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Heaven for Everyone

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"Heaven for Everyone"
Artwork for German release
Single by the Cross
from the album Shove It
B-side
  • "Love on a Tightrope"
  • "Contact" (12-inch single only)
Released1988
Recorded1987–1988
GenreRock
Length5:08
LabelParlophone
Songwriter(s)Roger Taylor
Producer(s)
The Cross singles chronology
"Shove It"
(1988) 		"Heaven for Everyone"
(1988) 		"Manipulator"
(1989)
Music video
"Heaven for Everyone" on YouTube
"Heaven for Everyone"
Artwork for UK release
Single by Queen
from the album Made in Heaven
B-side"It's a Beautiful Day"[1]
Released23 October 1995 (1995-10-23)[2]
Recorded
  • 1987
  • 1993–1995
GenreRock
Length
  • 5:36 (album version)
  • 4:37 (single version)
Label
Songwriter(s)Roger Taylor
Producer(s)Queen
Queen singles chronology
"These Are the Days of Our Lives"
(1992) 		"Heaven for Everyone"
(1995) 		"A Winter's Tale"
(1995)
Music video
"Heaven for Everyone" on YouTube

"Heaven for Everyone" is a song written by British rock band Queen drummer Roger Taylor. It originally appeared on his side project the Cross's album Shove It, with Freddie Mercury as a guest vocalist, and it is the album's fourth track. It was reworked with Queen's music and appeared in their fifteenth and final studio album, Made in Heaven (1995), where it was the seventh track, and was released as the first single by Parlophone – four years after Mercury's death. Queen's version reached number two on the UK Singles Chart while peaking at number one in Hungary and becoming a top-ten hit in several other European nations. In 1999 it was included in Queen's compilation album Greatest Hits III.[3]

Directed by David Mallet, the accompanying music video opens with images of graffiti messages in tribute to Mercury outside his home, Garden Lodge, Kensington in London, before showing footage of Georges Méliès seminal 1902 silent film A Trip to the Moon and The Impossible Voyage (1904).[4][5]

Background and writing

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Some reports have Taylor writing the song in 1986 as part of Queen's A Kind of Magic album sessions, after their work on Highlander was complete. If he did, the song was not used, or was incomplete when the album was finished.

When Taylor started working on the album Shove It, he recruited Freddie Mercury to record backing vocals. Two versions were recorded, one with Mercury doing backing to Taylor's lead vocals, and another with Mercury singing lead. The backing track of each was rerecorded as well, instead of the two lead vocals being recorded over the same instrumental backing. The Taylor-vocal version is about twenty seconds longer than the Mercury-vocal version.

The Cross versions also feature a spoken intro by Taylor, as well as a spoken refrain in the middle. The refrain in the Taylor vocal has an extra lyric not sung in the Mercury-vocal version (though it appears in the printed lyrics). Both versions end with Taylor saying "And that. Is the end. Of this section."

The UK edition of the album Shove It featured Mercury's vocal version, while the UK single featured Taylor's vocal version. In the US, the album featured Taylor's vocal version and neither were released as a single.

The song, Taylor noted, "had some good stuff about love and dignity; the usual antiwar thing."[6]

After Freddie Mercury's death, as Queen prepared to complete their posthumous album, Made in Heaven, this song was selected to be re-done by the band as a Queen song. The lead vocal Mercury recorded in 1987 was given a new backing track and new backing vocals. A significant difference between The Cross versions and the Queen version is that there's no spoken introduction, refrain or "end" as done by Taylor on the original.[citation needed]

Critical reception

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1995 Queen version

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A reviewer from Music Week rated Queen's version of the song four out of five, adding, "Four years in the making, Freddie Mercury's final work has resurfaced with the long-awaited album Made in Heaven due in November, from which comes this emotional ballad with all the signs of a big hit."[7] John Robinson from NME wrote, "Brought back to life for you by the miracles of modern financial practice, this has the air of a single whose video will comprise either slow motion footage of Sir Fred playing 'Hammer to Fall' at Live Aid, or by slow motuin footage of children playing happily on the facilities — swings, possibly a roundabout — thoughtfully provided by the borough in a municipal park. There is also, however, an awful undercurrent of 'Christmas single that won't die, but will be sung by rugby footballers forever' about this, as well as an awful guitar solo from Poodle May.'"[8]

Music video

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The Cross

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The music video was directed by Diebel/Myers in a former gasworks (location of the London O2 Arena), filmed in early 1988. For the Cross version it involved Taylor singing the song on a beach-like setting, while elderly people walked past the band and climbed up ladders to reach heaven.

Queen version

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This image from the 1904 film The Impossible Voyage appears in Queen's 1995 music video for the song

Queen's music video for the song commemorates Mercury. It was directed by British director David Mallet and released in 1995.[5] The video opens with images of the graffiti covered walls of Mercury's home, Garden Lodge, Kensington, before showing footage from the films A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune, 1902), The Impossible Voyage (Le Voyage à travers l'impossible, 1904) and The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon (L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune, 1907) by Georges Méliès.[5]

A second music video for the song, directed by Simon Pummell was included on the Made in Heaven: The Films VHS and features Cypriot-Australian performance artist Stelarc operating a robotic "third hand" to symbolise a new era of man and machine.[9]

Track listings

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1988 The Cross single releases

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Track listings are sourced from ultimatequeen.co.uk.[10]

UK 7-inch single

  1. "Heaven for Everyone" (Roger Taylor vocals)
  2. "Love on a Tightrope"

UK 12-inch single

  1. "Heaven for Everyone" (Roger Taylor vocals)
  2. "Love on a Tightrope"
  3. "Contact"

1995 Queen single releases

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Track listings are sourced from ultimatequeen.co.uk.[11]

UK CD 1

  1. "Heaven for Everyone" (single version) – 4:37
  2. "It's a Beautiful Day" (single version) – 3:57[12]
  3. "Heaven for Everyone" (album version) – 5:36

UK CD 2

  1. "Heaven for Everyone" (single version) – 4:37
  2. "Keep Yourself Alive" – 3:46[13]
  3. "Seven Seas of Rhye" – 2:46[14]
  4. "Killer Queen" – 2:59[15]

UK 7-inch

A. "Heaven for Everyone" (single version) – 4:37
B. "Heaven for Everyone" (album version) – 5:36

UK cassette

  1. "Heaven for Everyone" (single version) – 4:37
  2. "It's a Beautiful Day" (single version) – 3:57

US CD single

  1. "Heaven for Everyone" (single version) – 4:37
  2. "Soul Brother" (recorded in 1981) – 3:36[16]

Personnel

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The Cross version

Queen version[17]

Charts

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Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
France (SNEP)[46] Gold 250,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)[47] Silver 200,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ "Queen UK Singles Discography 1992-2017". www.ultimatequeen.co.uk.
  2. ^ "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 21 October 1995. p. 35. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  3. ^ Queen - Greatest Hits III. Allmusic. Retrieved 25 April 2021
  4. ^ Purvis, Georg (2007). Queen: Complete Works. Reynolds & Hearn. p. 165.
  5. ^ a b c Queen Promo Videos: Heaven For Everyone Ultimate Queen. Retrieved 14 November 2011
  6. ^ Elliot, Paul (September 2013). "The show must go on". Classic Rock. No. 188. p. 35.
  7. ^ "Reviews: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 14 October 1995. p. 25. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  8. ^ Robinson, John (28 October 1995). "Singles". NME. p. 51. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  9. ^ "UK: British rock band, Queen, produce a series of short films". Thomson Reuters. 31 October 1995. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  10. ^ "The Cross Singles Discography". www.ultimatequeen.co.uk.
  11. ^ "Queen UK Singles Discography 1992-2017". www.ultimatequeen.co.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  12. ^ "Queen "Made In Heaven" album and song lyrics". www.ultimatequeen.co.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  13. ^ "Queen "Queen" album and song lyrics". www.ultimatequeen.co.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  14. ^ "Queen "Queen II" album and song lyrics". www.ultimatequeen.co.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  15. ^ "Queen "Sheer Heart Attack" album and song lyrics". www.ultimatequeen.co.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  16. ^ "Queen "Hot Space" album and song lyrics". www.ultimatequeen.co.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Heaven for Everyone". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  18. ^ "Queen – Heaven for Everyone". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  19. ^ "Queen – Heaven for Everyone" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  20. ^ "Queen – Heaven for Everyone" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  21. ^ "Queen – Heaven for Everyone" (in French). Ultratop 50.
  22. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 12, no. 46. 18 November 1995. p. 27. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  23. ^ "Queen: Heaven for Everyone" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat.
  24. ^ "Queen – Heaven for Everyone" (in French). Les classement single.
  25. ^ "Queen – Heaven for Everyone" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
  26. ^ a b "Top National Sellers" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 12, no. 46. 18 November 1995. p. 29. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  27. ^ "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (28.10. '95 – 3.11. '95)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 28 October 1995. p. 26. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  28. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Heaven for Everyone". Irish Singles Chart.
  29. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 45, 1995" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  30. ^ "Queen – Heaven for Everyone" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  31. ^ "Queen – Heaven for Everyone". Top 40 Singles.
  32. ^ "Queen – Heaven for Everyone". VG-lista.
  33. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  34. ^ "Queen – Heaven for Everyone". Singles Top 100.
  35. ^ "Queen – Heaven for Everyone". Swiss Singles Chart.
  36. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  37. ^ "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles 1995". ARIA. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  38. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1995" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
  39. ^ "Rapports annuels 1995" (in French). Ultratop. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
  40. ^ "Music & Media 1995 in Review – Year End Sales Charts" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 12, no. 51/52. 23 December 1995. p. 14. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  41. ^ "Tops de L'année | Top Singles 1995" (in French). SNEP. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  42. ^ "Árslistinn 1995". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 2 January 1996. p. 16. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  43. ^ "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1995". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  44. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1995" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  45. ^ "Top 100 Singles 1995". Music Week. 13 January 1996. p. 9.
  46. ^ "French single certifications – Queen – Heaven for Everyone" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  47. ^ "British single certifications – Queen – Heaven for Everyone". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
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