THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

615-Queen-Seven Seas of Rhye.

1974-Number 10 single.

Best Bit-At 1.36. At the very end of the track, Queen sample a song from 1907. That is what you call a proper ‘Golden Oldie.’

Queen (see also best songs 918-208-126-47 and 3) were formed in London, England, in 1970, with the classic line up being Freddie Mercury (1946-1991) (lead vocals, piano) Brian May, (guitar, vocals) Roger Taylor (drums, vocals), and John Deacon, (bass) they remain active at the time of writing, with the current members being Brian May, and Roger Taylor. It was Freddie Mercury who suggested the name ‘Queen,’ the others were uncertain, but Mercury assured them, ‘It’s wonderful, dear, people will love it.’ It was also around that time that he decided to change his surname to Mercury, inspired by the line ‘Mother Mercury, look what they’ve done to me,’ from the song ‘My Fairy King,’ written by Freddie, and first appearing on Queen’s self titled debut studio Album, from 1973.

Queen are one of the best selling artists of all time, with sales in excess of 250 million records sold worldwide. The discography of Queen includes 15 studio Albums released between 1973-1995, and 73 singles issued between 1973-2023, there are also 16 official compilation Albums, and 10 live Albums available. In the UK they have had 55 top 40 singles, which includes two extended plays, (EP’s) and also being the featured artist, or with re-issues, with six of those tracks reaching the Number 1 position, including ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in 1975, and then again in 1991, when it was re-issued as a double ‘A’ side with ‘These Are the Days of Our Lives.’ In America on the Billboard Hot 100, they have had 12 top 40 hits, with both ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love,’ (1979) and ‘Another One Bites the Dust,’ (1980) both reaching Number 1.

‘Seven Seas of Rhye’ was the only single released from ‘Queen II,’ the second studio Album released by Queen, from March 1974, the song was written by Freddie Mercury, with the production credited to John Anthony, Roy Thomas Baker, and Queen. ‘Seven Seas of Rhye’ had first appeared in instrumental form, at just 1.25 seconds, as the final track on Queen’s debut studio Album ‘Queen,’ from 1973, and when Freddie Mercury added lyrics, it was once again issued as the closing track, this time on ‘Queen II.’ At the very end of the track, the group break in to the old music hall song ‘I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside,’ which was written in 1907 by John Glover-Kind, (1880-1918) and first recorded by the English music hall comedian and singer Mark Sheridan, (1864-1918) in 1909. At the start of the opening track ‘Brighton Rock,’ from Queen’s third studio Album ‘Sheer Heart Attack, from 1974, someone can be heard whistling ‘I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside,’ over the opening bars of that song. ”I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside’ was probably used tongue in cheek by the band, as ‘Rye’ is a small town in East Sussex, England, with a beach near by.

Freddie Mercury let his imagination run wild on ‘Seven Seas of Rhye.’ He wrote the lyrics, basing them on a fantasy world he called ‘Rhye,’ that he had created with his younger sister ‘Kashmira Bulsara.’ Mercury and his sister had been brought up on the African island of Zanzibar, and had been educated in the ‘Zoroastrianism’ religion, which was founded in Iran, and this fuelled Mercury’s flights of fancy. The fantasy land of ‘Rhye’ was a theme running through other early recordings of Queen, including ‘Lily of the Valley,’ ‘My Fairy King,’ and ‘The March of the Black Queen.’

‘Seven Seas of Rhye,’ was the third single released by Queen, and their breakthrough hit, convincing Freddie Mercury, who had been working on a stall in London’s Kensington Market, that he could quit his day job and become a full time Pop star. Although Freddie Mercury is the only one given songwriting credit on ‘Seven Seas of Rhye,’ Brian May did actually write the guitar parts.

‘Fear me you Lords and lady preachers, I descend upon your earth from the skies. I command your very souls you unbelievers, bring before me what is mine, the Seven Seas of Rhye.’