Princes of the Universe
"Princes of the Universe" is a song written by Freddie Mercury and performed by the British rock band Queen. The song was written for the film "Highlander", and released on the album "A Kind of Magic," which also featured other selections from the "Highlander" song score, in 1986. In 1999 it was included in Queen’s compilation album "Greatest Hits III". In terms of musical style, the song is notable for being one of the most hard-edged tracks performed by the band, featuring a bombastic sound reminiscent of contemporary hard rock and heavy metal and  vocals by Mercury akin to opera. A music video for the song, which featured Mercury briefly re-enact the film's sword-fighting scene with the titular character, achieved some notoriety. Background. "Princes of the Universe", written and composed for "Highlander", is the only song on the album for which Mercury receives sole credit. The song's name comes from the original working title of the film. It is played over the film's opening credits, and was later used as the opening theme for "". The song was never released as a single in the United Kingdom, and while it  never truly charted, it is considered a cult favourite because of its relation to the film. In the movie, the guitar solo is not present as it was not yet created. The lyrics are from the perspective of the immortals, about the state of being immortal, the superiority it gives them to normal humans, and the test that they always have to face because of this. Some of the lyrics can be interpreted as regarding Queen themselves, and Freddie Mercury himself in particular: "People talk about you, people say you've had your day / I'm a man that will  go far, find the moon and reach for the stars". The song "Who Wants to Live Forever", which also features in the film, could be considered the foil of this song. Music video. The music video was directed by Russell Mulcahy, and was shot on 14 February 1986 at Elstree Studios, near London, on the Silvercup rooftop stage used for the film. It consists mostly of Queen performing the song, intercut with scenes from "Highlander." Christopher Lambert reprises his role as Connor MacLeod for a brief appearance in the video, where he swordfights Freddie Mercury, who uses his microphone stand  as a sword. Brian May is seen playing a Washburn RR11V instead of his Red Special. The video was regularly played on MTV. It was released on "Greatest Flix III" (VHS, 1999) and "Greatest Video Hits 2" (DVD, 2003).