We Are the Champions

Freddie Mercury wrote We Are the Champions for Queen's 1977 album News of the World, and it was released as a single that October, backed with Brian May's We Will Rock You — the pairing that has kept the two songs joined ever since. Mercury said he had football crowds in mind, wanting something an audience could sing back without rehearsal. The song is harmonically restless for a stadium anthem, moving through several keys before the refrain, and it ends without the expected final repeat, cutting off on the last line.