The March of the Black Queen

The March of the Black Queen is a song composed by Freddie Mercury in 1973. It appears on the British rock band Queen's 1974 LP-album called Queen II. Like the band's famous 1975 song Bohemian Rhapsody, The March of the Black Queen is unusual for popular music in that it contains two different time signatures simultaneously, 8/8 and 12/8. The full piece was too complicated to be performed live by the band.

The two sides of the original Queen II LP-album were labelled "Side White" and "Side Black". Side White has songs with a more emotional theme, and Side Black is mostly about fantasy, often with quite dark themes. All five songs on Side White were written by Brian May, except The Loser in the End which was written by Roger Taylor. All six songs on Side Black were written by Freddie Mercury.

Queen is a British rock band that began in London in 1970. The original band consisted of Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (lead guitar, vocals), Roger Taylor (drums, vocals), and John Deacon (bass guitar). Queen's earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock, and heavy metal.

Freddie Mercury (1946 - 1991) was a British musician, best known as a songwriter and the lead vocalist for Queen. He composed numerous hits and was known for his flamboyant stage personality and powerful vocals over a four-octave range.

In 1992, Freddie Mercury was posthumously awarded the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. As a member of the band Queen, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2002, he was placed at number 58 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. Consistently voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music, Mercury was voted best male singer of all time in a 2005 poll organized by the magazine Blender and the television station MTV2.