Queen Top Ten: Sleeping on the Sidewalk (#1)

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The regal countdown of the legendary band Queen comes to an end today. I’ve mentioned a time or two that this is my favorite Queen song, so it shouldn’t be any surprise to find it here at the top. An album cut, and the winner in my countdown. #1: Sleeping on the Sidewalk And, you may wonder, just where is Freddie Mercury on this song? I guess he was sleeping on the sidewalk when they recorded this. That’s guitarist/songwriter Brian May doing the lead vocals. (He also did the lead vocals on “All Dead, All Dead” on this album.) Such a great album, and it’s relegated to “We Will Rock You”/“We Are the Champions.” Back when this came out (and FM radio had a few less chains on the playlist) both the Brian May lead vocal tunes got lots of airplay. Truth be told, I bought News of the World for “Sleeping on the Sidewalk,” not the “big hits.” A fun rags-to-riches-to-attitude-to-rags-again song about a trumpet player who gets discovered, gets rich (“soon we had the record of the year”), gets uppity (“I told ‘em where to stick the fancy label”), and ends up back where he started. Nah, that never happens in the music world. What a tremendous legacy of music Queen left us. And, as with most bands, my favorites aren’t always the “big hits.” Like this one. Thanks for reading. Sleeping on the Sidewalk Written by Brian May (also lead vocals by Brian May) From News of the World, 1977 Sure you don’t mean me?