Love of My Life ( Queen song ) - wikipedia Love of My Life ( Queen song ) `` Love of My Life '' Song by Queen from the album A Night at the Opera Released 21 November 1975 Recorded 1975 at various studios Length 3 : 39 Label EMI Elektra Songwriter ( s ) Freddie Mercury Producer ( s ) Queen Roy Thomas Baker A Night at the Opera track listing 12 tracks Side one `` Death on Two Legs ( Dedicated to... ) '' `` Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon '' `` I 'm in Love with My Car '' `` You 're My Best Friend '' `` ' 39 '' `` Sweet Lady '' `` Seaside Rendezvous '' Side two `` The Prophet 's Song '' `` Love of My Life '' `` Good Company '' `` Bohemian Rhapsody '' `` God Save the Queen '' `` Love of My Life ( Live at Festhalle Frankfurt, 2 Feb ' 79 ) '' Single by Queen from the album Live Killers B - side `` Now I 'm Here ( Live at Festhalle Frankfurt, 2 Feb ' 79 ) '' Released 29 June 1979 Format Vinyl record ( 7 `` ) Recorded 1979 Length 3 : 43 Label EMI Songwriter ( s ) Freddie Mercury Queen singles chronology `` Jealousy '' ( 1979 ) `` Love of My Life ( Live at Festhalle Frankfurt, 2 Feb ' 79 ) '' ( 1979 ) `` Crazy Little Thing Called Love '' ( 1979 ) `` Jealousy '' ( 1979 ) `` Love of My Life ( Live at Festhalle Frankfurt, 2 Feb ' 79 ) '' ( 1979 ) `` Crazy Little Thing Called Love '' ( 1979 ) `` Love of My Life '' is a ballad by the British rock band Queen from their 1975 album A Night at the Opera. The song was written by Freddie Mercury about Mary Austin, with whom he had a long term relationship in the early 1970s. After performing the song in South America in 1981, the version from their live album Live Killers reached number 1 in the singles chart in Argentina and Brazil, and stayed in the charts in Argentina for an entire year. Freddie Mercury wrote it on the piano and guitar first, and Brian May rearranged the song for acoustic 12 - string guitar for live performances, also lowering the key by a minor third. May contributed occasional guitar phrases to the original recording and played the swooping harp glissandos by pasting together multiple takes of single chords. The song is an example of Mercury 's familiarity with rubato phrasing, showcasing his classical piano influences, notably by Chopin and Beethoven. With its similar lyrical theme, the Roger Taylor penned single `` These Are the Days of Our Lives '' would later hearken back to `` Love of My Life '', twice using the line `` I still love you ''. At the end of `` These Are the Days of Our Lives '', Mercury simply speaks those words, as he would often do in live versions of `` Love of My Life ''. During the voyage of the space shuttle Columbia ( STS - 107 ), Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, asked to play the song. The song was played in the shuttle and Ramon said : `` A special good morning to my wife, Rona, the love of my life. '' Ramon died in the Columbia disaster shortly thereafter, during its return to the atmosphere in 2003. Contents 1 Live performances 2 1979 live single release 3 Queen quotes 4 Personnel 5 References 6 External links Live performances Introduced during the News of the World Tour in 1977, `` Love of My Life '' was such a concert favourite that Mercury frequently stopped singing and allowed the audience to take over. It was especially well received during concerts in South America, and resultantly the band released the Live Killers version of the song as a single there. After Mercury 's death, Brian May has frequently dedicated the song to him in his own live performances. A notable exception is the Sheffield show which yielded the Return of the Champions CD and DVD. At that show, May announced that Mercury 's mother was at the show and he dedicated the song to her instead. In the Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour, May would sing a few lines of the song, then let the audience take over for every verse, as Mercury did. When played at the Glasgow SECC in the 2008 Cosmos Rocks tour, May dedicated the song to his recently deceased mother. During Rock in Rio 6 in 2015, Queen + Adam Lambert was one of the artists to celebrate the festival 's 30th anniversary. `` Love of My Life '' had both May singing a few lines and archive footage of Mercury performing the song during the inaugural Wembley concert in 1986. 1979 live single release The acoustic version of the song featured on the band 's 1979 album Live Killers was recorded at their concert at Festhalle Frankfurt on 2 February of that year. A shortened version was released as a single in the UK and other territories, which did not include the spoken intros and outros from the album. The linear notes for the DVD release `` Greatest Video Hits 1 '' state that although the live audio is from Frankfurt, the accompanying music video that was edited to the track consisted of footage from a 1979 Tokyo concert. In fact, the footage was filmed before one of three Tokyo concerts the band played between 23 -- 25 April. Some bits of footage from two concerts in Paris from earlier in the year are woven in. After performing the song in South America in 1981, it was this version that reached number 1 in the singles chart in Argentina and Brazil, and stayed in the charts in Argentina for an entire year. Queen quotes `` `` Love Of My Life '' is adapted on stage for guitar, but it was written on the piano. I 've totally forgotten the original and if you asked me to play that now, I could n't. Sometimes, I have to go back to the music sheet, and I ca n't read that well either. '' -- Freddie Mercury, 1981 `` Interviewer : Did you learn to play harp for `` Love Of My Life '' ? Learning would be too strong a word. I did it chord by chord. Actually, it took longer to tune the thing than to play it. It was a nightmare because every time someone opened the door, the temperature would change and the whole thing would go out. I would hate to have to play a harp on stage. I just figured out how it worked -- the pedals and everything -- and did it bit by bit. '' -- Brian May, 1982 `` I hate this thing about trying to recreate the albums on stage. We sometimes deliberately change. Look at ' Love Of My Life ', for instance. On record I play piano on that but on stage it 's just Brian playing the guitar and me singing it, because it works on stage better that way. '' -- Freddie Mercury, 1984 Personnel Freddie Mercury -- lead and backing vocals, piano Brian May -- acoustic and electric guitar, orchestral harp Roger Taylor -- cymbals John Deacon -- bass guitar References ^ Jump up to : Love of My Life Allmusic. Retrieved 7 July 2011 Jump up ^ ' A Night At The Opera ' Queen. Retrieved 7 July 2011 Jump up ^ Queen : The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock p. 164. Voyageur Press. Retrieved 12 July 2011 Jump up ^ Queen 's Greatest Videos. Episode 1 / 1. 1999. 50 minutes in. Channel 4. ( Roger Taylor ) Jump up ^ CNN.com -- Transcripts. Edition.cnn.com ( 24 June 2003 ). Retrieved on 2015 - 10 - 21. Jump up ^ `` Queen repete coro de 1985 em ' Love of My Life ' e lembra Freddie Mercury ''. Correio Braziliense ( in Portuguese ). ^ Jump up to : Love Of My Life -- Queenpedia.com -- Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon, Discography, Bibliography, Charts. Queenpedia.com ( 2009 - 08 - 19 ). Retrieved on 2015 - 10 - 21. External links Official YouTube videos : original music video, Live at The Bowl, Queen + Paul Rodgers ( Live ) Lyrics at Queen official website Queen singles discography Queen `` Keep Yourself Alive '' `` Liar '' Queen II `` Seven Seas of Rhye '' Sheer Heart Attack `` Killer Queen '' / `` Flick of the Wrist '' `` Now I 'm Here '' `` Lily of the Valley '' `` Stone Cold Crazy '' A Night at the Opera `` Bohemian Rhapsody '' `` You 're My Best Friend '' `` Love of My Life '' A Day at the Races `` Somebody to Love '' `` Tie Your Mother Down '' `` Teo Torriatte ( Let Us Cling Together ) '' `` Long Away '' `` Good Old - Fashioned Lover Boy '' News of the World `` We Are the Champions '' / `` We Will Rock You '' `` Spread Your Wings '' `` It 's Late '' Jazz `` Bicycle Race '' / `` Fat Bottomed Girls '' `` Do n't Stop Me Now '' `` Jealousy '' `` Mustapha '' Live Killers `` Love of My Life '' ( Live ) `` We Will Rock You '' ( Live ) The Game `` Crazy Little Thing Called Love '' `` Save Me '' `` Play the Game '' `` Another One Bites the Dust '' `` Need Your Loving Tonight '' Flash Gordon `` Flash '' Hot Space `` Under Pressure '' ( with David Bowie ) `` Body Language '' `` Las Palabras de Amor '' `` Calling All Girls '' `` Staying Power '' `` Back Chat '' The Works `` Radio Ga Ga '' `` I Want to Break Free '' `` It 's a Hard Life '' `` Hammer to Fall '' A Kind of Magic `` One Vision '' `` A Kind of Magic '' `` Princes of the Universe '' `` Friends Will Be Friends '' `` Pain Is So Close to Pleasure '' `` Who Wants to Live Forever '' `` One Year of Love '' The Miracle `` I Want It All '' `` Breakthru '' `` The Invisible Man '' `` Scandal '' `` The Miracle '' Innuendo `` Innuendo '' `` I 'm Going Slightly Mad '' `` Headlong '' `` I Ca n't Live with You '' `` The Show Must Go On '' `` These Are the Days of Our Lives '' Made in Heaven `` Heaven for Everyone '' `` A Winter 's Tale '' `` I Was Born to Love You '' `` Too Much Love Will Kill You '' `` Let Me Live '' `` You Do n't Fool Me '' Queen Rocks `` No - One but You ( Only the Good Die Young ) '' / `` Tie Your Mother Down '' Greatest Hits III `` Under Pressure ( Rah Mix ) '' Non-album singles `` Thank God It 's Christmas '' `` Another One Bites the Dust ( Small Soldiers Remix ) '' `` We Will Rock You '' ( with Five ) `` We Are the Champions '' ( with Robbie Williams ) `` Flash ( Vanguard Mix ) '' `` Another One Bites the Dust ( The Miami Project Remixes ) '' `` Bohemian Rhapsody '' ( with The Muppets ) Other songs `` See What a Fool I 've Been '' `` Death on Two Legs '' `` Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon '' `` I 'm in Love with My Car '' `` ' 39 '' `` Sweet Lady '' `` Seaside Rendezvous '' `` The Prophet 's Song '' `` Good Company '' `` Sheer Heart Attack '' `` Is This the World We Created... ? '' `` Ride the Wild Wind '' `` Delilah '' `` Made In Heaven '' `` Mother Love '' `` Let Me in Your Heart Again '' `` Love Kills '' `` There Must Be More To Life Than This '' Book Portal Template WikiProject Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Love_of_My_Life_(Queen_song)&oldid=791517228 '' Categories : Queen ( band ) songs Scorpions ( band ) songs 1975 songs 1979 singles Songs written by Freddie Mercury 1970s ballads EMI Records singles Parlophone singles Elektra Records singles Hollywood Records singles Hidden categories : CS1 Portuguese - language sources ( pt ) Use British English from October 2010 Use dmy dates from October 2015 Articles with hAudio microformats Articles with attributed pull quotes Talk Contents About Wikipedia Български Bosanski Deutsch Español فارسی Français Galego Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Magyar Nederlands Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Русский Sicilianu Svenska Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 20 July 2017, at 19 : 56. 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Question: who was love of my life written for
Answer: Mary Austin