The Ostinato 

In music, an ostinato comes from the Italian word for stubborn, (a bit like the English word obstinate). It is a motif or phrase that keeps repeating in the music – often on the same instrument and at the same pitch. 

Queen and David Bowie

Both of these songs have an ostinato which is played on the bass guitar.  

 "Under Pressure" is a song by the British rock band Queen and singer David Bowie. We have listened to this song before but we are listening to it again as it has such a catchy ostinato. 

It was written by the band and David one day when they were together. Freddie said "We were fooling around and then just sort of jamming with tracks and suddenly we said ‘why don’t we just see what we can do on the spur of the moment?’   

The song is now considered one of the greatest collaborations of all time.   

 The song reached number one on the UK singles chart, becoming Queen's second number-one hit in their home country and Bowie's third, and also charted in the top 10 in more than 10 countries around the world.  

Unfortunately, they never actually performed the song live together. This video is edited together to show them both singing the song. 

Another one bites the dust is a song by Queen. The song is credited as Queen's best-selling single, with sales of over 7 million copies.