Released 4 March 1991 Length 4:22 | Genre Gothic rock | |
B-side "Lost Opportunity"
"The Hitman" Format 7"/12" vinyl record, CD, cassette Label Parlophone (Europe)
Hollywood (North America) | ||
"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. The song also features a slide guitar solo performed by Brian May. John Deacon's bass is tuned down to a low B.
Contents
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 and surreal manner, including guitarist Brian May dressed as a penguin (a reprise of his outfit featured in the booklet of the first Queen album), 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.