You Don't Fool Me


"You Don't Fool Me" is a song by Queen, from the 1995 album Made in Heaven. It was released as a single in 1996, containing various remixes of the song. The song is one of the few which were actually written and recorded after the Innuendo sessions, and was written and composed by the band, under David Richards' supervision. It reached the peak of the singles chart in Italy. It was also the final Queen single to be recorded and released with lead-singer Freddie Mercury despite his death being just shy of four years before the album Made in Heaven was released.

Background

"You Don't Fool Me" was one of the last tracks recorded for the album Made in Heaven and came about in a most unusual way. May has explained on his website that the producer for the band, David Richards, more or less created the framework of the song single-handedly, building from bits of lyrics recorded just before Mercury's death. May has said that before Richards' work, there was no song to speak of. However, after Richards edited and mixed the song, he presented it to the remaining members of the band. Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon then added their instruments and backing vocals and were surprised to end up with a finished song that had begun as nothing. The style of the song is reminiscent of their 1982 album Hot Space, and a comment over that featured on their Greatest Hits III album.

Music video

The video is set in a night club where a young man encounters his former girlfriend and recounts the memories of their brief relationship. The theme of the song could possibly be a continuation of the story set up by earlier Queen songs "Play the Game" and "It's a Hard Life".

Personnel

Original version

; CD single
  1. "You Don't Fool Me" — 3:54
  2. "You Don't Fool Me" — 5:25
; CD maxi
  1. "You Don't Fool Me" — 5:25
  2. "You Don't Fool Me" — 3:54
  3. "You Don't Fool Me" — 10:18
  4. "You Don't Fool Me" — 7:07
; 12" maxi - Europe
  1. "You Don't Fool Me"
  2. "You Don't Fool Me"
  3. "You Don't Fool Me"
  4. "You Don't Fool Me"
; 12" maxi - U.S.
  1. "You Don't Fool Me" — 7:02
  2. "You Don't Fool Me" — 5:24
  3. "You Don't Fool Me" — 5:53
  4. "You Don't Fool Me" — 6:33
Some US 12" promos do not feature the album version.

Remixes

; CD single
  1. "You Don't Fool Me" — 3:15
  2. "You Don't Fool Me" — 4:40
; CD maxi - UK release only
  1. "You Don't Fool Me" — 5:24
  2. "You Don't Fool Me" — 7:05
  3. "You Don't Fool Me" — 10:53
  4. "You Don't Fool Me" — 10:34
; 12" maxi - UK release only
  1. "You Don't Fool Me" — 7:05
  2. "You Don't Fool Me" — 10:34
  3. "You Don't Fool Me" — 10:53
  4. "You Don't Fool Me" — 5:24
; Cassette single
  1. "You Don't Fool Me" — 5:24
  2. "You Don't Fool Me" — 7:05
The Sexy Club Mix is the nearly the same on all formats. The UK CD and 12" versions list the wrong time of 10:53, when it should only be 10:18 like the other formats list it. The UK CD version has a mastering error and the first 4 seconds are lost, bringing the running time down to 10:14.

1995 remixes

The "Queen Forever Megamix" features vocal samples from a few different Queen songs, but not "You Don't Fool Me". It was only released on the limited edition orange promo vinyl disc in the UK.

Charts

Chart Peak
position
Austrian Singles Chart23
Belgian Singles Chart13
Belgian Singles Chart14
Dutch Singles Chart22
French SNEP Singles Chart14
German Singles Chart26
Irish Singles Chart23
Swedish Singles Chart52
Swiss Singles Chart27
UK Singles Chart 117

1 Remixes
End of year chart Position
Belgian Singles Chart58
Belgian Singles Chart70
Germany 90