Liar (Queen song)

"Liar" is a song by the British rock band Queen, written by the lead singer Freddie Mercury in 1970, and originally titled "Lover". The song featured on the band's 1973 debut album Queen. A heavily truncated version of "Liar" was released as a single – backed with "Doing All Right" – in the United States by Elektra Records in February 1974.

Contents

• Personnel
• Track listing
• LegacyCover Versions
• References

In the band's early years, "Liar" was a concert staple, performed as a conclusion to their main set and often lasting for up to ten minutes. However, starting with the 1980 The Game Tour, the song was no longer included in the setlist, with the exception of The Works Tour (though the song was cut down to three minutes or less). "Liar" was referenced in the setlist of the Magic Tour, as Brian May played a partial guitar riff from the song immediately before "Tear it Up".The song also contains a bass solo performed by Deacon, the most substantial solo he ever performed live.

As confirmed by the transcription on EMI Music Publishing's Off The Record sheet music for the song, this is one of three Queen tracks, the others being "Now I'm Here" and "Under Pressure" (their collaboration originally with David Bowie), to feature a Hammond organ.

This song briefly brought up the issue of songwriting credits within the band. Brian May queried which band members would be credited for developing the music for each song, to which Freddie Mercury concluded the discussion, stating that the lyricist, or otherwise the individual who originates the song, should be credited as its writer, a practice that continued until The Miracle.