Today’s song was originally recorded by The Platters in 1957. Desperate to come up with a follow-up to the very successful Only You, Buck Ram, the band’s producer, says he wrote The Great Pretender in 20 minutes in the toilet of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. The reason I chose this song today is that it was later recorded famously by Freddie Mercury in 1987. Freddie Mercury would be celebrating his 69th birthday today.

If it’s your first time on the site, find out more about the 365 Songs project or see all of my September songs here.

https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/the-great-pretender