Queen had their share of disagreements over the years that the original classic quartet was still together.
Guitarist Brian May and singer Freddie Mercury disagreed over whether or not to put an electric guitar solo on one of the group’s biggest hits. May also thought the singer was overdoing it when he pushed the guitar solo to the fore on the final choruses to “We Are the Champions” until it clashed with the vocals. Mercury replied that “the guitar is fighting with the vocal here, and that’s the way it should be.”
May was further displeased when the band recorded the backing track to their hit “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” in his absence.
But those were minor grievances compared to the interband controversy that continues over one of Queen’s cult favorites: “I’m in Love With My Car.” The song was penned by drummer Roger Taylor as a coy ode to drivers who feel too much affection for their automobiles.
Among its choice lyrics were the couplets, “When I'm holding your wheel / all I hear is your gear. / When my hand’s on your grease gun / oh, it’s like a disease, son.”
“Brian was like, ‘Is this a joke?’” Taylor recalls in an interview with Mojo. “I said, ‘Look at all those people out washing their cars on a Sunday morning, lavishing attention on them — they probably love their cars more than they love their wives.’
“It’s a valid lyric, I think, but kind of tongue in cheek, too, obviously... cars and girls — what else is there?”
But what really bothered May was the decision to place the song on the B-side to Queen’s monumental 1975 hit “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Because record sales royalties are split evenly between a record’s A and B sides, the arrangement meant Taylor’s joke of a song went on to earn a ridiculous amount of money courtesy of a song that was Queen’s labor of love.
“We were aware of the injustice of ‘I’m in Love With My Car’ making as much money as ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’” May explained to Mojo. “It was a real sticking point for the band and it’s good we got through it.
“I think our sense of humor saved us. How long did it take me to get over it? Oh, quite a while.”
Indeed. The resentment even surfaced in the 2018 Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, where May’s onscreen twin complains about Taylor’s song getting an unfair advantage.
Apparently, May and Taylor have sparked on other occasions when the guitarist took a hand with the drummer’s songs.
“I think Roger would say to you that it’s very simplistic with him,” May says. “He thinks in barre chords on the whole. My contribution would be to come in and make the melodies work better.
“It’s a humble task but that’s what I’ve done on Roger’s songs — add a bit of color.”
Taylor is unhappy with the insinuation.
“Not really, no!” he snorts. “I don’t only think in barre chords — that’s a slightly arrogant statement to make.
“Brian’s a perfectionist and he will chase down the detail, but that didn’t mean I was going to let him fuck up my songs!”
His grievances aside, the drummer takes comfort in knowing his royalty haul from “I’m in Love With My Car” continues to get under May’s skin.
“He’s never forgiven me,” the drummer says. “And I’ve never stopped laughing about it!”
