Murder, obsession and Victorian art: the story of Queen’s The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke

Queen’s “The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke” grew from Freddie Mercury’s fascination with a Victorian painting by Richard Dadd, whose history of obsession and murder gives the song its unsettling subject. The track turns the painting’s densely packed fantasy scene into an intricate musical miniature, making it one of Queen’s most unusual early compositions.

Dadd painted the work at Bethlem Hospital after murdering his father in 1843, while experiencing severe mental illness. Mercury drew on the painting’s characters and imagery for the song, which appeared on Queen’s 1974 album *Queen II*; its layered vocals and complex arrangement echo the crowded detail of the original artwork.