Tie Your Mother Down
| "Tie Your Mother Down" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
Tie Your Mother Down is a Queen song, written by guitarist Brian May, which features one of rock music's most recognizable guitar riffs. It was released as a single from the band's 1976 album, A Day at the Races.
May started writing the song in Tenerife, while he was working for his Ph.D. as an astronomer. He composed the riff on a Spanish guitar, and woke up early one morning and played it while singing "tie your mother down," a line he considered a joke.
Later on, Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury encouraged him to keep the line, similar to what happened between John Lennon and Paul McCartney with the line "the movement you need is on your shoulder" from the Beatles song Hey Jude.
Though it was a long-time live favourite, the song had limited chart success, making #31 in the UK and #49 in the US. Therefore it was not included on the band's first Greatest Hits compilation.
At the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, the song was co-performed by Queen and Joe Elliot with Slash. May sang the first verse and chorus before handing over to the Def Leppard singer.
In a BBC Radio 4 tribute programme to Rory Gallagher, May stated that a key inspiration for the riff of this song came from Taste's 'Morning Sun' from their On The Boards (1970) album.
External links
- about.com named the song 435th greatest rock song of all time.
- digitaldreamdoor.com named the main riff the 106th greatest riff of all time.
