Кто хочет жить вечно (Queen)

1986 song by Queen

"Who Wants to Live Forever" is a song by the British rock band Queen. A power ballad, it is the sixth track on the album A Kind of Magic, which was released in June 1986, and was written by lead guitarist Brian May for the soundtrack to the film Highlander. Queen was backed up by an orchestra, with orchestrations by film score composer Michael Kamen. The song peaked at No. 24 in the UK charts. In 1991, it was included in the band's second compilation album Greatest Hits II. Since its release, the song has been covered by many artists. Five months after Mercury's death in November 1991, Seal performed a live version of the song at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992. In 2014, Rolling Stone readers voted it their fifth favourite song by Queen.

In the 1986 film Highlander, the song is used to frame the scenes in the film where Connor MacLeod must endure his beloved wife Heather MacLeod growing old and dying while he, as an Immortal, remains forever young. Brian May wrote the song in the backseat of his car after seeing a 20 minute first cut of the scene of Heather's death. It was later used in the Highlander television series episodes "The Gathering", "Revenge is Sweet", "The Hunters", "Line of Fire", and "Leader of the Pack". In the film version, Freddie Mercury provides all the main vocals. On the album version, May sings lead vocals on the first verse before Mercury takes over, with May also singing "But touch my tears with your lips" during Mercury's verse and the closing line "Who waits forever anyway?". An instrumental version of the song, entitled "Forever", was included as a bonus track on the CD version of the album. This instrumental featured only a piano, with keyboard accompaniment during the chorus sections. The piano track was recorded solely by May. Queen were backed up by an orchestra arranged by Michael Kamen. It featured the National Philharmonic Orchestra with forty choirboys and several hundreds of candles which remain lit throughout filming as well as Mercury wearing a tuxedo suit. Also, the live versions feature Freddie Mercury singing the entirety of lead vocals, and John Deacon playing bass guitar (starting at the second verse)—with the song ending after the final lyrics (“Who waits forever anyway?”) without the orchestra and guitar flourish of the studio version.

Seal performed a live version of this song at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert held at Wembley Stadium in April 1992 five months after Mercury's death. He said the song made him cry when he first heard it. Thomas Curtis Horsfall of Smooth Radio stated Seal's performance of the song was "one of the standout moments" from the concert, adding "his spine tingling rendition of the Queen classic had everyone in the arena close to tears." The song serves as the opening track for Diana, Princess of Wales: Tribute, a double CD released on 2 December 1997 in memory of Princess Diana three months after her death. Closing the Isle of Wight Festival in England on 12 June 2016, Queen + Adam Lambert performed the song as a tribute to the victims of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida earlier that day. The song serves as the closing track of Episode 3 of Russell T Davies' AIDS drama It's a Sin (set in 1986). The animated television series Rick and Morty uses the song during the post credits scene for the Season 5 episode "Mortyplicity".

In a 2005 poll conducted by digital television station Music Choice on what song Britons would most like played at their funeral, the song was voted the fifth most popular.

German band Dune released their cover of "Who Wants to Live Forever" from their album Forever as a single in October 1996. It is sung by German singer Verena von Strenge and sold more than 500,000 copies in Germany alone, after reaching number two there. The single also peaked at number three in Austria, number eight in Hungary, number nine in Switzerland, number 12 in the Netherlands and number 59 in Sweden. On the Eurochart Hot 100, it reached number 13 in January 1997. "Who Wants to Live Forever" was nominated to the 1997 Echo Awards for the most successful national dance single.

The music video for "Who Wants to Live Forever" was directed by Matt Broadley. It was shot in the Scottish Highlands. The video begins on an old churchyard, where Oliver Froning plays a man who stands by a grave. He sees von Strenge appearing in ghost like form, dressed in a white dress, singing to him. When Froning leaves the churchyard, he walks into the highlands. By a river, he stops for drinking some water, and again sees von Strenge standing in front of a waterfall, singing to him. In the end, he reaches the top of the mountains, where he is united with von Strenge.

Soprano Sarah Brightman released her cover of "Who Wants to Live Forever", from her album Timeless/Time to Say Goodbye, as a single in 1997 (See 1997 in music). The single peaked at No. 45 in the UK singles chart.

In 2009, Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins recorded her cover version for her studio album "Believe". In 2024, Italian operatic pop trio Il Volo recorded a cover version for their studio album "Ad Astra".