The Great Pretender

Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Infobox song

"The Great Pretender" is a doo-wop song recorded by American band The Platters and released in November 1955. It was written and composed by Buck Ram,<ref name=pc5>Template:Pop Chronicles</ref> the group's manager and producer who was earlier a successful songwriter; lead vocals are by Tony Williams. The song reached No. 1 on BillboardTemplate:'s Top 100, and No. 5 on the UK charts.

The song has been covered by a number of singers, most notably by Freddie Mercury, whose version reached No. 4 on the UK charts. Sam Cooke's cover of the song is believed to have inspired Chrissie Hynde to name her band The Pretenders.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A parody version was recorded by American radio comedian Stan Freberg in 1956.

The Platters' original version

Buck Ram, the manager of The Platters, said that he wrote the song in about 20 minutes in the washroom of the Flamingo Hotel in order to have a follow-up to the success of "Only You (And You Alone)". Ram had boasted to Bob Shad that he had an even better song than "Only You", and when pressed by Shad on the name of the song, Ram quickly replied "The Great Pretender".<ref name="da capo" /> He said the song would be a hit even before he had written it to go with the title.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The song was recorded by The Platters and released in November 1955.<ref name="da capo">Template:Cite book</ref> Plas Johnson played tenor saxophone on the recording. It became the best-selling R&B song in January 1956,<ref name="R&B">Template:Cite magazine</ref> and reached No. 2 on the Top 100 chart on Billboard in February 1956.<ref name="top 100">Template:Cite magazine</ref> It was also the 12th best-selling singles of 1956.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The Platters performed "The Great Pretender" and "Only You" in the 1956 musical film Rock Around the Clock,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the song also featured in the film American Graffiti.

In 2002, "The Great Pretender" by the Platters on Mercury Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which lists the date as 1956.<ref>GRAMMY Hall Of Fame. Grammy Awards.</ref>

In 2004, the song was ranked 360th in [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time|Rolling StoneTemplate:'s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time]].<ref name="rollingstone">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Charts

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Weekly chart performance for "The Great Pretender"

Chart (1956–1957)	Peak position
US R&B Records (Billboard)<ref name="R&B" />	1
US Billboard Top 100<ref name="top 100"/>	1

Freddie Mercury's version

The song was repopularized in 1987 by Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the rock band Queen. Mercury's version reached No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart. In one of his last videotaped interviews in spring of 1987, Mercury explained that the song was particularly fitting for the way he saw his career and being on stage.<ref>Interview of Freddie Mercury by Rudi Dolezal. 1987.</ref>

Mercury's original music video for the song featured him parodying himself in many of his Queen guises through video medium over the years, including visual re-takes of "Radio Ga Ga", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "It's a Hard Life", "I Want to Break Free", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "I Was Born to Love You", and "Made in Heaven". It was directed by David Mallet in February 1987, and also featured fellow Queen member Roger Taylor and actor Peter Straker in drag. The video was also notable for Mercury having shaved off his moustache, which he had sported for much of the 1980s. In 1992, Brian Malouf remixed the song for the film Night and the City, and a new edit of the video was produced using clips from the film.

Wit Studio's original anime television series Great Pretender uses this version as its ending theme.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>

Personnel

• Freddie Mercury: lead vocals and backing vocals
• Mike Moran: synthesizers
• Alan Jones: bass
• Harold Fisher: drums

Charts

Weekly charts

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Weekly chart performance for Freddie Mercury's cover

Chart (1987–1993)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)<ref name=aus>Template:Cite book</ref>	54
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	7
Italy Airplay (Music & Media)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	19
Portugal (AFYVE)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	3

Year-end charts

1987 year-end chart for Freddie Mercury's cover

Chart (1987)	Position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	69
European Top 100 Singles (Music & Media)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	96
UK Singles (Gallup)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	39

Jimmy Parkinson's versions

The song was covered in the UK by Australian singer and presenter Jimmy Parkinson. It entered the Top 20 on March 3, 1956, six months before the Platters' version; Parkinson's one peaked at No. 9 and remained in the Top 20 for ten weeks.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

External links

• Lyrics of Freddie Mercury cover at Queen official website (from Greatest Hits III)