All 12 of John Deacon’s Queen Songs Ranked

In a 1977 interview, John Deacon of Queen was asked about whether or not songwriting came easily to him.

“No, it’s quite difficult actually,” he replied. “It’s getting a bit better as time goes on.”

It’s a true fact that out of all the members of Queen, Deacon wrote the least number of songs. But we’d argue that the ones he did pen — on his own, not counting songs written in collaboration with his bandmates — were some of the band’s best. Isn’t it interesting how often the quietest members of a band are some of the most talented?

Below, we’ve ranked all 12 such songs in order from lowest to highest.

12. “In Only Seven Days”
From: Jazz (1978)

The U.K. and European B-side to “Don’t Stop Me Now,” one of Queen’s best known songs, was “In Only Seven Days.” We’ll come back to this album a bit later…

11. “One Year of Love”
From: A Kind of Magic (1986)

“One Year of Love” appeared in the film Highlander and on the band’s 12th studio album, A Kind of Magic. The most unique fact about it though is that the saxophone part was played by the same person who played that famous bit in George Michael’s “Careless Whisper,” a man named Steve Gregory.

“The session was short and sweet and took an hour at the most,” Gregory later recalled. “First takes are often the best as the ideas are fresh, so it didn’t take very long at all.”

10. “If You Can’t Beat Them”
From: Jazz (1978)

Here is the other of the two songs Deacon wrote for Jazz: “If You Can’t Beat Them.” Queen played this track live in concert over 60 times from before it was even officially released until late 1979.

9. “You and I”
From: A Day at the Races (1976)

Conversely, here’s a song that Queen never played live ever, “You and I” from 1976’s A Day at the Races.

“Our albums just tend to be collections of songs really, because we all write in the group, all four of us,” Deacon explained in a 1977 interview with Jim Ladd. “Freddie [Mercury] and Brian [May] tend to write the majority of the material. I think on the new album Day at the Races they wrote four each and Brian and I each wrote one, so there’s never particularly a concept for the whole album. It just depends on what songs come out when we individually made those.”

8. “Misfire”
From: Sheer Heart Attack (1974)

“Misfire,” though less than two minutes long, was the very first solo-written song Deacon contributed to a Queen album, appearing on the band’s third album, Sheer Heart Attack. Many fans have interpreted this song to be a sexual innuendo of sorts about premature ejaculation and frankly, we can’t find any information to prove or disprove that was Deacon’s intention.

7. “Need Your Loving Tonight”
From: The Game (1980)

Long before Noel Gallagher urged Oasis fans not to look back in anger, Deacon used that line in a song called “Need Your Loving Tonight” from 1980’s The Game. Here, Deacon plays both bass and acoustic guitar.

6. “Who Needs You”
From: News of the World (1977)

Imagine Queen but as a Latin-esque, flamenco type of band. That’s sort of what “Who Needs You” is, with a little bit of a reggae feel, too. Deacon and May both play Spanish style guitars here, and May plays the maracas.

READ MORE: Queen’s 10 Most Underrated Songs

5. “Back Chat”
From: Hot Space (1982)

Turn the funk up for “Back Chat” from 1982’s Hot Space. This was a No. 40 hit on the U.K. singles chart that has a little bit of a Michael Jackson type flair to it. Rolling Stone described it back then as a “hot rock-funk tune, with guitar tracks as slick as an icy dance floor.”

4. “Spread Your Wings”
From: News of the World (1977)

The next two Deacon songs have similar themes. First up is “Spread Your Wings,” which Queen released as a single in 1978. It went to No. 34 on the U.K. singles chart.

“The song has to do with a number of personal experiences from recent years,” Deacon explained in Queen All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. “I’d rather not say in detail, because I don’t like to explain songs. People should figure it out for themselves, I think. … It’s not always easy, let me tell you. You deal with a lot of things that are not always pleasant. Of course, money is wonderful, but I don’t need to be very rich. I just don’t want to fall back into a state of poverty, which a number of fairly famous musicians have ended up in. I want to try to keep something for the future.”

3. “I Want to Break Free”
From: The Works (1984)

Speaking of finding one’s freedom, next up is “I Want to Break Free.” Deacon reportedly did not want a guitar solo for this song, which is why the Canadian session player Fred Mandel was brought in to play a synthesizer solo instead.

2. “You’re My Best Friend”
From: A Night at the Opera (1975)

Rockers often have a reputation for short-lived relationships, but not Deacon, who has been married to Veronica Tetzlaff since January of 1975. Not very long after they were married, he penned “You’re My Best Friend” in her honor.

1. “Another One Bites the Dust”
From: The Game (1980)

One of Queen’s most famous songs, “Another One Bites the Dust,” was reportedly inspired by “Good Times” by Chic, since Deacon happened to be hanging out at their studio around that time. This track not only went to No. 1 in America, but stayed there for three weeks.