“I’m In Love With My Car” is a track written by drummer Roger Taylor, a member of rock band Queen. Appearing as the third track from their 1975 album “A Night at the Opera”, the track was originally not taken seriously by Taylor’s fellow bandmate, guitarist Brian May, who thought the song was a joke when he first heard the demo recording. In the original demo, Taylor played the guitars but were later recorded by May with Taylor focusing on vocals and the drums. When it came to the release of the track, Taylor had such faith and love for the song, that he urged Freddie Mercury to allow it to appear B-side of their most famous track “Bohemian Rhapsody”, and proceeded to lock himself in a cupboard until Mercury agreed. This did eventually cause some friction in the band, as it generated an equal amount of publishing royalties as it’s A-side counterpart. The track did prove to be a live favourite, being played most often during the late 1970’s to the early 1980’s, letting Mercury sing the backing vocals and play piano while Taylor sang and played the drums.
The track’s title provides no mystery to the meaning of the song – it is essentially an ode from Taylor to his car at the time (an Alfa Romeo), but also a dedication to one of Queen’s roadies, Jonathan Harris who was obsessed with cars as well. The song actually features snippets of Taylor’s Alfa Romeo’s revving sounds, mainly at the end of the song. With lines such as: “Told my girl I’ll have to forget her / Rather buy me a new carburettor”, and
The music video is scenes of racing cars in black and white, motorcycle races, racing games – anything and everything to do with racing cars or the vehicles in general. It also features snippets of the band performing the track (but in colour), primarily focusing on Taylor rather than all members of the band. The video was uploaded by the band’s legitimate YouTube channel “Queen Official” on the 15th October 2013, and has almost 3.5 million views.
Release Date: 21st November 1975
Songwriter/s: Roger Taylor
Producer/s: Queen, Roy Thomas Baker
Record Label/s: EMI, Elektra
Willem
November 28, 2020 at 4:59 am
I’ve always been very curious – since that album came out – about the meaning of “don’t have to listen to no run in the mill talk jive”. Would some generous soul be kind enough as to let an old Queen fan know?