Album: The Game (1980)

Charted: 14 42

License This Song 

• Open up your mind and let me step inside
  Rest your weary head and let your heart decide
  It's so easy when you know the rules
  It's so easy
  All you have to do is fall in love
  
  Play the game, everybody play the game
  Of love
  
  When you're feeling down and your resistance is low
  Light another cigarette and let yourself go
  This is your life, don't play hard to get
  It's a free world
  All you have to do is fall in love
  Play the game everybody play the game of love
  
  My game of love has just begun
  Love runs from my head down to my toes
  My love is pumping trough my veins
  Driving me insane
  
  Play the game, play the game
  Play the game, play the game
  
  Play the game everybody play the game of love
  This is your life, don't play hard to get
  It's a free world
  All you have to do is fall in love
  Play the game everybody play the game of love
  
  Your life, don't play hard to get
  It's a free world
  All you have to do is fall in love
  Play the game, play the game of love Writer/s: Freddie Mercury
  Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 19

• Lee from WalesAnyone know the date ‘Play the Game’ video was filmed?
• Alexandra from Zagreb, CroatiaI turn on the speakers, light a cigarette and join Freddie (to the chagrin of the other tenants of the building). I love this song. Great melody, and great synth.
• Stefano from Rome, ItalyThe Game is reportedly the first Queen album in which a synth appears. A spot on the cover says something like "This album inculdes the first appearance of a Synthesizer (an Oberheim OBX) on a Queen album".
  According to Brian May (interview to the magazine "Guitar Club", 1984), they changed their mind about synths because synths themselves had changed, having reached a more ductile sound rather than the one of a "rude" keyboard.
• Jonathon from Clermont, FlI like the sounds at the beginning. It's a soothing song, I suppose.
• Rosa from Reading, Englandlove it. its one of those yep world is on my shoulders but just chill kinda songs great just relax, play the game. interesting fact, when freddie dumped that cheating tony bastin, he kept his cat oscar, go freddie
• Gnome from Hollywood, FlWhenever I'm depressed i seem to end up listening to this song... subconciously i guess... but its great. all of Queen's songs are great. And i like them, especially Freddie, because you can tell that he was going through all the things that happen in the song. He sings so emotionally.
• Bryan from Melbourne, FlPlay the Game is one of Queen best.
• Jameson from Lexington, KyI believe "The Game" was Queen's first album to NOT sport the "No Synthesizers" label. Before this, I'd say they really didn't have much need for one -- Brian's "Red Special" guitar was able to sound vaguely like other instruments (and could harmonize with itself better than most), but when they tipped over into synth-land, this song really shows what they were able to do with one.
• Jake from Newport, NhGreat song. #42 on the US charts I believe. But this is my favorite from their US #1 album 'The Game'... the piano work, the vocals, all so nice. It's such a seducing song, isn't it? "Open up your mind and let me step inside"...
• Alicia from Tamaqua, PaLOL, yea I guess you can say that!! But anything with Freddie's voice is increadible.... in my opinion anyway....lol
• Randall from Dallas, TxMost bands write plenty of bad songs... you just never get to hear them. It's more fair to say, "Queen never RELEASED a bad song..."
  
• Jeanette from Irvine, Cai love this song! the guitar is great in the middle! this song is so awesome! :D
• Alicia from Tamaqua, PaI agree Freddie, Orlando, FL....... Freddie never wrote a bad song. Some are more difficult to understand than others. If you're like me and love to anilize things down to the bone, you can get quite frustrated when listening to songs of that criteria. But still, i love this song, I cant' say its one of the best considering all Queen songs are the BEST!!!!
• Dee from Indianapolis, InThis to me is Queens best work. The Game has it all, and I remember as a eleven year old boy going to my buddies house and listening to this on vinyl along with the sound track to Xanadu. ELO and Queen were doing stuff that no one else has ever been able to duplicate, which is a good thing. To bad Freddie is no longer around to belt out great tunes, but he left a wonderful legacy.
• Freddie from Orlando, Flyou dont have to imagine darling! whats to imagine? they BOASTED about not having them-- for a very long time.
• Chris from State College, PaI can't even imagine Queen without synthesizers, but maybe that's just an illusion in their pre-"Play the Game" days.
• Freddie from Orlando, FlNot too much to read into I think, a lovely melody though, Freddie never made a bad song.
• Kent Lyle from Palo Alto, CaQueen started using synthesizers roughly a decade after everyone else did. I guess they were the last great hold outs.
• Shana from Pembroke, CanadaThis song makes love into a game which is really all it is...

More Songfacts:

I Gotta FeelingThe Black Eyed Peas

Will.I.am, literally dreamt up "I Gotta Feelin'." Said the Black Eyed Pea: "Have you ever had a dream where there's a melody in your dream? I'll wake up out of my sleep and record that! 'I Gotta Feelin' was one of those songs."

What A Fool BelievesThe Doobie Brothers

Kenny Loggins co-wrote the Doobie Brothers hit "What a Fool Believes," which is about a guy who just can't accept that an affair from long ago was meaningless to her.

Rock LobsterThe B-52s

Sea creatures mentioned in "Rock Lobster" by The B-52's include a jellyfish, piranha, bikini whale and narwhal.

Blinded By The LightBruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen wrote "Blinded By The Light," which was a #1 hit for Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The "Madman Drummers" line is a reference to Springsteen's first E-Street drummer, Vinnie "Mad dog" Lopez.

BootyliciousDestiny's Child

In 2004, the word "Bootylicious" made the Oxford English Dictionary, three years after the Destiny's Child song was released. Definition: "Blend of booty buttocks and delicious."

Only The Good Die YoungBilly Joel

"Virginia" in "Only The Good Die Young" is named after a real girl Billy Joel was trying to impress.

Editor's Picks

Jimmy WebbSongwriter Interviews

Webb talks about his classic songs "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman" and "MacArthur Park."

They Might Be GiantsSongwriter Interviews

Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.

AC/DCFact or Fiction

Does Angus really drink himself silly? Did their name come from a sewing machine? See if you can spot the real stories about AC/DC.

Chris Frantz of Talking HeadsSongwriter Interviews

Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz on where the term "new wave" originated, the story of "Naive Melody," and why they never recorded another cover song after "Take Me To The River."

Pete AndersonSongwriter Interviews

Pete produced Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Shocked, Meat Puppets, and a very memorable track for Roy Orbison.

Jackie DeShannon - "Put a Little Love in Your Heart"They're Playing My Song

It wasn't her biggest hit as a songwriter (that would be "Bette Davis Eyes"), but "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" had a family connection for Jackie.