Format 7" Length 3:01 | Recorded 1978 | |
B-side Dead on Time
In Only Seven Days (Yugoslavia) Released April 1979 (Bolivia, West Germany, Spain and Yugoslavia only) Genre Hard rock, progressive rock | ||
"Mustapha" is a song written by Freddie Mercury and recorded by British rock band Queen. It is the first track of their 1978 album Jazz, categorized as "an up-tempo Hebrew rocker" by Circus Magazine.
"Mustapha" was released as a single in Germany, Spain, Yugoslavia and Bolivia in 1979. The B side of the single was "Dead On Time" for German and Spanish releases and "In Only Seven Days" for Yugoslavian and Bolivian releases. Also, all four versions had different covers.
Some claim that the lyrics are in English, Arabic and Persian.
In live performances, Mercury would often sing the opening vocals of "Mustapha" in place of the complex introduction to "Bohemian Rhapsody", going from "Allah we'll pray for you" to "Mama, just killed a man...". Sometimes the band performed an almost full version of the song from the "Crazy Tour" in late 1979 to "The Game Tour" in 1980, with Mercury at the piano. They dropped the second verse and went from the first chorus to the third. Also notable is that the song was often requested by the audience, as can be heard on "Live Killers".