[Verse 1]
Buddy, you’re a boy, make a big noise
Playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday
You got mud on your face, you big disgrace
Kicking your can all over the place (singing)
[Chorus]
We will, we will rock you
We will, we will rock you
[Verse 2]
Buddy, you’re a young man, hard man
Shouting in the street, gonna take on the world someday
You got blood on your face, you big disgrace
Waving your banner all over the place
[Chorus]
We will, we will rock you (sing it out)
We will, we will rock you
[Verse 3]
Buddy, you’re an old man, poor man
Pleading with your eyes, gonna make you some peace someday
You got mud on your face, big disgrace
Somebody better put you back into your place
[Chorus]
We will, we will rock you (sing it)
We will, we will rock you (everybody)
We will, we will rock you
We will, we will rock you
Other than the last 30 seconds containing a guitar solo by May, the song is generally set in a cappella form, using only stomping and clapping as a rhythmic body percussion beat. In 1977, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions” were issued together as a worldwide top 10 single.[6] Soon after the album was released, many radio stations began playing the songs consecutively and without interruption.[7]
Since its release, “We Will Rock You” has been covered, remixed, sampled, parodied, referenced and used by multiple recording artists, TV shows, films and other media worldwide.[8][9] Since its release, the song has become a staple at sports events around the world as a stadium anthem, mostly due to its simple rhythm.[10][11]
On 7 October 2017, Queen released a Raw Sessions version of the track to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of News of the World. It features a radically different approach to the guitar solo and includes May’s count-in immediately prior to the recording.[12]
We did an encore and then went off, and instead of just keeping clapping, they sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to us, and we were just completely knocked out and taken aback – it was quite an emotional experience really, and I think these chant things are in some way connected with that.
One version was used as the opening track on 1977’s News of the World. This consists of a stomp-stomp-clap-pause beat, and a power chorus, being somewhat of an anthem. The stamping effects were created by the band overdubbing the sounds of themselves stomping and clapping many times and adding delay effects to create a sound like many people were participating. The durations of the delays were in the ratios of prime numbers, a technique now known as non-harmonic reverberation.[15] A tape loop is used to repeat the last phrase of the guitar solo three times as opposed to Brian May playing it three separate times on the recording.[16] The “stomp, stomp, clap” sounds were later used in the Queen + Paul Rodgers song “Still Burnin’“.[17]
When performed live, the song is usually followed by “We Are the Champions“, as they were designed to run together.[6] The songs are often paired on the radio and at sporting events, where they are frequently played.[6] They were the last two songs Queen performed at Live Aid in 1985.[18]
Queen also performed an alternate version “We Will Rock You” known as the “fast version”, featuring a faster-feeling tempo and a full band arrangement. The band would frequently use this version to open their live sets in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as heard on the albums Live Killers (1979), Queen on Fire – Live at the Bowl (2004), Queen Rock Montreal (2007), and the expanded edition of News of the World (2011). A studio recording of this version is also known to exist, recorded for John Peel‘s show on BBC Radio 1 in 1977. It is part of a longer cut that starts with the original version. In 2002, the fast version was officially released on a promo single distributed by the tabloid The Sun. The “fast” BBC studio version can also be found on The Best of King Biscuit Live Volume 4. Between the two versions, there is a brief cut of a woman discussing Brahmanism, used in a BBC Radio documentary. The fast version is also used as the curtain call music for the musical of the same title, after the finale, which is a pairing of the original “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions.”
In 2000, English boy band Five released a cover of “We Will Rock You”. It was released from their second studio album, Invincible (1999). Released on 17 July 2000, the song features two members of Queen: Brian May on guitar and Roger Taylor on drums; however, they do not sing any vocals on the track. Freddie Mercury had died in November 1991, nearly a decade before this version’s release, and John Deacon had retired from public life three years before its release.
The song charted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, making it Five’s second number-one single, and their ninth consecutive top-ten hit.[19]
Track listing
UK CD1
“We Will Rock You” (Radio Edit) – 3:08
“Keep on Movin'” (The Five-A-Side Mix) – 3:32
“We Will Rock You” (Video) – 3:08
UK CD2
“We Will Rock You” (Radio Edit) – 3:08
“Invincible Megamix” (Including “We Will Rock You”) – 4:19
“Invincible Megamix” (Video) – 4:19
UK Cassette single
“We Will Rock You” (Radio Edit) – 3:08
“Keep on Movin'” (The Five-A-Side Mix) – 3:32
“Invincible Megamix” (Including “We Will Rock You”) – 4:19
European CD single
“We Will Rock You” (Radio Edit) – 3:08
“Invincible Megamix” (Without “We Will Rock You”) – 3:43
2003: A remix by KCPK, sung by a chorus of children, was released in a series of animated Evian adverts which aired in France, Germany and Belgium. The remix was later released as a single and entered the local charts.[58]
2004: American pop singers Britney Spears, Beyoncé and Pink used this song in an international commercial Pepsi campaign and the song was released on Pepsi Music 2004: (Dare For More) CD.[59]
1992: U2 used the song as a set list opener before they performed on stage during the Zoo TV Tour.[64]
1993: Nirvana performed it in São Paulo, Brazil, changing the lyrics to “we will fuck you”.[65]
1996: Alanis Morissette and her band ended the first encore of her “Can’t Not” Tour (following the song, “You Learn”) with a cover of the song, with Alanis playing the “stomp-stomp-clap” rhythm on drums.[66]
2007, 2010: Japanese pop singer Kumi Koda covered this in her a-nation ’07 performance, and three years later in a medley at her 10th anniversary concert at the Tokyo Dome.[68]
2012: English rapper Dappy covered the song live alongside Brian May for BBC Radio 1Live Lounge. The song later appeared on UK chart-topping album BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge 2012.[74]
2012: In the edition of WWE Raw of 12 March, The Rock performed his version during the Rock Concert segment by adding references to Team Bring It and fans chanting “Cena Sucks” in the chorus while taking aim at John Cena before they square off at WrestleMania XXVIII.[89]
2014: Indonesian singer Ahmad Dhani made a video with three Indonesian Idol contestants for supporting the Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo-Hatta. Dhani wears a Nazi costume. It was noted as one of the worst political campaigns ever.[90]
2015: In The Big Bang Theory episode “The Bachelor Party Corrosion” Raj, Howard and Leonard sing a modified version of the song called, “We Will Percussive Shock You” and Sheldon burst out singing the first verse of the original song, which he then credited to his eidetic memory, mentioned that in this instance it was a ‘curse.’[91]
