"Pain Is So Close to Pleasure" is a song by Queen, included on their 1986 album A Kind of Magic, written by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon, released in the USA and Canada, Germany and the Netherlands as the fourth and fifth single from that album respectively. The single reached #56 at the German charts and #43 on the Dutch charts. "Pain Is So Close to Pleasure" has more than 58,000 hits on Lastfm. Background The song began as a riff idea by Brian May, then Freddie Mercury and John Deacon turned it into a song, with Deacon playing rhythm guitar. The title also appears as a line in "One Year of Love". The version which appears on the single is a remix, rearranging much of the backing track from the original elements. The 12" single features an extended version of this remix, rather than an extended version of the track as it appears on the album. Chart performance Personnel Freddie Mercury – vocals, piano, synthesizer, sampler Brian May – lead guitar Roger Taylor – drums John Deacon – bass guitar, rhythm guitar, synthesizer, drum machine, sampler Spike Edney - synthesizer References External links Lyrics at Queen official website 1986 singles Queen (band) songs Rock ballads Songs written by Freddie Mercury Songs written by John Deacon Song recordings produced by Reinhold Mack EMI Records singles Capitol Records singles Hollywood Records singles British soul songs