want to Break Free '', `` One Vision '', and `` I Was Born to Love You ''. It was directed by David Mallet in February 1987, and also featured fellow Queen member Roger Taylor and actor Peter Straker in drag. Mercury had permanently shaved off his moustache, which had been his trademark feature since 1980. Mercury had previously shaved his moustache for the music video `` I Want To Break Free '' in order to play the faun role during the synthesizer break, he would then later regrow it. An extended video version appears on the video single on VHS, Freddie Mercury The Video Collection on VHS and DVD, and Lover of Life, Singer of Songs on DVD. Releases The song has been re-released in many compilations including Lover of Life, Singer of Songs, on Queen 's Greatest Hits III album, and more recently on `` Messenger of the Gods : The Singles Collection by Freddie Mercury ''. Interview In one of his last videotaped interviews in spring of 1987, Mercury explained that the song was particularly fitting for the way he saw his career and being on stage. Personnel This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( December 2017 ) Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals Mike Moran - piano, keyboards Harold Fisher - drums Alan Jones - bass guitar Other cover versions George Harrison led Phil Spector into cutting a simple acoustic version of it in 1970 - 71 while in the studio jamming on other songs ; it was pressed onto acetate disc but never officially released. There is a 1969 cover version by Gene Pitney ; this version is clearly the model that Freddie Mercury used for his much later version, although demos of Mercury 's 1987 song sound like the original Platters take. It was covered in 1984 by Dolly Parton, who made it the title song of an album of covers from the 1950s and 1960s ( The Great Pretender ) Sam Cooke. `` Hits Of The 50 's '' released in August 1960 in the United States by RCA Victor. Rod Stewart covered it in his 1982 live album Absolutely Live. Kathy Young with the Innocents covered the song in 1961 as the B - side to their single, `` Baby Oh Baby ''. Stan Freberg made a parody version in 1956. Pat Boone covered it on his Moody River album in 1961. Dan McCafferty covered it on Dan McCafferty album in 1975 The Righteous Brothers Gene Summers included it on his 1997 album The Ultimate School of Rock & Roll issued on Crystal Clear Sound Records. The Band covered it on Moondog Matinee, an album of covers. Perhaps most radically, it was tackled by Lester Bowie in 1981 and extended to nearly seventeen minutes of improvisation on his album of the same name. It was covered in the UK by Jimmy Parkinson, an Australian vocalist. It entered the Top 20 on 3 March 1956, six months ahead of the Platters ' version ; Parkinson 's hit peaked at No 9 and remained in the Top 20 for 10 weeks. Jackie Riggs, a US doowop singer also covered it in March 1956 George Faith covered the song on his album Reggae Got Soul. The Statler Brothers covered the song on their final live CD. Country singer Roy Clark performed a comedy routine in which he sings the song with comic sound effects, odd guitar strokes, and occasional segues into other, different songs. Old and in the Way released a bluegrass version of the song on the album That High Lonesome Sound ( 1973 ). Roy Orbison covered it for his 1961 album Crying A Chinese Mandarin version titled 假惺惺 / Jiǎxīngxīng was covered by Yao Lee ( 姚 莉 ) in 1957. Popular culture In 1999, National Public Radio included the song in the `` NPR 100 '', in which NPR 's music editors sought to compile the one hundred most important American musical works of the 20th century. The song inspired the naming of Chrissie Hynde 's band, The Pretenders. The song played an important part in Rainer Werner Fassbinder 's film The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant ( 1972 ). The song was featured in the 2003 film Evil. In the 1973 film American Graffiti, Richard Dreyfuss ' character sings along to the song while he stares into the window of an appliance store. In the novel Beautiful Losers by the Canadian singer - songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen, he describes the song as `` a song which was to change the popular music of our day ''. The song can be heard in the video game BioShock Infinite : Burial at Sea Freddie Mercury 's version can be heard in Night and the City ( 1992 ). The song features in the 1990 film ′ Paper Mask ′, starring Paul McGann and Amanda Donohue. The song is featured in Empire Season 1, Episode 08 ; `` The Lyon 's Roar '' References ^ Jump up to : Buck Ram interviewed on the Pop Chronicles ( 1969 ) Jump up ^ Whitburn, Joel ( 2004 ). Top R&B / Hip - Hop Singles : 1942 - 2004. Record Research. p. 463. Jump up ^ `` 361 : The Great Pretender ''. Rolling Stone. Jump up ^ Interview of Freddie Mercury by Rudi Dolezal. 1987. Jump up ^ Kathy Young with the Innocents, `` Baby Oh Baby '' single release Retrieved January 12, 2016. Jump up ^ Gilliland, John ( 1969 ). `` Show 52 - The Soul Reformation : Phase three, soul music at the summit. ( Part 8 ) '' ( audio ). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries. Track 5. Jump up ^ Roy Clark. `` The Great Pretender ''. Star Route TV Show 3. Jump up ^ Songs by MISS YAO LEE 姚 莉, `` 假惺惺 The Great Pretender '' CD release Retrieved April 10, 2017. External links Lyrics of Freddie Mercury cover at Queen official website ( from Greatest Hits III ) Freddie Mercury Discography Studio albums Mr. Bad Guy Barcelona Compilations The Freddie Mercury Album The Solo Collection Lover of Life, Singer of Songs Messenger of the Gods : The Singles Collection Singles `` Love Kills '' `` I Was Born to Love You '' `` Made in Heaven '' `` Living on My Own '' `` Time '' `` The Great Pretender '' `` Barcelona '' `` The Golden Boy '' `` How Can I Go On '' `` In My Defence '' `` Love Kills '' Related articles 17473 Freddiemercury The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert Queen Smile Larry Lurex The Mercury Phoenix Trust The Hectics Cirolana mercuryi Mercurana Biopic film Logan Place The Platters Wayne Miller Valerie Victoria Frank Pizarro Cheo Bourne Cornell Gunter Barbara Randolph Herb Reed Zola Taylor Sonny Turner Tony Williams Singles `` Only You ( And You Alone ) '' `` The Great Pretender '' `` ( You 've Got ) The Magic Touch '' `` My Prayer '' `` You 'll Never Never Know '' `` Twilight Time '' `` Smoke Gets in Your Eyes '' `` Enchanted '' `` Harbor Lights '' `` Ebb Tide '' `` Red Sails in the Sunset '' `` If I Did n't Care '' `` I 'll Never Smile Again '' `` It 's Magic '' Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Great_Pretender&oldid=853150372 '' Categories : 1955 singles 1987 singles Number - one singles in the United States Billboard Top 100 number - one singles Billboard Hot R&B / Hip - Hop Songs number - one singles Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients The Platters songs Freddie Mercury songs Sam Cooke songs Number - one singles in Australia Songs written by Buck Ram 1955 songs Mercury Records singles Hidden categories : Articles with hAudio microformats Articles which use infobox templates with no data rows Music infoboxes with deprecated parameters Articles needing additional references from December 2017 All articles needing additional references Talk Contents About Wikipedia Bosanski Català Čeština Español Euskara Français Hrvatski Italiano Magyar Nederlands Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Русский Sicilianu Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Svenska Tiếng Việt 10 more Edit links This page was last edited on 2 August 2018, at 19 : 18 ( UTC ). 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Question: who sang yes i'm the great pretender
Answer: The Platters