Released 17 January 1975 Recorded September 1974 Length 4:12 | Format Vinyl record (7") Genre Hard rock | |
B-side "Lily of the Valley (Single Edit)" | ||
"Now I'm Here" is a song by the British rock band Queen. The sixth song on their third album, Sheer Heart Attack, it was written by lead guitarist Brian May. The song is noted for its hard riff and vocal harmonies. In the UK, the song reached #11 on the charts when released as a single in 1975. The song was a live favourite, performed at virtually every concert from late 1974 to 1986.
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The song draws on May's fond experiences of the band's US tour, supporting Mott the Hoople, which had taken place earlier in 1974. The aforementioned band are referenced explicitly; Down in the city, just Hoople and me.
It also appeared on the 1981 compilation album Greatest Hits, and the 1997 compilation album Queen Rocks. In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Now I'm Here" at number 33 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.
Live performances
"Now I'm Here" was a fixture of Queen's set lists, being performed on every concert tour from 1974 until the band's final tour in 1986. It was first performed on the Sheer Heart Attack Tour in Manchester on 30 October 1974. The song's first performance would mark the first show where Queen employed the use of delay on Freddie Mercury's voice.
On the Sheer Heart Attack Tour, Mercury would be seen singing the line "Now I'm here" on one side of the stage amidst the darkness and dry ice, and a few bars later, at "Now I'm there," he would "appear" on the other side of the stage, an illusion created by an identically-dressed stagehand.
May continued to perform the song as a solo artist following Mercury's death in 1991. It was used as the opening song on the American, Asian and Australian legs of the Queen + Adam Lambert Tour 2014–2015.