"Heaven for Everyone" is a song written by British rock band Queen drummer Roger Taylor. It originally appeared on his side project the Cross's album Shove It, with Freddie Mercury as a guest vocalist, and it is the album's fourth track. It was reworked with Queen's music and appeared in their fifteenth and final studio album, Made in Heaven (1995), where it was the seventh track, and was released as the first single by Parlophone – four years after Mercury's death. Queen's version reached number two on the UK Singles Chart while peaking at number one in Hungary and becoming a top-ten hit in several other European nations. In 1999 it was included in Queen's compilation album Greatest Hits III. Directed by David Mallet, the accompanying music video opens with images of graffiti messages in tribute to Mercury outside his home, Garden Lodge, Kensington in London, before showing footage of Georges Méliès seminal 1902 silent film A Trip to the Moon and The Impossible Voyage (1904).

Background and writing

Some reports have Taylor writing the song in 1986 as part of Queen's A Kind of Magic album sessions, after their work on Highlander was complete. If he did, the song was not used, or was incomplete when the album was finished. When Taylor started working on the album Shove It, he recruited Freddie Mercury to record backing vocals. Two versions were recorded, one with Mercury doing backing to Taylor's lead vocals, and another with Mercury singing lead. The backing track of each was rerecorded as well, instead of the two lead vocals being recorded over the same instrumental backing. The Taylor-vocal version is about twenty seconds longer than the Mercury-vocal version. The Cross versions also feature a spoken intro by Taylor, as well as a spoken refrain in the middle. The refrain in the Taylor vocal has an extra lyric not sung in the Mercury-vocal version (though it appears in the printed lyrics). Both versions end with Taylor saying "And that. Is the end. Of this section." The UK edition of the album Shove It featured Mercury's vocal version, while the UK single featured Taylor's vocal version. In the US, the album featured Taylor's vocal version and neither were released as a single. The song, Taylor noted, "had some good stuff about love and dignity; the usual antiwar thing." After Freddie Mercury's death, as Queen prepared to complete their posthumous album, Made in Heaven, this song was selected to be re-done by the band as a Queen song. The lead vocal Mercury recorded in 1987 was given a new backing track and new backing vocals. A significant difference between The Cross versions and the Queen version is that there's no spoken introduction, refrain or "end" as done by Taylor on the original.

Critical reception

1995 Queen version

A reviewer from Music Week rated Queen's version of the song four out of five, adding, "Four years in the making, Freddie Mercury's final work has resurfaced with the long-awaited album Made in Heaven due in November, from which comes this emotional ballad with all the signs of a big hit." John Robinson from NME wrote, "Brought back to life for you by the miracles of modern financial practice, this has the air of a single whose video will comprise either slow motion footage of Sir Fred playing 'Hammer to Fall' at Live Aid, or by slow motuin footage of children playing happily on the facilities — swings, possibly a roundabout — thoughtfully provided by the borough in a municipal park. There is also, however, an awful undercurrent of 'Christmas single that won't die, but will be sung by rugby footballers forever' about this, as well as an awful guitar solo from Poodle May.'"

Music video

The Cross

The music video was directed by Diebel/Myers in a former gasworks (location of the London O2 Arena), filmed in early 1988. For the Cross version it involved Taylor singing the song on a beach-like setting, while elderly people walked past the band and climbed up ladders to reach heaven.

Queen version

Queen's music video for the song commemorates Mercury. It was directed by British director David Mallet and released in 1995. The video opens with images of the graffiti covered walls of Mercury's home, Garden Lodge, Kensington, before showing footage from the films A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune, 1902), The Impossible Voyage (Le Voyage à travers l'impossible, 1904) and The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon (L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune, 1907) by Georges Méliès. A second music video for the song, directed by Simon Pummell was included on the Made in Heaven: The Films VHS and features Cypriot-Australian performance artist Stelarc operating a robotic "third hand" to symbolise a new era of man and machine.

Track listings

1988 The Cross single releases

Track listings are sourced from ultimatequeen.co.uk. UK 7-inch single UK 12-inch single

1995 Queen single releases

Track listings are sourced from ultimatequeen.co.uk. UK CD 1 UK CD 2 UK 7-inch UK cassette US CD single

Personnel

The Cross version Queen version

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications