Actors - Under Pressure

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	Actors - Under Pressure

|- !align="left" valign="top"|B-side |colspan="2" valign="top"|Soul Brother |- !align="left" valign="top"|Single Released |colspan="2" valign="top"|26 October 1981 |- !align="left" valign="top"|Single Format |colspan="2" valign="top"|7" single |- !align="left" valign="top"|Recorded |colspan="2" valign="top"|Mountain Studios, Montreux, July 1981 |- !align="left" valign="top"|Genre |colspan="2" valign="top"|Rock |- !align="left" valign="top"|Song Length |colspan="2" valign="top"|4:02 |- !align="left" valign="top"|Record label |colspan="2" valign="top"|EMI |- !align="left" valign="top"|Producer |colspan="2" valign="top"|Queen, David Bowie |- !align="left" valign="top"|Chart positions |colspan="2" valign="top"|#1 (UK)
#29 (USA) |- !bgcolor="yellow" colspan="3"|Queen single chronology |-align="center" |valign="top"|"Flash"
1980 |valign="top"|"Under Pressure"
1981 |valign="top"|"Body Language"
1982 |- !bgcolor="yellow" colspan="3"|David Bowie single chronology |-align="center" |valign="top"|"Up the Hill Backwards"
1981 |valign="top"|"Under Pressure"
1981 |valign="top"|"Wild Is the Wind"
1981 |} Under Pressure is the name of a song from 1981 by Queen and David Bowie. It was Queen's first released collaboration with another recording artist. The song was a hit at the time, reaching #1 in the UK singles chart.

"Under Pressure" evolved from a jam session the band had with Bowie at Montreux, Switzerland, therefore it was credited as co-written by the five musicians. Nevertheless, according to what Queen bassist John Deacon said in a French magazine in 1984, the (main) musical songwriter was pianist/singer Freddie Mercury, although they all contributed in the arrangement.

There's been wide confusion about who came up with the famous bass-line. John Deacon said in Japanese magazine Musiclife in 1982, and in the previously mentioned French magazine, that David Bowie had invented it and taught it to him. In more recent interviews guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor have credited the bass-riff to Deacon; Bowie said in his website that the bass-line was already there before he came in. In any case, in September 2005, the online music magazine Stylus singled out the bass-line as the best in popular music history.

Although very much a joint project, only Queen incorporated the song into their live shows, with Bowie not choosing to perform the song again until the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, when he and Annie Lennox sang it as a duet, backed by the remaining Queen members. However, since 1995's 1.OUTSIDE tour, the song has been played at virtually every live performance, with bassist Gail Ann Dorsey taking over Mercury's vocal. Also in Bowie's 2004 "A Reality Tour", he frequently had the song in the setlist and would dedicate it to Freddie Mercury.

The opening lines are: "Um boom ba bay Um boom ba bay Um Um boom ba bay bay"

The song was also covered by Small Brown Bike and The Casket Lottery on a split EP as well as Crooked Fingers on the Reservoir Songs EP.

Track listing

#"Under Pressure" (Bowie, Mercury, Taylor, Deacon, May) - 4:02 #"Soul Brother" (Mercury, Taylor, Deacon, May) - 3:38

EMI released a 3-inch CD version of the single in 1988 with "Body Language" as an additional B-side.

Production credits

Producers:
* Queen
* David Bowie

Musicians:
* Freddie Mercury: Vocals, piano
* David Bowie
: Vocals on "Under Pressure"
* Brian May: Guitar
* John Deacon: Bass
* Roger Taylor: Drums

Live versions

Queen first recorded a version of the song at The Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec, Canada on November 24, 1981. This was released on the concert film We Will Rock You.
Queen recorded a second live version of the song at Milton Keynes, London, 1982. This was released in 2004 on the live album/DVD Queen On Fire Live at the Bowl.
Then Queen recorded a third live version of the song at Wembley, London, 1986. This was released on the live album/DVD Live at Wembley Stadium.
A live version recorded by David Bowie in 1995 was released on the bonus disc that followed some of the versions of Outside - Version 2
. This live version was also released on the single "Hallo Spaceboy
" in 1996.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Under Pressure ]

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