Since I like to think of myself as a serious Queen fan (which is something that I've never apologized for, I'm happy to say) I thought that one way of whittling down the many contenders for entry into my top ten list of favourite songs would be to avoid the obvious choices. Also, one of the goals of this blog is to introduce people to things they might not hear otherwise, so there's a bit of that in there, too. Thus, with a couple of exceptions, most of the following are not from a list of their most known:

8. "My Fairy King" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EYUqsfl7gE): Talk about an ambitious song for a debut album, this one features a double lead vocal from Mercury and Roger Taylor, astonishing changes of pace and a great many beautiful melodies. 7. "Drowse" (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=queen+drowse&aq=f): Speaking of Roger Taylor, this is one of his great songs. Actually, I like all of his songs; I wish the albums contained more of them, in fact. But it seems like he and John Deacon usually only contributed one per album, sort of dual George Harrison roles or something - and like Harrison, they wrote some of the band's best numbers. This one allows him to display his astonishing vocal range (he's the really high voice on nearly all of their recordings) as well as his highly original, melodic approach to the drums. Lyrically, he was the only one in the group to deal with teenage topics, and he did so really well. 6. "Need Your Lovin' Tonight" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRa8mqWIX-0): I think that John Deacon is an unacknowledged pop genius, and this one proves it (if "You're My Best Friend", "Another One Bites the Dust" and "You and I" hadn't already done so). It's amazing how often Mercury's best singing is found on tunes he didn't write, a fact that underlines both his musicianship and his generosity. Taylor, also, is awesome on this one. Tune in tomorrow for the top five.