"I Want to Break Free" is a song by the British rock band Queen, written by their bassist John Deacon.

The song is largely known for its music video for which all the band members dressed in drag, a concept proposed by drummer Roger Taylor, which parodied the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street.

The second part of the video included a composition rehearsed and performed with the Royal Ballet and choreographed by Wayne Eagling.

[4] After its release in 1984, the song was well received in Europe and South America and is regarded as an anthem of the fight against oppression.

The keyboard solo was done in one take on a Roland Jupiter-8 synthesizer, except the last note with a portamento down one octave, which was captured via punching in.

The introduction is played on an electronic keyboard and is assisted by cymbals, drums and a guitar (Red Special).

For the Bohemian Rhapsody soundtrack the single introduction is added to the album version creating a 3 minutes 43 seconds edit.

[10][11] The UK 3-inch CD single features "I Want to Break Free" (album version), "Machines" and "It's a Hard Life".

[14] Smash Hits said, "After the masterly pop production of "Radio Ga Ga" comes a big, fat dud: an unfinished song (loosely borrowed from Shirley Bassey's ancient hit "What Now My Love"), an absurd guitar solo and half-hearted performances from all bar Freddie.

[17][18] The video was included in 1991 on VH1's My Generation two-part episode devoted to Queen hosted by guitarist Brian May.

[26] Following in the tradition of cross-dressing in British comedy, the music video for "I Want to Break Free" sees the members of Queen in a suburban house dressed as women, a parody of the characters from the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.

[4] The video opens with a scene of typical British residential streets in the morning, intercut with shots of a teasmade waking Brian May's character up.

It is located on 41 Dorset Mount in real life and has a slightly different floor plan than the set used in the video.

He opens a door leading to a dark space, where the group appear surrounded by figures wearing miner's helmets.

[22] Mercury's character was loosely based on Coronation Street barmaid Bet Lynch, who wants to "break free" from her life.

Deacon appears as a conservative old "grandma", while Taylor plays a schoolgirl with long blonde hair who, like Mercury's character, wants a different life.

[17][30] The composition was choreographed by Wayne Eagling, a friend of Mercury who had helped him with the choreography of "Bohemian Rhapsody".