One Vision
Encyclopedia
"One Vision" is a song written and recorded by the rock band Queen
, first released as a single in November 1985 and then included on their 1986 album A Kind of Magic
. It was originally conceived by Roger Taylor
, and was the first song that was co-written by all four bandmembers.
The song has been speculated to be inspired by either the band's "show-stopping" performance at Live Aid
earlier in 1985, or by the life and exploits of Martin Luther King, with the lyrics recounting a man battling and overcoming the odds. In the 2011 BBC documentary, "Queen: Days of Our Lives," Roger Taylor stated his lyrics were "sort of half nicked off Martin Luther King's famous speech." The song's music video
featured a "morphing" effect of the band's famous pose in 1975's "Bohemian Rhapsody
" video to a 1985 version of the same pose. The song was included in all Queen's live concert performances of the 1986 Magic Tour, as the very first song of each concert. They claimed they chose "One Vision" as the introduction song because its intro made a perfect concert introduction.
's drum section and in the end), most prominently the vocals retained in the single version.
", although the lyrics say "one vision". This was the result of trying to come up with vocal ideas to put into the song. One set of ideas included dishes from a Chinese takeaway menu which they had had for dinner that day—all the rest was scrapped but the fried chicken survived. Jim Hutton, Freddie Mercury's lover, says in his book that the singer was not sure whether to include it in the final cut or not. Hutton encouraged him, saying "You are big enough" (to get away with this).
Also, the live versions of the song included a different version of the intro, which starts like the single version intro, but later changes into the album version intro, but repeats the section after the vocals "Ii" near the end. It also features the initial distorted vocals as they were in the single version.
However, the version used on the Wembley shows was yet different from the one mentioned above - basically it had the complete initial distorted vocals, and the first part was also like in the one in the album and extended versions, but the transition to the second part was just like in the version, mentioned above, and it did include the repeated section in the end. The VHS version of the July 12th Wembley show has the first part of the middle instrumental section of the studio version of Brighton Rock instead of the initial distorted vocals. The version of the song from the 11 July Wembley show is now included on the Queen Live At Wembley Stadium 25th Anniversary Edition DVD and the A Kind Of Magic 2011 Deluxe CD. Interestingly enough, none of the two versions of the intro has been used with a studio version of the song so far.
, titled "Geburt einer Nation" ('Birth of a Nation'), which changed the song's feel and mood from the somehow light-hearted and optimistic original to the feel and mood of a Nazi propaganda song. This version also starkly revealed the ambiguity of lines like "One race one hope/One real decision". It was released in 1987, on the album Opus Dei
. A video was also shot for this version, directed by Daniel Landin. There is also a version covered by Melanie C live.
to "One Vision" mainly showed the band recording the song at Musicland Studios
in Munich
and was the first to be directed and produced for Queen by Austrian directors Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher, also collectively known as DoRo
. DoRo and Queen developed a fruitful working relationship which would result in numerous acclaimed and award-winning videos (for "Innuendo
" and "The Show Must Go On
", among others).
The video also featured a "morphing" effect of the band's famous pose in 1975's "Bohemian Rhapsody
" video to a 1985 version of the same pose. The video even shows John Deacon
on the drums. It is not known if he actually played some drum parts in the song or if it is just a joke. There was also a video made to match the 12" inch version of the song which appears on Queen Rocks The Video VHS and Queen Greatest Video Hits II DVD.
(#21), Switzerland
(#24), and Germany
(#26). It also had very minor chart success on the Billboard Hot 100
, where it peaked at #61. It became a big hit in the band's native UK, peaking at #7 in the singles chart, a strong showing for a rock
band at a time when pop music
was by far the more dominant genre in Britain. It also made #10 on Australia
's ARIA Chart.
and is on the soundtrack. The version on the Iron Eagle soundtrack is the original single version, which preceded the album version by nearly a year. The song was recorded in September 1985 (according to the "One Vision" documentary found on The Magic Years Vol. 1 VHS and the Greatest Video Hits Vol. 2 DVD, chronicling the recording of the song). The single was released November 4, 1985, the soundtrack album was released in January 1986, and the song was remixed for the album, which came out June 2, 1986.
The song also appears on the Grand Theft Auto IV
soundtrack, and in-game on the radio station "Liberty Rock Radio 97.8".
During the 2008-09 season it was used as the official song of Rotherham United F.C
.
It is also used in Ricky Gervais
Fame DVD as he enters the stage.
The song is available as downloadable content for the Rock Band
series and is the hardest song on drums of the Queen pack.
Actor Ricky Groves
and his dance partner Erin Boag
performed a paso doble to the song in the seventh series
of Strictly Come Dancing
.
It was also recently featured on an advert for British Gas
's merger with Nectar.
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
, first released as a single in November 1985 and then included on their 1986 album A Kind of Magic
A Kind of Magic
A Kind of Magic is a 1986 album by British rock band Queen. It was the band's twelfth studio album and their first to be recorded digitally, and is based on the soundtrack to the film Highlander, the first in a series directed by Russell Mulcahy....
. It was originally conceived by Roger Taylor
Roger Meddows-Taylor
Roger Meddows Taylor , known as Roger Taylor, is a British musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the drummer, backing vocalist and occasional lead vocalist of British rock band Queen. As a drummer he is known for his "big" unique sound and is considered one of...
, and was the first song that was co-written by all four bandmembers.
The song has been speculated to be inspired by either the band's "show-stopping" performance at Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
earlier in 1985, or by the life and exploits of Martin Luther King, with the lyrics recounting a man battling and overcoming the odds. In the 2011 BBC documentary, "Queen: Days of Our Lives," Roger Taylor stated his lyrics were "sort of half nicked off Martin Luther King's famous speech." The song's music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
featured a "morphing" effect of the band's famous pose in 1975's "Bohemian Rhapsody
Bohemian Rhapsody
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album A Night at the Opera...
" video to a 1985 version of the same pose. The song was included in all Queen's live concert performances of the 1986 Magic Tour, as the very first song of each concert. They claimed they chose "One Vision" as the introduction song because its intro made a perfect concert introduction.
Distorted vocals
The song contains mysterious and distorted beginning vocals (which on the album and extended versions, also appear throughout Roger TaylorRoger Meddows-Taylor
Roger Meddows Taylor , known as Roger Taylor, is a British musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the drummer, backing vocalist and occasional lead vocalist of British rock band Queen. As a drummer he is known for his "big" unique sound and is considered one of...
's drum section and in the end), most prominently the vocals retained in the single version.
Forward message
The garbled vocals at the start of the song relay new lyrics when played forwards—they say, "God works in mysterious ways... mysterious ways...". It is clearly shown during the portions of the studio recording session of "One Vision" on both the Magic Years documentary and the DVD Greatest Video Hits II that Mercury sings the line."Fried chicken"
The final line of the song (in both the studio and live versions) is "fried chickenFried chicken
Fried chicken is a dish consisting of chicken pieces usually from broiler chickens which have been floured or battered and then pan fried, deep fried, or pressure fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or crust to the exterior...
", although the lyrics say "one vision". This was the result of trying to come up with vocal ideas to put into the song. One set of ideas included dishes from a Chinese takeaway menu which they had had for dinner that day—all the rest was scrapped but the fried chicken survived. Jim Hutton, Freddie Mercury's lover, says in his book that the singer was not sure whether to include it in the final cut or not. Hutton encouraged him, saying "You are big enough" (to get away with this).
Live performances
What is notable that the live performances of the song added an additional section in the beginning of the song, right after the guitar riffs without the percussion, and a big finale, which included ad-libbed vocals by Freddie Mercury. The ad-libbed vocals were not present on all performances though, the most notable being the performance at the Maimarktgelände in Mannheim, on 21 June 1986.Also, the live versions of the song included a different version of the intro, which starts like the single version intro, but later changes into the album version intro, but repeats the section after the vocals "Ii" near the end. It also features the initial distorted vocals as they were in the single version.
However, the version used on the Wembley shows was yet different from the one mentioned above - basically it had the complete initial distorted vocals, and the first part was also like in the one in the album and extended versions, but the transition to the second part was just like in the version, mentioned above, and it did include the repeated section in the end. The VHS version of the July 12th Wembley show has the first part of the middle instrumental section of the studio version of Brighton Rock instead of the initial distorted vocals. The version of the song from the 11 July Wembley show is now included on the Queen Live At Wembley Stadium 25th Anniversary Edition DVD and the A Kind Of Magic 2011 Deluxe CD. Interestingly enough, none of the two versions of the intro has been used with a studio version of the song so far.
Single B-side
An extensively remixed version of the song, titled "Blurred Vision" appears as the B-side of both the 7" and 12" single releases. This is primarily an extended and completely different (but not in structure) version of Roger Taylor's drum section from the A-side. However, it retains the original ending, albeit with a longer version of the music from the end of the original's intro plus an additional non-distorted sound over the final vocals "Vision vision vision vision..." (which are like those in the single version). It also repeats the existing famous distorted vocals, and adds new, less-prominent distorted vocals.Cover versions
"One Vision" has been covered by many artists, the most notable is the German-language cover by the industrial music band LaibachLaibach (band)
Laibach is a Slovenian avant-garde music group associated with industrial, martial, and neo-classical musical styles. Laibach formed June 1, 1980 in Trbovlje, Slovenia . Laibach represents the music wing of the Neue Slowenische Kunst art collective, of which it was a founding member in 1984...
, titled "Geburt einer Nation" ('Birth of a Nation'), which changed the song's feel and mood from the somehow light-hearted and optimistic original to the feel and mood of a Nazi propaganda song. This version also starkly revealed the ambiguity of lines like "One race one hope/One real decision". It was released in 1987, on the album Opus Dei
Opus Dei (album)
Opus Dei is the fourth album by Laibach, released in 1987. It features "Geburt einer Nation", a German cover of Queen's "One Vision" and two reworkings of Austrian band Opus' sole hit single "Live Is Life". The Opus song became the German language "Leben heißt Leben" and the English language "Opus...
. A video was also shot for this version, directed by Daniel Landin. There is also a version covered by Melanie C live.
Music video
The music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
to "One Vision" mainly showed the band recording the song at Musicland Studios
Musicland Studios
Musicland Studios was a recording studio located in Munich, Germany. It was established by Italian record producer, songwriter and performer Giorgio Moroder in the late 1960s...
in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and was the first to be directed and produced for Queen by Austrian directors Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher, also collectively known as DoRo
Doro
Doro may refer to:* Doro , rock singer, former vocalist of the German heavy metal band Warlock** Doro , a 1990 album by Doro** Doro , a Swedish telecommunications company...
. DoRo and Queen developed a fruitful working relationship which would result in numerous acclaimed and award-winning videos (for "Innuendo
Innuendo (song)
"Innuendo" is a 1991 song by the English rock band Queen. It is the opening track on the album of the same name, and was released as the first single from the album. At six and a half minutes, it is one of Queen's longest songs, and their longest ever released as a single, exceeding "Bohemian...
" and "The Show Must Go On
The Show Must Go On (Queen song)
"The Show Must Go On" is a song by English rock band Queen, featured as the twelfth and final track on their 1991 album Innuendo. It is credited to Queen, but written primarily by Brian May. The song chronicles the effort of Freddie Mercury continuing to perform despite approaching the end of his...
", among others).
The video also featured a "morphing" effect of the band's famous pose in 1975's "Bohemian Rhapsody
Bohemian Rhapsody
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album A Night at the Opera...
" video to a 1985 version of the same pose. The video even shows John Deacon
John Deacon
John Richard Deacon is a retired English multi-instrumentalist and song writer, best known as the bassist for the rock band Queen. Of the four members of the band, he was the last to join and also the youngest, being only 19 years old when he was recruited by the other members of the band...
on the drums. It is not known if he actually played some drum parts in the song or if it is just a joke. There was also a video made to match the 12" inch version of the song which appears on Queen Rocks The Video VHS and Queen Greatest Video Hits II DVD.
Chart performance
"One Vision" became another hit single for Queen in many countries, usually reaching the Top 40, where it did in the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
(#21), Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
(#24), and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(#26). It also had very minor chart success on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, where it peaked at #61. It became a big hit in the band's native UK, peaking at #7 in the singles chart, a strong showing for a rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band at a time when pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
was by far the more dominant genre in Britain. It also made #10 on Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's ARIA Chart.
Other uses
The song is featured in the movie Iron EagleIron Eagle
Iron Eagle is a 1986 action film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Jason Gedrick and Louis Gossett, Jr. While it received mixed reviews, the film earned US$24,159,872 at the U.S. box office. Iron Eagle was followed by three sequels: Iron Eagle II, Aces: Iron Eagle III and Iron Eagle on the...
and is on the soundtrack. The version on the Iron Eagle soundtrack is the original single version, which preceded the album version by nearly a year. The song was recorded in September 1985 (according to the "One Vision" documentary found on The Magic Years Vol. 1 VHS and the Greatest Video Hits Vol. 2 DVD, chronicling the recording of the song). The single was released November 4, 1985, the soundtrack album was released in January 1986, and the song was remixed for the album, which came out June 2, 1986.
The song also appears on the Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV is a 2008 open world action video game published by Rockstar Games, and developed by British games developer Rockstar North. It has been released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and for the Windows operating system...
soundtrack, and in-game on the radio station "Liberty Rock Radio 97.8".
During the 2008-09 season it was used as the official song of Rotherham United F.C
Rotherham United F.C.
Rotherham United Football Club are an English professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, who compete in League Two, the fourth tier of English football. The club's colours have traditionally been red and white, although these have evolved through history...
.
It is also used in Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
Fame DVD as he enters the stage.
The song is available as downloadable content for the Rock Band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
series and is the hardest song on drums of the Queen pack.
Actor Ricky Groves
Ricky Groves
Richard "Ricky" Groves is an English actor best known for playing Garry Hobbs in EastEnders from 2000–09. Before his role in EastEnders he appeared in the series Burnside, a spin-off from The Bill.-Other TV work:...
and his dance partner Erin Boag
Erin Boag
Erin Boag is a professional ballroom dancer. She has danced from the age of three, originally starting ballet and later moving into ballroom, Latin and jazz...
performed a paso doble to the song in the seventh series
Strictly Come Dancing (series 7)
The seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing commenced on BBC One on 18 September 2009. Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly returned as presenters together with Craig Revel Horwood, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli as judges. Series 5 winner, Alesha Dixon, joined the judging panel, replacing Arlene Phillips...
of Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...
.
It was also recently featured on an advert for British Gas
British Gas
British Gas is the name of several companies:* British Gas plc, the former gas monopoly in the United Kingdom and its successor companies** Centrica, which has the rights to the British Gas name in the UK...
's merger with Nectar.