Song Lyric Sunday – Killer Queen

Song Lyric Sunday prompts this week are Brutal, Cruel, Frenzy, Savage and Violent suggested by Melanie. I had a tough time with this one and apart from ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ by Elvis Presley I was stuck. Then I remembered an old favorite ‘Killer Queen’ by Queen and thought it fit the category perfectly, but without the violence. I hope you enjoy Freddie Mercury at his best in this video.

Song Facts

In the New Musical Express November 2, 1974, the song’s writer Freddie Mercury elucidated on this song: “It’s about a high class call girl. I’m trying to say that classy people can be whores as well. That’s what the song is about, though I’d prefer people to put their interpretation upon it – to read into it what they like.”

Regarding the line, “‘Let them eat cake’ she says, just like Marie Antoinette,” according to legend, Marie Antoinette (the Queen of France) said “Let them eat cake” after hearing how the peasants had no bread to eat. It’s more likely that the phrase was uttered by a French philosopher, not Antoinette. 

The Marie Antoinette quote has gone down in history as justification for the French Revolution. It demonstrates how out of touch with the common folk the ruling class had become. According to legend, when informed that there was no bread for the people to eat, she replied, oblivious, “then let them eat cake!” It is said, that enraged by this incredibly ignorant response, the people revolted. In the song, it is used to demonstrate at what level this high priced prostitute sells her wares. 

The first single from Queen’s third album, Sheer Heart Attack, “Killer Queen” was their first song to chart outside their native UK, where “Seven Seas of Rhye,” from their previous album Queen II, reached #10. Their breakthrough to superstardom came with their next album, A Night At The Opera, which has the epic “Bohemian Rhapsody” on the tracklist.

The Sheer Heart Attack album cover was shot by Mick Rock, who did the famous cover of their previous album, Queen II, showing the four band members in darkness with their faces illuminated. Freddie Mercury typically drove the visual direction of the band, but it was drummer Roger Taylor who came up with the concept for the Sheer Heart Attack cover. “He said, ‘I want us

to look like we’re thrown up from a shipwreck on some distant shore,’ so that’s what I shot,” Mick Rock told Songfacts. “Of course, they were soaking wet and there was a lot of spraying going on.”

In the New Musical Express November 2, 1974, the song’s writer Freddie Mercury elucidated on this song: “It’s about a high class call girl. I’m trying to say that classy people can be whores as well. That’s what the song is about, though I’d prefer people to put their interpretation upon it – to read into it what they like.”

Regarding the line, “‘Let them eat cake’ she says, just like Marie Antoinette,” according to legend, Marie Antoinette (the Queen of France) said “Let them eat cake” after hearing how the peasants had no bread to eat. It’s more likely that the phrase was uttered by a French philosopher, not Antoinette. 

The Marie Antoinette quote has gone down in history as justification for the French Revolution. It demonstrates how out of touch with the common folk the ruling class had become. According to legend, when informed that there was no bread for the people to eat, she replied, oblivious, “then let them eat cake!” It is said, that enraged by this incredibly ignorant response, the people revolted. In the song, it is used to demonstrate at what level this high priced prostitute sells her wares. 

The first single from Queen’s third album, Sheer Heart Attack, “Killer Queen” was their first song to chart outside their native UK, where “Seven Seas of Rhye,” from their previous album Queen II, reached #10. Their breakthrough to superstardom came with their next album, A Night At The Opera, which has the epic “Bohemian Rhapsody” on the tracklist.

The Sheer Heart Attack album cover was shot by Mick Rock, who did the famous cover of their previous album, Queen II, showing the four band members in darkness with their faces illuminated. Freddie Mercury typically drove the visual direction of the band, but it was drummer Roger Taylor who came up with the concept for the Sheer Heart Attack cover. “He said, ‘I want us to look like we’re thrown up from a shipwreck on some distant shore,’ so that’s what I shot,” Mick Rock told Songfacts. “Of course, they were soaking wet and there was a lot of spraying going on.”

Courtesy of Songfacts

Lyrics

She keeps her Moet et Chandon
In her pretty cabinet
"Let them eat cake", she says
Just like Marie Antoinette
A built-in remedy
For Kruschev and Kennedy
At anytime an invitation
You can't decline

Caviar and cigarettes
Well versed in etiquette
Extraordinarily nice

She's a Killer Queen
Gunpowder, gelatine
Dynamite with a laser beam
Guaranteed to blow your mind
Anytime

Recommended at the price
Insatiable an appetite
Wanna try?

To avoid complications
She never kept the same address
In conversation
She spoke just like a baroness
Met a man from China
Went down to Geisha Minah
Then again incidentally
If you're that way inclined

Perfume came naturally from Paris (naturally)
For cars she couldn't care less
Fastidious and precise

She's a Killer Queen
Gunpowder, gelatine
Dynamite with a laser beam
Guaranteed to blow your mind
Anytime

Drop of a hat she's as willing as
Playful as a pussy cat
Then momentarily out of action
Temporarily out of gas
To absolutely drive you wild, wild
She's all out to get you

She's a Killer Queen
Gunpowder, gelatine
Dynamite with a laser beam
Guaranteed to blow your mind
Anytime

Recommended at the price
Insatiable an appetite
Wanna try?
You wanna try

Writer/s: Freddie Mercury 
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, DistroKid
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind