Heaven for Everyone

"Heaven for Everyone"
Single by The Cross
from the album Shove It
B-side "Love on a Tightrope"
"Contact" (12" single only)
Released 1988
Format 7" single, 12" single, CD single
Recorded 1987–1988
Genre Rock
Length 5:08
Label Parlophone
Writer(s) Roger Taylor
Producer(s) Roger Taylor, David Richards
The Cross singles chronology
"Shove It"
(1988)		 "Heaven for Everyone"
(1988)		 "Manipulator"
(1989)
"Heaven for Everyone"
Single by Queen
from the album Made in Heaven
B-side "It's a Beautiful Day"
Released 23 October 1995
Format 7" single, CD single
Recorded 1987–1995
Genre Rock
Length 5:36 (album version)
4:37 (single version)
Label Parlophone (Europe)
Hollywood (North America)
Writer(s) Roger Taylor
Producer(s) Queen
Queen singles chronology
"Delilah"
(1992)		 "Heaven for Everyone"
(1995)		 "A Winter's Tale"
(1995)

"Heaven for Everyone" is a song written by Roger Taylor. It appeared originally in his band's, The Cross, album Shove It, with Freddie Mercury as a guest vocalist, and it is the album's fourth track. It was reworked with Queen's music and appeared in the 1995 album Made in Heaven, where it was the seventh track and released as the first single. The song reached number two on the UK Singles Chart.[1] The music video contains footage of Georges Méliès seminal 1902 silent film A Trip to the Moon.[2]

Background and writing

Some reports have Roger Taylor writing the song in 1986 as part of Queen's A Kind of Magic album sessions, after their work on Highlander was complete. If he did, the song was not used, or was left incomplete when the album was finished. When Taylor started working on the material for the album Shove It, he recruited Freddie Mercury to record the backing vocals on the song. Two versions were recorded, one with Mercury doing only backing vocals to Taylor's lead vocals, and another with Mercury singing the lead vocals. The backing track of each was re-recorded as well, instead of the two lead vocals being recorded over the same instrumental backing. The Taylor-vocal version is about twenty seconds longer than the Mercury-vocal version.

The Cross versions also feature a spoken intro by Taylor, as well as a spoken refrain in the middle. The refrain in the Taylor vocal has an extra lyric not sung in the Mercury-vocal version (though it appears in the printed lyrics). Both versions end with Taylor saying "And that. Is the end. Of this section." It's unclear if he means 'section' as that half of the album, or the serious-issues section of the album (this song being the only serious song on the album).

The UK edition of the album Shove It featured Mercury's vocal version, while the UK single featured Taylor's vocal version. In the US, the album featured Taylor's vocal version and neither were released as a single.

Personnel

The Original Cross version

Queen version

Track listings

1988 The Cross single releases

20 March

UK 7" single
  1. "Heaven for Everyone" (Roger Taylor vocals)
  2. "Love on a Tightrope"
UK 12" single
  1. "Heaven for Everyone" (Roger Taylor vocals)
  2. "Love on a Tightrope"
  3. "Contact"

After Freddie Mercury's death, as Queen prepared to complete their posthumous album, Made in Heaven, this song was selected to be re-done by the band as a Queen song. The lead vocal Mercury recorded in 1987 was given a new backing track and new backing vocals. A significant difference between The Cross versions and the Queen version is that there's no spoken introduction, refrain or "end" as done by Taylor on the original. Queen has offered no explanation as to why these elements were dropped.

It was the first UK single (Cat. # QUEEN21) off the new album on 23 October 1995, two weeks before the album's release. A planned two-part single, the same song with different B-side tracks was issued 30 October 1995, one week before the album's release. For the single releases, a single version was prepared, editing some instrumental portions of the song (almost a full minute's worth).

1995 Queen single releases

UK CD1
  1. "Heaven for Everyone" (Single Version)
  2. "It's a Beautiful Day"
  3. "Heaven for Everyone" (Album Version)
UK CD2
  1. "Heaven for Everyone" (Single Version)
  2. "Keep Yourself Alive"
  3. "The Seven Seas of Rhye"
  4. "Killer Queen"
UK Cassette
  1. "Heaven for Everyone" (Single Version)
  2. "It's a Beautiful Day" (Single Version)
US CD single
  1. "Heaven for Everyone" (Single Version)
  2. "Soul Brother" (recorded in 1981)
UK Promo CD / 12"
  1. "Heaven for Everyone" (Single Version)
UK 7"

Music video

A music video to commemorate Freddie Mercury was directed by David Mallet and released in 1995.[2] It shows footage from the films A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune, 1902), The Impossible Voyage (Le Voyage à travers l'impossible, 1904) and The Eclipse (L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune, 1907) by Georges Méliès.[2]

The music video for The Cross version involved Taylor singing the song on a beach-like setting, while elderly people walked past the band and climbed up ladders to reach heaven.

Charts and sales

Weekly charts

Chart (1995) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart[3] 15
Austrian Singles Chart[4] 4
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart[4] 8
Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart[4] 4
Dutch Top 40[5] 3
Finnish Singles Chart[4] 5
French SNEP Singles Chart[4] 8
German Singles Chart[6] 15
Irish Singles Chart[7] 7
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart[4] 25
Norwegian Singles Chart[4] 18
Swedish Singles Chart[4] 29
Swiss Singles Chart[4] 9
UK Singles Chart[8] 2

Year-end charts

Chart (1995) Position
Australian Singles Chart[9] 100
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart[10] 69
Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart[11] 52
Dutch Top 40[5] 73
French Singles Chart[12] 67

Certifications

Country Certification Date Sales certified
France[13] Silver 1996 125,000
UK[14] Silver 1 November 1995 200,000

References

  1. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums. London: Guinness World Records Limited
  2. 1 2 3 Queen Promo Videos: Heaven For Everyone Ultimate Queen. Retrieved 14 November 2011
  3. ↑ "australian-charts.com > Queen – Heaven For Everyone (song)". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Heaven for Everyone", in various singles charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved 29 December 2008)
  5. 1 2 "Single top 100 over 1995" (pdf) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
  6. ↑ "Queen singles, German Singles Chart" (in German). musicline. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
  7. ↑ Irish Single Chart Irishcharts.ie (Retrieved 28 December 2008)
  8. ↑ UK Singles Chart Chartstats.com (Retrieved 28 September 2008)
  9. ↑ "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles 1995". ARIA. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  10. ↑ "1995 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
  11. ↑ "1995 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart" (in French). Ultratop. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
  12. ↑ 1995 French Singles Chart Disqueenfrance.com (Retrieved 30 January 2009)
  13. ↑ French certifications Disqueenfrance.com (Retrieved 28 December 2008)
  14. ↑ UK certifications Bpi.co.uk (Retrieved 28 December 2008)
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