''For the Crazy Frog song, see We Are the Champions (Ding a Dang Dong).

We Are the Champions is a song written by Freddie Mercury and recorded and performed by his band Queen. It is one of their most famous and popular songs, and has since become an anthem for sporting victories.

Musically, it was based around Mercury's piano part, with Taylor and Deacon providing a drums and bass guitar backing. May overdubbed some guitar parts, initially subtle, but building to a 'solo' played simultaneously with the last chorus. Mercury employed many 'jazz' chords (major and minor 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th harmonies), and the choruses featured these voiced as 4 and 5-part vocal harmonies. The lead vocal is very demanding and strident, and in live performances, Mercury often deferred to let Taylor handle the highest parts of the melody.

The song comes from the News Of The World (1977) album and follows "We Will Rock You." This pair of songs was often used to close Queen concerts. Keeping with tradition, it was also used to close the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert with all the show's acts joining in behind the lead vocal of Liza Minnelli. Also, in the film Chicken Little, Chicken Little sings the song after winning the big baseball game, but improvised the lyrics (saying I Am The Champion instead of We Are The Champions).

The chorus is a slowly transforming reiteration of a simple melody, attached to the line "We are the champions", which climaxes in it's final form, which has a singsong quality reminiscent of a child's taunt or the nursery rhymes A-Tisket, A-Tasket.

Queen (May/Taylor) with Robbie Williams on vocals recorded this song for the soundtrack of A Knight's Tale.

The song has been sampled by Kanye West, Dame Dash, Beanie Sigel, Cam'ron, Young Chris & Twista for their song "Champions".^*

Queen about the song

Cover versions

• Gavin DeGraw covered this song in A Tribute to Queen.
• In the charity concert Live 8, punk band Green Day covered this song.
• William Hung covered this song for his second album Hung for the Holidays.

See also

• We Are the Winners

External links

• - 1978

References