Queen Continues ‘The Greatest’ YouTube Series with “1976 ‘Somebody To Love’ — Freddie’s Greatest Hit?” (Watch)

Every Friday lately, Queen has been debuting a new episode of its ongoing YouTube series, The Greatest — archival videos championing important moments in the English rock group‘s vaunted history.

The latest, shared today, examines the gospel-inspired composition “Somebody To Love,” which came at a crucial time for the group, which was seeking a powerful follow-up to the massively successful and career-altering “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

“Freddie came in very well prepared with a lot of vocal parts & we just worked our way through it.I always remember thinking ‘yeah, this is going to be something great.’”@DrBrianMay

👑Is @freddie_mercury's gospel epic 'Somebody To Love' his best hit?
➡️https://t.co/YuY0rMemuH 📽️ pic.twitter.com/I3fM8WlRwf

— Queen (@QueenWillRock) May 14, 2021

Some context about that point in time for the band, per a news release:

Having set such a high benchmark with their A Night At The Opera album, all eyes were on Queen to see what they would come up with next.

As ever, the band refused to stand still and were intent on exploring new musical paths. For “Somebody To Love” Freddie found inspiration in one the world’s finest singers to create this Queen classic.

Brian May: “Freddie wanted to be Aretha Franklin, you have to bear this in mind, and that explains everything. He loved Aretha. And, this was his Gospel epic. It kind of followed in the steps of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in the sense that we were building up these multiple vocal parts, but this time we were being a Gospel choir, instead of being an English choir.”

Freddie Mercury: “And there’s me going on about Aretha Franklin, sort of made them go a bit mad…I just wanted to write something in that kind of thing. I was sort of incentivized by the gospel approach that she had on her albums, the earlier albums.”

Brian May: “Freddie came in very well prepared with a lot of vocal parts and we just worked our way through it. There was a very good feeling. I always remember thinking ‘yeah, this is going to be something great.’”

Here’s the episode: