Synopsis

Queen perform the sweeping ballad inside a vast, candlelit warehouse, joined by the National Philharmonic Orchestra and a boys' choir. Freddie Mercury, dressed in formal evening wear, delivers the central vocal with solemn intensity, while Brian May appears at the piano before taking up his Red Special guitar. Roger Taylor and John Deacon add unusual visual touches, with Taylor surrounded by percussion and Deacon playing an upright bass. The imagery turns the song's meditation on love, mortality, and immortality into a grand ceremonial performance.

Factoids & Trivia

• Brian May wrote the song after watching an early cut of *Highlander*, specifically the sequence in which Connor MacLeod's wife Heather grows old and dies. The song became one of Queen's contributions to the film's music.

• The video was filmed on September 16, 1986, inside a warehouse at Tobacco Wharf in London's East End. The building has since been demolished.

• The production used the National Philharmonic Orchestra, approximately forty choirboys, and hundreds of candles. Keeping the candles lit throughout the shoot added a practical challenge to the otherwise highly controlled studio performance.

• John Deacon is shown playing a white upright bass, although that instrument was not part of the original studio recording. It gives his brief appearances an unusually theatrical quality.

• Two principal versions of the video circulated. The more familiar cut focuses on the candlelit performance, while an alternate version incorporates scenes from *Highlander*. The latter first appeared on the 1986 video single and was later included as a hidden feature on *Greatest Video Hits II*.

• The song was released as the fourth and final single from *A Kind of Magic* in September 1986 and reached No. 24 on the UK singles chart.