Queen + Adam Lambert have shared a live version of Freddie Mercury‘s “I Was Born to Love You,” a week before the release their first-ever live album.
The live performance of “I Was Born To Love You” is taken from the band’s headlining appearance on Sunday August 17, 2014 at Tokyo’s Marine Stadium – the main stage of Japan’s largest rock festival, Summer Sonic.
The song was originally written by Mercury and released as the lead single of his 1985 debut solo album Mr Bad Guy. After Mercury’s death, Queen re-worked “I Was Born To Love You” for their final album, 1995’s Made In Heaven.
Brian May says, “I had an obsession with the song, and had the idea to make a new version, simulating how it would have sounded if we had been able to play it live with Freddie on stage. So the Queen version was put together as a ‘virtual’ live track, using Freddie’s spectacular vocal as the central thread.
“Roger, John and I played our parts live, to a rearranged template I’d put together – complete with some additions to the arrangement, taking some liberties with the vocal, and even borrowing some choice Freddie ad-libs, to add to the feeling that it was a live band recording,” he added.
Meanwhile, Queen + Adam Lambert’s Live Around the World will drop on October 2.