For My Sunday Song #228, we are going to discuss the song “The Invisible Man” by Queen from the band’s 1989 album ‘The Miracle’. The song was the third single on the album and reached #12 on the UK Charts. It did not chart in the U.S. In fact, the album didn’t do all that well in the U.S. despite reaching #24 on Billboard. But the song is still one of my favorites on the album and I wanted to have something from ‘The Miracle’ in my 10 song set.
The song was written by Roger Taylor and was inspired by a book he was reading in which the bass line came to him immediately while reading. He titled the song after a book by H.G. Wells called “The Invisible Man”. I am sure you’ve heard of it. Roger doesn’t sing much on the song. He opens the song with saying “I’m the Invisible Man”, but Freddie does all the heavy lifting in the song. And one interesting fact about the song is that is the only Queen song to actually feature every band member’s name in the song. When they say Freddie Mercury, he starts singing. When they John Deacon, there is a heavy bass line going. When they say Brian May, they say it twice and he goes in to a solo. When they say Roger Taylor, he has a quick drum fill. It is all pretty cool.
The song is about a guy he becomes invisible after being rejected by a woman. Now, he actually isn’t invisible physically, only in the fact he is ignored by people and only feels invisible. He can now see right through her and her hidden emotions and the woman suddenly can’t stop thinking of him. He becomes her meanest thought and her darkest fear as the lyrics say. It is an interesting take on invisibility.
Musically, the song is more on the pop side, with some heavy synthesizer usage from David Richards and a constant electronic bass line going throughout. Brian May’s guitar work is nothing short of amazing as usual and a killer solo thrown in. Roger does a rapid fire drum fill to open the song before Freddie starts to sing. There is so much going on in the song that it needs multiple listens to catch it all. It is not a typical song, but when does Queen do typical. This one might be an acquired taste of which I have acquired. If you like different, then this one is it.
Give the song a listen and let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful and Happy Sunday.
“The Invisible Man”
I’m the invisible man
I’m the invisible man
Incredible how you can
See right through me
When you hear a sound
That you just can’t place
Feel somethin’ move
That you just can’t trace
When something sits
On the end of your bed
Don’t turn around
When you hear me tread
I’m the invisible man
I’m the invisible man
Incredible how you can
See right through me
I’m the invisible man
I’m the invisible man
It’s criminal how I can
See right through you
Now I’m in your room
And I’m in your bed
And I’m in your life
And I’m in your head
Like the CIA
Or the FBI
You’ll never get close
Never take me alive
I’m the invisible man
I’m the invisible man
Incredible how you can
See right through me
I’m the invisible man
I’m the invisible man
It’s criminal how I can
See right through you
Hah, hah, hah, hello
Hah, hah, hah, hello
Hah, hah, hah, hello-hello-hello-hello
Never had a real good friend – not a boy or a girl
No-one knows what I’ve been through – let my flag unfurl
So make my mark from the edge of the world
From the edge of the world
From the edge of the world
Now I’m on your track
And I’m in your mind
And I’m on your back
But don’t look behind
I’m your meanest thought
I’m your darkest fear
But I’ll never get caught
You can’t shake me, shake me dear
I’m the invisible man
I’m the invisible man
Incredible how you can
See right through me
I’m the invisible man
I’m the invisible man
It’s criminal how I can
See right through you
Look at me, look at me
Written by Roger Taylor
2 Loud 2 Old Music 
It is amazing to me how long I have been listening to these songs without ever seeing the video. I didn’t even know this was released as a single. I thought it was just a quirky song from The Miricle, lol. I’m pretty sure this is where I learned all of the band members’ names.
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Ha! Yes, it was a great education on band member names. I do love the quirkiness about this one.
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I got a clear vinyl seven inch of this for Christmas one year. Takes me back
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Nice. I hope you still have that.
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I don’t think I do. I’ve lost a lot of records over the years to flood, fire and scorned women
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Scorned women are the worst!! 🙂
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Haha. I miss those records
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I always heard the Ghostbusters vocal melody/phrasing in the verses which was a rip off from a Huey Lewis song. But Queen is Queen and they make it their own.
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Great. Now I am going to have to go listen to it again and see.
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What I remember most about this song was that my buddy T-Rev had a four speaker setup at his place. The remixed version of The Invisible Man from the 1991 Hollywood CD sounded incredible on it! Like it was bouncing around the room. An audio illusion, but an excellent one.
Now I feel like listening to this, and shouting out “JOHN DEACON!” randomly…
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I will have to go listen to that version of the song as that would sound awesome. BRIAN MAY BRAIN MAY…now you have me shouting out their names randomly.
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Rrrrroger Taylor! I can’t think of many songs where all the members get full first and last name shoutouts. Queen could get away with virtually anything, including shouting the bass player’s name on a major single!
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I am sure it educated a lot of people. And yes, Queen could do anything they wanted and it worked…mostly.
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They had a bad rep in North America for some of those albums like The Works, but when I listen to them today, I find a bunch of still great songs.
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I can’t wait to finally do a deep dive in to the band.
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I got that new live album/blu-ray for Xmas and I can’t wait to deep dive into that baby!
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I saw that. I hope you like it. I think Adam does a great job. The video is better than the straight CD for me as the band is very visual and plus you can’t miss the cheerleaders!! 🙂
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I bought The Miracle on cassette tape upon it’s release. I think I need to get this one at some point on vinyl. It had some great stuff on it from what I recall. lol
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It does. It is not my favorite album, but I still enjoy spinning it from time to time.
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Nice point John about Queen never being typical – if you want typical, definitely not the right band!
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Queen on a Sunday. Perfect!
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Yep!!
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The coolest thing about the song is everyone’s name featured in it! “I Want it All” is more my cup of tea, but I like the video game concept of the music video. Two years later after watching the video for the first time, I still don’t get why John Deacon was wearing a cowboy hat!
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No one knows why either.
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The boys should clear this up in an interview one day. Like that will ever happen, but it’ll be nice if they did!
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Great stuff. Really interesting about when the band members names are said they each begin playing.
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I had never picked up on that before.
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I had this album and this one sounded great on headphones…it is a product of it’s times but it’s a good song.
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Yes, I would agree with that statement. It also sounds great on the speakers when they are turned up as loud as they can go and not have the police called.
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