Originally intended for Queen's 1989 album,The Miracle, this song never made the final cut. Brian May included it instead on his 1991 solo album Back To The Light. When released as a single, it reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart, and topped the charts in the Netherlands. It was finally released by Queen, with Freddie Mercury on the vocals, on their 1995 album Made In Heaven, released four years after Mercury's death. Queen dropped their version as a single the next year, this time peaking at #15 in the UK. It also charted in North America for the first time.
In 1988 Brian May separated from his first wife, Christine Mullen, the mother of his three children. The Queen guitarist had started an affair with actress Anita Dobson two years earlier (they married in 2000). The song is about May's feelings during his divorce, and the choice one must make between two women that one loves equally.
May wrote the song during a dark time in his life, composing it with his songwriting pal Frank Musker and Musker's lady friend at the time. "It was like a therapy session for me," the guitar legend said. "I was just pouring out all these words because I felt like I was trapped. I was in a place that I could never, ever get out of. All I could do is write about it. This is the only song I wrote in that probably nine months or a year period."
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