"Mustapha"
German single picture sleeve
Single by Queen
from the album Jazz
B-side
ReleasedApril 1979 (Germany)
Recorded1978
Genre
Length3:01
LabelEMI
Songwriter(s)Freddie Mercury
Producer(s)
Queen singles chronology
"Don't Stop Me Now"
(1979)		 "Mustapha"
(1979)		 "Jealousy"
(1979)

"Mustapha" is a song written by Freddie Mercury and recorded by British rock band Queen. It is the first track of their 1978 album Jazz,[1] categorized as "an up-tempo Arabic rocker" by Circus magazine.[2]

Single

"Mustapha" was released as a single in Germany, Spain, Yugoslavia and Bolivia in 1979. The B side of the single was "Dead On Time" for German and Spanish releases and "In Only Seven Days" for Yugoslavian and Bolivian releases. Also, all four versions had different covers.[3]

Lyrics

The composition's lyrics are mainly in English and Arabic, repeating the word Allah, the Arabic word for God used by Muslims. It also uses a sentence in Persian-emulating gibberish, reflecting Mercury's Parsi background. The lyrics repeat the names Mustapha and Ibrahim. The lyrics also repeat the phrase "Allah will pray for you." Parts of the lyrics like "Achtar es na sholei" meaning "His star, not his flame" have clear ties to the Persian language.

Live performances

In live performances, Mercury would often sing the opening vocals of "Mustapha" in place of the complex introduction to "Bohemian Rhapsody", going from "Allah we'll pray for you" to "Mama, just killed a man...". However, from the 1979 Saarbrucken Festival to the South American Game Tour, the band performed an almost full version of the song, with Mercury at the piano, where they dropped the second verse and went from the first chorus to the third. He also sang the intro before launching the band into "Hammer to Fall", as seen on We Are the Champions: Final Live in Japan.

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ "Jazz: Queen: Music". Amazon. 1991. Retrieved 31 January 2012. 1. Mustapha
  2. ↑ "Interviews > Freddie Mercury Interviews > 12-12-1978 – Circus". Queenarchives.com. 17 July 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  3. ↑ "Jazz (1978)". Queenvinyls.com. 6 December 2007. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
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