You're my Best Friend (Deacon)

John Deacon's first Queen single (sorry Roger fans - still another 8 years before his first) couldn't be more different from either its immediate predecessor or, indeed, any of the songs that have come before it. After all the grand theatrics, heavy rock, double meanings of the first five singles, Queen's sixth is nothing more than a simple, straightforward love song. But it's none the worse for that.

You sometimes get the impression that Deacon, the youngest of the four and the last to jointhe group, was somehow less at ease with Queen's more out-there moments than the other three. His songs always strike a slightly different note to the others' and sometime seem almosta breath of fresh air amongst the high-mindedness of the rest of the group.

And this is no different. A class, pure pop song, intended to be taken at face value, simply written about being completely in love with someone and them being your whole life. The lyrics speak of devotion, love, faithfulness... but also ordinariness, of being together in the thick and thin of life.

It's all rather sweet, really.

Perhaps sometimes it's a little too sweet - a big soft-centre amongst a load of hard nuts (so to speak...). The electric piano, which was initially offered to Mercury and dismissed by him, the bright guitar parts, the glockenspiel that makes occasional appearance, especially towards the end: all give the song a brightness, joy and life that bounces you along for all of its three minutes or so. Freddie sounds perhaps a little uncomfortable singing this kind of thing, like he's not quite believing in everything he's singing but handles it fairly well.

There are occasional moments where it threatens to descend into cheesiness: the vocal harmonies, whilst largely great, sometimes are just a little too much (especially the rather naff "Ooohs" in the verses before the pay-off line); that glockenspiel is, again, perhaps an unnecessary touch and the ending's just the wrong side of cheesy. But it's a testament to John the songwriter that it doesn't descend into fluffy, rose-tinted mush.

And the whole thing's just so charming, jaunty (hideous word, I know, but I can't think of a better one for now) and life-filled that you can't help but get swept along by the whole thing and by the end, you're hooked, and smiling... 8

Video: Queen perform the song. In a barn. In the middle of the summer of 1976. With a load of candles. You may not be surprised to learn that it was very hot. Roger seems to have gained a load of cymbals with Extra Shininess to them. Nice.