I'm Going Slightly Mad

"I'm Going Slightly Mad" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Written by Freddie Mercury, it was released as the second single from the band's 1991 album Innuendo. The lyrics and the accompanying music video project the song as quirky, humorous and light-hearted.^[2] The song also features a slide guitar solo performed by Brian May. John Deacon's bass is tuned down to a low B.

The single cover was inspired by a Grandville illustration (as are the others from the album).

Video

The accompanying video — like all other Innuendo videos directed by Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher of DoRo Productions — was filmed in February 1991 at Limehouse Studios and it features the band dressed and acting in an absurd manner, including guitarist Brian May dressed as a penguin (a reprise of his outfit featured in the booklet of the first Queen album^[3]), drummer Roger Taylor wearing a tea kettle on his head and riding a tricycle while Mercury sneaks up on him and is chasing him, a man in a gorilla suit, bassist John Deacon as a jester, and Mercury wearing a bunch of bananas as a wig (corresponding with the line "I think I'm a banana tree").

"I'm Going Slightly Mad" is the last Queen video to feature significant creative input from Mercury. Although he was already considerably ill at the time due to the HIV virus which would claim his life less than a year later, "I'm Going Slightly Mad" features him very mobile and expressive in the final clip, as well as actively co-directing some of the video's storyboards, although his physical appearance was very frail; he was wearing thick make-up to hide the blotches on his face and an extra layer of clothing underneath to conceal his weight loss. This was not the case in "These Are the Days of Our Lives", the last video Mercury ever filmed (in May 1991), where he hardly moves around at all, as his condition had deteriorated further. Both of these videos were shot in black and white.^[4]

Personnel

Freddie Mercury - lead, and backing vocals, keyboards, piano, sampler
Brian May - electric guitar, slide guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, maracas, bar chimes
John Deacon - bass guitar

Chart performance

Chart (1991)	Peak position	Total weeks
Dutch Singles Chart^[5]	20	9
German Singles Chart^[6]	42	10
Irish Singles Chart^[7]	19	2
UK Singles Chart^[8]	22	5

References

↑ http://www.allmusic.com/song/im-going-slightly-mad-mt0000341451
↑ 02-15-1991 LA Times "Innuendo" review, retrieved from the Queen archives at http://www.queenarchives.com/index.php?title=Queen_-_02-15-1991_-_Innuendo_-_LA_Times
↑ "Brians Soapbox October 2009". Brianmay.com. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
↑ "The Queen Phenomenon". 1995. Missing or empty |series= (help)
↑ Steffen Hung. "Dutch charts portal". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
↑ "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche, Ticket-Suche". musicline.de. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
↑ Jaclyn Ward (1962-10-01). "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
↑ "UK Singles & Albums Chart Archive". Chart Stats. Retrieved 2012-01-11.

External links

Lyrics at Queen official website

Queen singles discography

Queen	"Keep Yourself Alive" "Liar"

Queen II	"Seven Seas of Rhye"

Sheer Heart Attack	"Killer Queen"/"Flick of the Wrist" "Now I'm Here" "Lily of the Valley" "Stone Cold Crazy"

A Night at the Opera	"Bohemian Rhapsody" "You're My Best Friend" "Love of My Life"

A Day at the Races	"Somebody to Love" "Tie Your Mother Down" "Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)" "Long Away" "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy"

News of the World	"We Are the Champions"/"We Will Rock You" "Spread Your Wings" "It's Late"

Jazz	"Bicycle Race"/"Fat Bottomed Girls" "Don't Stop Me Now" "Jealousy" "Mustapha"

Live Killers	"Love of My Life" (Live) "We Will Rock You" (Live)

The Game	"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" "Save Me" "Play the Game" "Another One Bites the Dust" "Need Your Loving Tonight"

Flash Gordon	"Flash"

Hot Space	"Under Pressure" (with David Bowie) "Body Language" "Las Palabras de Amor" "Calling All Girls" "Staying Power" "Back Chat"

The Works	"Radio Ga Ga" "I Want to Break Free" "It's a Hard Life" "Hammer to Fall"

A Kind of Magic	"One Vision" "A Kind of Magic" "Princes of the Universe" "Friends Will Be Friends" "Pain Is So Close to Pleasure" "Who Wants to Live Forever" "One Year of Love"

The Miracle	"I Want It All" "Breakthru" "The Invisible Man" "Scandal" "The Miracle"

Innuendo	"Innuendo" "I'm Going Slightly Mad" "Headlong" "I Can't Live with You" "The Show Must Go On" "These Are the Days of Our Lives"

Made in Heaven	"Heaven for Everyone" "A Winter's Tale" "I Was Born to Love You" "Too Much Love Will Kill You" "Let Me Live" "You Don't Fool Me"

Queen Rocks	"No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)"/"Tie Your Mother Down"

Greatest Hits III	"Under Pressure (Rah Mix)"

Non-album singles	"Thank God It's Christmas" "Another One Bites the Dust (Small Soldiers Remix)" "We Will Rock You" (with Five) "We Are the Champions" (with Robbie Williams) "Flash (Vanguard Mix)" "Another One Bites the Dust (The Miami Project Remixes)" "Bohemian Rhapsody" (with The Muppets)

Other songs	"See What a Fool I've Been" "Death on Two Legs" "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon" "I'm in Love with My Car" "'39" "Sweet Lady" "Seaside Rendezvous" "The Prophet's Song" "Good Company" "Sheer Heart Attack" "Is This the World We Created...?" "Ride the Wild Wind" "Delilah" "Made In Heaven" "Mother Love" "Let Me in Your Heart Again" "Love Kills" "There Must Be More To Life Than This"

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