Song

Credits & Release Info:

The "Innuendo" single (with B-sides "Bijou" and "Under Pressure," depending on format) was released on January 14, 1991 in the UK, where it entered #1 on the charts.

Lyrics:

(One two three four)

While the sun hangs in the sky and the desert has sand
While the waves crash in the sea and meet the land
While there's a wind and the stars and the rainbow
Till the mountains crumble into the plain

Oh yes, we'll keep on trying
Tread that fine line
Oh, we'll keep on trying yeah
Just passing our time

While we live according to race, color, or creed
While we rule by blind madness and pure greed
Our lives dictated by tradition, superstition, false religion
Through the eons, and on and on

Oh yes, we'll keep on trying
We'll tread that fine line
Oh, oh, we'll keep on trying
Till the end of time
Till the end of time

Through the sorrow, all through our splendor
Don't take offense at my innuendo

You can be anything you want to be
Just turn yourself into anything you think that you could ever be
Be free with your tempo, be free, be free
Surrender your ego, be free, be free to yourself

Oooh oooh
If there's a God or any kind of justice under the sky
If there's a point, if there's a reason to live or die
If there's an answer to the questions we feel bound to ask
Show yourself, destroy our fears, release your mask

Oh yes, we'll keep on trying
Hey, tread that fine line
Yeah, we'll keep on smiling yeah (yeah yeah)
And whatever will be will be
We'll keep on trying
We'll just keep on trying
Till the end of time
Till the end of time
Till the end of time

Single Formats:

7" Single
Side One:
   1. Innuendo (Queen)
Side Two:
   2. Bijou (Queen)

12" Single
Side One:
   1. Innuendo (Queen)
Side Two:
   2. Under Pressure (Queen/Bowie)
   3. Bijou (Queen)

UK 12" Picture Disc
Side One:
   1. Innuendo (Queen)
Side Two:
   2. Under Pressure (Queen/Bowie)
   3. Bijou (Queen)

UK 12" Promo Single
Side One:
   1. Innuendo (Queen)
Side Two:
   2. Innuendo (Queen)

Cassette Single
Side One:
   1. Innuendo (Queen)
Side Two:
   2. Bijou (Queen)

CD Single
Side One:
   1. Innuendo (Queen)
Side Two:
   2. Under Pressure (Queen/Bowie)
   3. Bijou (Queen)

Quotes Regarding The Song:

Brian (1991): "I think Innuendo was one of those things which could either be big - or nothing. We had the same feelings about Bohemian Rhapsody. It's a risk, because a lot of people say "It's too long, it's too involved, and we don't want to play it on the radio." I think that could be a problem in which case it will die. Or it could happen that people say "This is interesting and new and different", and we'll take a chance."

Brian (1991): "Innuendo is the title track, and that was one of the first things that came. It's got the bolero-type rhythm, a very strange track. That's going to be the first single here. It's a bit of a risk, but it's different, and you either win it all or you lose it all. It had a nice sound and feel, and we stuck with that."

Brian (1991): "The Spanish motif is suggested from the start; those little rifts at the beginning are sort of Bolero-esque. It seemed like the natural thing to explore those ideas on an acoustic guitar, and it just gradually evolved. Steve Howe helped out and did a fantastic job. We love all that stuff - it's like a little fantasyland adventure."

Brian (1994): "Innuendo started off as most things do, with us just messing around and finding a groove that sounded nice. All of us worked on the arrangement. Freddie started off the theme of the words as he was singing along, then Roger worked on the rest of them. I worked on some of the arrangement, particularly the middle bit, then there was an extra part that Freddie did for the middle as well. It basically came together like a jigsaw puzzle."

Roger (1991): "Big, long and pretentious! It goes through a lot of changes"

Roger (2002): "It was a group collaboration, but I wrote the lyrics. I think the lyrics were mine, and the rest of it was the band. It was a group effort."

Brian (1991): [on Steve Howe's guest appearance] "Purely by fortuitous accident. He (Steve) just happened to be around in Switzerland, when we were working and he just dropped in. We were working on this little Spanish guitar piece in the middle. He's very good at that sort of stuff, so instantly it seemed like a good idea to get him in to play all the stuff that I can't play. He taught me how to play his chromatic runs, so I owe him a big debt."

Steve Howe (1997): "They played me Innuendo and I go, yeah, heavy metal flamingo! And then Brian says, 'Look, I'd like you play on this,' and I said you're joking, it sounds great, leave it like it is, and he said, 'No no no, I want you to play on it, I want to you to play really fast, I want you to run around the guitar a lot.' So within a couple of hours I tested some of his Gibsons, Chet Atkins classical solid body guitars, and found one that I helped balance the strings because he wasn't sure how to balance the volume between the different strings which is the important thing to do on those guitars. So I got up and running, we did a few takes, we edited it a little bit, we fixed up a few things, then we went and had dinner. So we went back to the studio and they said we really really like this and I said fine, let's go with it. So I left very happy. I'd worked with people who were diehard Queen people, and a funny thing happened a little while later, I was on a ferry going to Holland and on this ferry which takes a long time, five hours, were the Queen fan club, all going to Rotterdam to a Queen event, and a couple of them saw me and they came racing over and they said, 'You're Steve Howe! You're on Innuendo!' And they all came out of the room, sitting around talking and things...and my memories of Queen will always be emotional because they were a great band and it was just great, it really was a thrill to be part of that, and thanks for asking me."

Robert Plant (2002): "Freddie had told me that they wrote the lyrics as a tribute to Led Zeppelin."

David Richards (1995): "Innuendo was an improvisation type song where they actually recorded it here in the big concert hall, it's just next door, and we set up like a live performance, and they just started playing basically, and sort of got into a nice rhythm and a groove, and some chords and then Freddie said, "Oh, I like that" and rushed downstairs into the concert hall and started singing along with it, and obviously then, once that initial idea was down on tape, then there was a lot of rearranging and putting extra things on, but the actual beginning of it was like a live thing. It just happened. It was wonderful."

David Richards (2001): "It's a session song at Casino Hall except a middle part of keyboards, orchestra and Steve's guitar play. Steve used Brian's Gibson semi-electric acoustic guitar."

David Richards (2002): "I remember playing a sampled bass for the song Scandal for the purposes of sound reinforcement, and the orchestra parts in Innuendo as well as the conga percussion in These were the days of our lives. I would give many arrangement ideas also, the more memorable being the key change verse and chorus in The Show Must Go On, and transposing each consecutive melody line and chord in the chorus of This Could Be Heaven creating a rising up effect rather than the more linear idea from Roger's demo."

David Richards (2002): "Freddie played the keyboards on The Miracle, Was It All Worth It and Innuendo (Korg M1). He played a strong role in the writing of these songs. Steve just happened to drop in one day to say hello to me. He had been recording at Mountain some ten years before with the group 'Yes'. As soon as he popped his head round the door Freddie recognized him and said 'come on in and play some guitar'! He had no guitar with him so he used Brian's (Dan Armstrong?) acc guitar with a direct output and tone control. Brian played the Rhythm guitar and then echoed the solo afterwards on the Red Special."

Nuno Bettencourt (1991): "The flamenco guitar segment in the middle of the song Innuendo is wild."