Seven Seas of Rhye

Infobox Single
Name = Seven Seas of Rhye


Cover size = 146
Artist = Queen
B-side="See What a Fool I've Been"
from Album = Queen II
Released = February 23, 1974
Format = 7"
Recorded = August 1973 at Trident Studios
Genre = Glam Rock/ Hard rock
Length =

• 2:47 ("Queen II")

• 1:15 ("Queen" - instrumental)

Label = EMI (UK), Elektra (US)
Writer = Freddie Mercury
Producer = Roy Thomas Baker and Queen
Chart position =
* #10 (UK)
[ Reviews = ] *
Last single = "Liar" (1974)
This single = "Seven Seas of Rhye" (1974)
Next single = "Killer Queen" (1974)

Seven Seas of Rhye is a song written by Freddie Mercury and performed by English rock group Queen. It is the final track on their debut album "Queen", and their follow-up "Queen II", released in 1973 and 1974, respectively. However, only a less-developed instrumental version was featured on the former. The completed version served as the band's second single, the earliest-released song to appear on their first greatest hits album (with the exception of Keep Yourself Alive, which appeared on the 1981 U.S. version).

The song was released as a single, and after the band performed it on "Top of the Pops" it became their first hit, peaking at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart.

The song is about Freddie Mercury's childhood fantasy world named Rhye. The land of Rhye was originally made up by Freddie Mercury and his sister, Kashmira, when they were children. After joining Queen as an adult, Mercury wrote some songs about that country, including Seven Seas of Rhye, Lily of the Valley, "My Fairy King", Ogre Battle, The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, and The March of the Black Queen.

The song became a live favourite throughout Queen's existence. It features a distinctive arpeggiated piano introduction (on the "Queen II" recording, the arpeggios are played with both the right and left hands, an octave apart, whereas on the "Queen" recording, and most live performances, Mercury played the simpler one-handed version of these arpeggios), and is relatively short, however containing several of Brian May's heavy guitar fill-ins. The theme also appears at the end of "It's a Beautiful Day (Reprise)".

The version on "Queen II" ends with a cross fade, instruments blending into several people singing "I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside".

The Seven Seas of Rhye are also mentioned in another Queen song, "Lily of the Valley" from "Sheer Heart Attack"; in the lyric "Messenger from Seven Seas has flown/To tell the king of Rhye he's lost his throne".

In the Queen musical We Will Rock You, the Seven Seas of Rhye is a place where the Bohemians are taken after they are brainstormed by Khashoggi.

Video

There are three versions of the music video. The first version is in black and white and is from Top Of The Pops; some copies of this version have a short part in color. The second version of the video is also from Top Of The Pops and is completely black and white, with no color. The second video is the rarest to find of the three. The third video is a mash-up of Queen in the concert with clips from Queen's Sheer Japan Attack tour in 1974.

References in other works

* Happy Rhodes references this and other Queen songs in her non-album track [http://www.ecto.org/lyrics/lhd/nevermore.html "Nevermore"] , her song about Freddie Mercury's passing.

* In the SNES video game Ogre Battle which was also named after one of Queen's songs, there is a level named the Rhye Sea, which is also present in Ogre Battle 64 separating the kingdoms of Nirdam and Zenobia.

External links

* [http://queenpedia.com/index.php?title=Seven_Seas_Of_Rhye_%28single%29 Queenpedia] - detailed worldwide release information