Celebrating Queen’s ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’

Freddie Mercury penned "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" in minutes while soaking in a tub at the Bayerischer Hof Hotel in Munich. The track was Queen's first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit in 1979. It sat at the top for four weeks. It later appeared on The Game, which was released on June 30, 1980, and topped charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

"'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' took me five or ten minutes," Mercury said in 1981, according to American Songwriter. "I did that on the guitar, which I can't play for nuts, and in one way it was quite a good thing because I was restricted, knowing only a few chords. It's a good discipline because I simply had to write within a small framework. I couldn't work through too many chords, and because of that restriction, I wrote a good song, I think."

The piece lasts for two minutes and 42 seconds. It paid tribute to Elvis Presley and early rock 'n' roll. Brian May added his guitar solo later using a Telecaster instead of his Red Special. Roger Taylor happened to have one lying around. May grabbed it, plugged it in, and recorded the part.

The lyrics describe love as something hot to touch and hard to grasp. The piece also includes references to motorbike riding and rock 'n' roll itself.

The single hit stores in the UK on Oct. 12, 1979, with a live version of "We Will Rock You" on the flip side. In the US, it came out on Dec. 7 with "Spread Your Wings" as the B-side.