"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album "A Night at the Opera". It is a six-minute suite, consisting of several sections without a chorus: an intro, a ballad segment, an operatic passage, a hard rock part and a reflective coda. The song is a more accessible take on the 1970s progressive rock genre. "Bohemian Rhapsody" topped the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks and had sold more than a million copies by the end of January 1976. In 1991, after Mercury's death, it topped the charts for another five weeks, eventually becoming the UK's third best-selling single of all time.
Introduction
Bohemian Rhapsody
Bohemian Rhapsody | Introduction
1975 Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context. 1975 1975.
of the four galilean moons which is the closest to jupiter
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Io
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who discovered it?
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Galileo Galilei
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who was he?
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An Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer.
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has he invented anything?
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Thermoscope
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what is it used for?
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It is a device that shows changes in temperature.
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is there any references of him in any art form?
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Yes, in the "opera" section of the Queen song, "Bohemian Rhapsody".
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what is this rhapsody?
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A song by the British rock band Queen.
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who wrote it?
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Freddie Mercury
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when was it released?
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The project regained momentum in 2016. It was announced on 4 November that the film had secured the backing of 20th Century Fox, New Regency and GK Films. By this time, the film's working title was "Bohemian Rhapsody", after the band's song of the same name. Freddie Mercury was to be played by Rami Malek, and shooting was scheduled to begin in early 2017. The motion picture was written by Anthony McCarten, with a story by McCarten and Peter Morgan, who received Oscar nominations for his screenplays "The Queen" and "Frost/Nixon". Released in October 2018, "Bohemian Rhapsody" focuses on Queen's formative years and the period leading up to the celebrated performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert.
Queen (band) | "Bohemian Rhapsody"
With the Canadian record-buying public, the single fared better, reaching number one in the "RPM" national singles chart for the week ending 1 May 1976.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Release
"Bohemian Rhapsody" was released as the lead single on 31 October 1975, with "I'm in Love with My Car" as its B-side. Their management initially refused to release it; however, Kenny Everett played a copy of the song on his show 14 times, at which point audience demand for the song intensified and the band's label EMI was forced to release it. It subsequently topped the UK charts for nine weeks and peaked at number nine in the US. A second single, "You're My Best Friend" was released on 18 May 1976, with "'39" as its B-side. It reached number sixteen in the US and number seven in the UK.
A Night at the Opera (Queen album) | Release
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album "A Night at the Opera". It is a six-minute suite, consisting of several sections without a chorus: an intro, a ballad segment, an operatic passage, a hard rock part and a reflective coda. The song is a more accessible take on the 1970s progressive rock genre. "Bohemian Rhapsody" topped the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks and had sold more than a million copies by the end of January 1976. In 1991, after Mercury's death, it topped the charts for another five weeks, eventually becoming the UK's third best-selling single of all time.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Introduction
In the United States, the single was also a success, although to a lesser extent than in the UK. The single, released in December 1975, reached number nine on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of one million copies. In a retrospective article, Anthony DeCurtis of "Rolling Stone" explained why the song performed less strongly in the US charts by saying that it is "the quintessential example of the kind of thing that doesn't exactly go over well in America". Its chart run of 24 weeks, however, placed it at number 18 on "Billboard"s year-end chart, higher than some number ones of the year.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Release
After Mercury's death, the song was rereleased as a double A-side to "These Are the Days of Our Lives" on 9 December 1991 in the UK and 5 September 1991, in US.
A Night at the Opera (Queen album) | "Bohemian Rhapsody"
The Story of Bohemian Rhapsody is a 2004 documentary about the song "Bohemian Rhapsody", written by the lead singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury.
The Story of Bohemian Rhapsody | Introduction
Baker recalled in 1999:
Bohemian Rhapsody | History and recording
The 12" Collection is a compilation album by British rock band Queen. It features various 12-inch single format recordings and remixes. "Bohemian Rhapsody" was never released on a 12-inch single and the sleeve notes state that it is included due to its length. "The Show Must Go On" did appear on a 12-inch single, but not as an extended version. The sleeve notes do not mention why it was included.
The 12&quot; Collection | Introduction
John Ottman, a frequent collaborator of Singer, edited the film's soundtrack. The film lacks an original underscore, deviating from previous Singer-Ottman collaborations on which the latter has also served as composer. An official soundtrack album was released by Hollywood Records and Virgin EMI Records on CD, cassette, and digital formats on 19 October 2018. The album contains several Queen hits and 11 previously unreleased recordings, including five tracks from their 21-minute Live Aid performance in July 1985, which have never before been released in audio form. Vinyl releases (including a picture disc bundle) followed in February and April 2019. The Soundtrack became the sixth best selling album of 2019.
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Music
The official soundtrack album, containing several Queen hits and 11 previously unreleased recordings, including five tracks from their 21-minute Live Aid performance in July 1985 which have never before been released in audio form, was on CD, cassette, and digital formats on 19 October 2018, and was later released on heavyweight vinyl on 8 February 2019. Hollywood Records released the album in the United States and Canada, while Virgin EMI Records handled the global release.
Bohemian Rhapsody: The Original Soundtrack | Background
To mark the 40th anniversary of "Bohemian Rhapsody", the song was released on a limited edition 12" vinyl with the original B-side "I'm In Love With My Car" on 27 November 2015 for Record Store Day 2015. Queen also released "A Night At The Odeon, Live At Hammersmith 75", on CD, DVD-Video and Blu-ray. This includes the first live "professionally" recorded performance of "Bohemian Rhapsody". However, the very first recording and live performance of "Bohemian Rhapsody" was the performance on 14 November 1975 in Liverpool.
Bohemian Rhapsody | 40th anniversary
The film opens in 1985 with an ailing Freddie, and Queen preparing to take the stage at Bob Geldof's benefit concert Live Aid at Wembley Stadium. The story flashes back to 1970 when "Freddie" Farrokh Bulsara works as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport and lives with his parents and sister. Freddie goes to a pub to see the band Smile. As he seeks them out after the show, Freddie is attracted to Mary Austin and learns that she works at the boutique Biba. Freddie finds drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May and learns that their lead singer, Tim Staffell just quit.
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Plot
Both songs have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame; "Bohemian Rhapsody" in 2004 and "We Are the Champions" in 2009. In October 2007 the video for "Bohemian Rhapsody" was voted the greatest of all time by readers of "Q" magazine.
Freddie Mercury | Continued popularity
Fletcher received an executive producer credit and filming concluded in January 2018. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 24 October 2018 and in the United States on 2 November 2018. It received mixed reviews from critics; while Singer's direction, the portrayal of Mercury's sexuality and lives of the other band members were criticized, Malek's performance and the music sequences received praise. The film also contains a number of historical inaccuracies. It became a major box office success, grossing over worldwide on a production budget of about , becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2018 worldwide and setting the all-time box office records for the biopic and drama genres.
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Introduction
The album was first re-released in the U.S. by Hollywood Records on 3 September 1991 with two bonus remixes, as part of a complete re-release of all Queen albums. On 30 April 2002, the album was again re-released on DVD-Audio with a 96kHz/24bit Linear PCM stereo mix and a 5.1-channel mix in DTS 96/24 surround sound for standard DVD-Video players and 96kHz/24bit MLP surround sound for DVD-Audio capable machines. It also includes the original 1975 video of Bohemian Rhapsody. On 21 November 2005, it was once more re-released by Hollywood Records Catalogue Number 2061-62572-2 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the album and its first single, "Bohemian Rhapsody".
A Night at the Opera (Queen album) | Re-releases
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a 2018 biographical film about Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the British rock band Queen. It follows the singer's life from when he joins the band in 1970 to their 1985 Live Aid performance at the former Wembley Stadium in London. A British-American venture, it was produced by 20th Century Fox, New Regency, GK Films, and Queen Films, with Fox serving as distributor. Directed by Bryan Singer, it was written by Anthony McCarten, and produced by Graham King and Queen manager Jim Beach. It stars Rami Malek as Mercury, with Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Tom Hollander, Allen Leech, and Mike Myers in supporting roles.
List of accolades received by Bohemian Rhapsody | Introduction
According to May, much of Queen's material was written in the studio, but this song "was all in Freddie's mind" before they started. In an interview during the band's Australian tour early in 1985, Mercury said, "It was basically three songs that I wanted to put out and I just put the three together." Queen spent a month rehearsing at Ridge Farm Studio in Surrey in mid-1975, and drummer Roger Taylor recalled that "Bohemian Rhapsody" was one of the songs the band worked on while they were there. Recording began on 24 August 1975 at Rockfield Studio 1 near Monmouth, South Wales, after a three-week rehearsal at Penrhos Court, near Kington, Herefordshire.
Bohemian Rhapsody | History and recording
Bohemian Rhapsody: The Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 2018 biographical film of the same name. The soundtrack features several Queen songs and unreleased recordings including several tracks from their legendary concert at Live Aid in 1985. The soundtrack was released by Hollywood Records and Virgin EMI Records on 19 October 2018, on CD, cassette and digital formats. The soundtrack was later released on 8 February 2019, as a vinyl double album specially cut at Abbey Road Studios. A limited and much sought after double picture disc edition of the album, as well as a 7" coloured single featuring the original "Bohemian Rhapsody"/"I'm in Love with My Car" pairing, was also released on Record Store Day, 13 April 2019.
Bohemian Rhapsody: The Original Soundtrack | Introduction
A blast of pyrotechnics after Roger Taylor's high note on the final "for me" would announce the band's return for the hard rock section and closing ballad. Queen played the song in this form all through the Magic Tour of 1986. This style was also used for the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, with Elton John singing the opening ballad and then after the taped operatic section, Axl Rose singing the hard rock section. John and Rose sang the closing ballad part together in a duet.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Live performances
In 1976 concerts where the same medley was played, the operatic section from the album would be played from tape as the introduction to the setlist. During this playback, Mercury would appear briefly to sing live for the line, "I see a little sillhouetto of a man". As the song segued into the hard rock section, the band would emerge on the smoke-filled stage—the playback would end at this point, and the hard rock section would be performed live (without the final ballad section, which appeared later in the set). Starting with the A Day at the Races Tour in 1977, the band adopted their lasting way of playing the song live.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Live performances
The most positive review came from "Sounds", which called it "impossibly disjointed and complex, but a dazzlingly clever epic from the fevered mind of Freddie Mercury".
Bohemian Rhapsody | Critical reception
There were also many sing-along screenings in South Korea and Japan. In China, the film had a limited release on 22 March 2019. Three minutes of the film was censored, including scenes depicting drugs and homosexuality. Part of Rami Malek's Oscar speech, where he referred to Freddie Mercury as "a gay man, an immigrant," was also censored in China. In Egypt, the film was subjected to several cuts before it was permitted to be screened. As Rami Malek is of Egyptian descent, his Oscar win for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury drew congratulations from Egyptian media and government figures. However, Neela Ghoshal of Human Rights Watch stated that the country deserved "an Oscar for hypocrisy" given its prohibition on homosexuals appearing in the media.
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Release
When the band wanted to release the single in 1975, various executives suggested to them that, at 5 minutes and 55 seconds, it was too long and would never be a hit. The song was played to other musicians who commented the band had no hope of it ever being played on radio. According to producer Roy Thomas Baker, he and the band bypassed this corporate decision by playing the song for Capital Radio DJ Kenny Everett: "we had a reel-to-reel copy but we told him he could only have it if he promised not to play it. 'I won't play it,' he said, winking ..." Their plan worked—Everett teased his listeners by playing only parts of the song.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Release
"Bohemian Rhapsody" was written by Mercury with the first guitar solo composed by May. All piano, bass and drum parts, as well as the vocal arrangements, were thought up by Mercury on a daily basis and written down "in blocks" (using note names instead of sheets) on a phonebook. During the recording, the song became affectionately known as "Fred's Thing" to the band, and the title only emerged during the final sessions. The other members recorded their respective instruments with no concept of how their tracks would be utilised in the final mix. The famous operatic section was originally intended to be only a short interlude of "Galileos" that connected the ballad and hard rock portions of the song.
A Night at the Opera (Queen album) | "Bohemian Rhapsody"
The world premiere of "Bohemian Rhapsody" took place in London at Wembley Arena, on 23 October 2018. It was released in the United Kingdom on 24 October 2018 in IMAX, and in the United States on 2 November 2018, by 20th Century Fox. The film had previously been scheduled for release on 25 December 2018. In November 2018, John Ottman announced in an interview that an extended version of the film with cut-out scenes may be released, in a yet unknown format. On 1 January 2019, it was announced that there would be special sing-along screenings simultaneously in cinemas across the United Kingdom with the first screening at Leicester Square's Prince Charles Cinema with others on 11 January 2019.
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Release
Following Everett's escapade in October 1975, Eric Hall, a record plugger, gave a copy to David "Diddy" Hamilton to play on his weekday Radio One show. Hall stated "Monster, Monster! This could be a hit!" The song became the 1975 UK Christmas number one, holding the top position for nine weeks. "Bohemian Rhapsody" was the first song ever to get to number one in the UK twice with the same version, and is also the only single to have been Christmas number one twice with the same version. The second was upon its re-release (as a double A-side single with "These Are the Days of Our Lives") in 1991 following Mercury's death, staying at number one for five weeks.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Release
Bohemian Rhapsody is a 2018 biographical drama film about Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the British rock band Queen. It was directed by Bryan Singer from a screenplay by Anthony McCarten, and produced by Graham King and Queen manager Jim Beach. It stars Rami Malek as Mercury, with Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Tom Hollander, Allen Leech, and Mike Myers in supporting roles. Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor served as consultants. A British-American venture, the film was produced by 20th Century Fox, Regency Enterprises, GK Films, and Queen Films, with Fox serving as distributor.
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Introduction
According to Mercury's friend Chris Smith (a keyboard player in Smile), Mercury first started developing "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the late 1960s; Mercury used to play parts of songs he was writing at the time on the piano, and one of his pieces, known simply as "The Cowboy Song", contained lyrics that ended up in the completed version produced years later, in 1975, specifically, "Mama ... just killed a man." Producer Roy Thomas Baker, who began working with Queen in 1972, related how Mercury once played the opening ballad section on the piano for him in Mercury's flat: "He played the beginning on the piano, then stopped and said, 'And this is where the opera section comes in!' Then we went out to eat dinner." Guitarist Brian May said the band thought that Mercury's blueprint for the song was "intriguing and original, and worthy of work".
Bohemian Rhapsody | History and recording
British rock band Queen (1971-1997) consisted of vocalist Freddie Mercury (d. 1991), guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor, and bassist John Deacon (r. 1997). Founded in 1971, Queen released their self-titled debut album in 1973. Despite not being an immediate success, Queen gained popularity in Britain with their second album "Queen II" in 1974. Their 1975 song, "Bohemian Rhapsody", was number 1 for nine weeks (and a further five weeks in 1991) and is the third biggest selling single of all time in the UK. In the US, "Bohemian Rhapsody" hit the "Billboard" Top 40 charts in three different decades, reaching number 9 in its original 1975 release, number 2 in 1992 after being featured in the film "Wayne's World", and hitting the top 40 once more in 2018 upon the release of the Queen biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody".
Queen discography | Introduction
Plans for a film about Queen were revealed in September 2010 by the band's guitarist Brian May. Covering the period up to Live Aid in 1985, the film was to feature Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury, with Graham King to co-produce, and Peter Morgan to write the screenplay. May confirmed in April 2011 that the production was moving forward. He approved of Baron Cohen as Mercury but had reservations about the project's possible direction. The band's concerns focused on avoiding any harm to Mercury's legacy. In July 2013, Baron Cohen left the project due to creative differences. Allegedly, he had wanted a "gritty R-rated tell-all" focused on Mercury, while the band hoped for a PG-rated film about the band.
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Development
The US ended up with its original edit of Queen's first single release, "Keep Yourself Alive", which had been re-released in the US in 1975 (original release was 1973) after the success of "Bohemian Rhapsody". The US version also added "Under Pressure", Queen's collaboration with David Bowie, which was released the same week as "Greatest Hits" and subsequently topped the UK Singles Chart and reached the top ten in many charts around the world. However, the song was not included on the European versions of "Greatest Hits" – according to Queen's business manager Jim Beach, this was because the longer manufacturing time required to press records in Europe meant that several hundred thousand copies of the album had already been pressed up before the song had been recorded.
Greatest Hits (Queen album) | Release
Two CD singles (one multimedia enhanced) released 6December 1999 and 7" picture disc released 13 December 1999. As "Bohemian Rhapsody" wins "The Song of The Millennium" award, this released as B-side under the title "The Song of The Millennium – Bohemian Rhapsody".
Under Pressure | Track listing
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the film in the United States on DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray on 12 February 2019; with a digital version released 22 January. The UK digital release was scheduled for 16 February 2019, with DVD and Blu-ray/4K Ultra HD on 4 March 2019. The home release includes an extended version of the Live Aid sequence, a 16-minute featurette, a 22-minute documentary, and trailers. In the United Kingdom, it surpassed "" to become the fastest-selling digital download film of all time, selling 265,000 downloads in eight days. It also set the record for the biggest debut on physical disc formats, selling 465,000 discs in its first week.
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Home media
CD1 October 2001 re-release
Bohemian Like You | Track listings
The song was produced by Third Eye Blind's lead singer Stephan Jenkins with Eric Valentine and was released as a single in the fall of 1996. It peaked at number 21 in United Kingdom and number 42 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, staying on the latter chart for 17 weeks. In New Zealand the song reached number two for four nonconsecutive weeks and achieved Platinum status for sales of over 10,000. In Europe the song was a top-twenty hit in several regions, including Scandinavia, Italy and the Netherlands.
List of Bohemian Rhapsody cover versions | Release
The song "Bohemian Rhapsody", written by Freddie Mercury and originally recorded by rock band Queen for their album "A Night at the Opera", has been covered by many different artists.
List of Bohemian Rhapsody cover versions | Introduction
Mercury had continued to record with Queen following his diagnosis, and he was posthumously featured on the band’s final album, "Made in Heaven" (1995). In 1992, his tribute concert was held at Wembley Stadium. His career with Queen was dramatised in the 2018 biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody."
Freddie Mercury | Introduction
"The New York Times" commented that "the song's most distinct feature is the fatalistic lyrics". Mercury refused to explain his composition other than to say it was about relationships; the band is still protective of the song's secret. Brian May supports suggestions that the song contained veiled references to Mercury's personal traumas. He recalls "Freddie was a very complex person: flippant and funny on the surface, but he concealed insecurities and problems in squaring up his life with his childhood. He never explained the lyrics, but I think he put a lot of himself into that song." May, though, says the band had agreed that the core of a lyric was a private issue for the composer.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Lyrics
The film follows the singer's life from the formation of the band up to their 1985 Live Aid performance at the original Wembley Stadium. "Bohemian Rhapsody" was announced in 2010, with Sacha Baron Cohen set to play Mercury. After he left the project in 2013 following creative differences with producers, the project languished for several years before Malek was cast in November 2016. Bryan Singer was the director through most of principal photography, which began in London in September 2017, but was fired in December 2017, for absence and clashing with the cast and crew. Dexter Fletcher, who was originally set to direct the film early in development, was hired to complete the film, although Singer retained sole director credit as per Directors Guild of America guidelines.
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Introduction
The album was re-released in the UK as Top Musicians Play Queen: The Collectors Collection with "Keep Yourself Alive" omitted and a 2010 recording of "Bohemian Rhapsody", with John Wetton on vocals, added.
Dragon Attack: A Tribute to Queen | Introduction
When it came down to releasing the album's first single, Taylor was so fond of his song that he urged Freddie Mercury (author of the first single, "Bohemian Rhapsody") to allow it to be the B-side and locked himself in a cupboard until Mercury agreed. This decision would later become the cause of much internal friction in the band, in that while it was only the B-side, it generated an equal amount of publishing royalties for Taylor as the main single did for Mercury simply because it was the B-side to "Bohemian Rhapsody". The song was often played live during the 1977–81 period.
I'm in Love with My Car | History
tour. Paul Prenter, who is attracted to Freddie, manages Queen's daily schedule. An appearance on "Top of the Pops" gives Queen their first hit, "Killer Queen". Freddie proposes to Mary, but during the band's sold-out U.S. tour, he begins questioning his sexuality.
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Plot
The section concludes with a full choral treatment of the lyric "Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me!", on a block B major chord. Roger Taylor tops the final chord with a falsetto B in the fifth octave (B5). Using the 24-track technology available at the time, the "opera" section took about three weeks to finish. Producer Roy Thomas Baker said, "Every time Freddie came up with another 'Galileo', I would add another piece of tape to the reel." Baker recalls that they kept wearing out the tape, which meant having to do transfers.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Opera (3:05–4:07)
Ross considers it one of her signature songs. The UK release included her 1985 hit "Chain Reaction". It missed the UK Christmas number one spot for 1991 by a couple of hundred units, beaten out by the re-release of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" commemorating the passing of lead singer, Freddie Mercury. The single was awarded a Silver Disc for UK sales exceeding 200,000 copies.
When You Tell Me That You Love Me | Introduction
It is also the only song to reach the UK Christmas number one twice by the same artist. It also topped the charts in countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the Netherlands, becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time selling over six million copies worldwide. In the United States, the song peaked at number nine in 1976, but reached a new peak of number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 after being used in the film "Wayne's World" (1992). In 2018, the release of Queen biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody" brought the song renewed popularity and chart success worldwide.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Introduction
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Bohemian Rhapsody may also refer to:
Bohemian Rhapsody (disambiguation) | Introduction
"These Are the Days of Our Lives" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Although credited to the whole band, it was largely written by their drummer Roger Taylor, and is the eighth track on the band's 1991 album "Innuendo". The song was released as a single in the United States on Freddie Mercury's 45th birthday, 5 September 1991, and as double A-side single in Ireland and the United Kingdom on 9 December, in the wake of Mercury's death, with the Queen track "Bohemian Rhapsody". The double A-side debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart and remained there for five weeks, topped the Irish Singles Chart for six weeks, and reached number 16 in Germany.
These Are the Days of Our Lives | Introduction
The film has grossed over $900 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing musical biographical film of all time. Despite receiving mixed reviews, it won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. Malek received wide acclaim and numerous accolades for his portrayal of Mercury, including the Academy Award for Best Actor. While the Live Aid segment was praised, criticism came from not exploring more complex themes involving Mercury, with the "New York Post"'s Johnny Oleksinski stating, "What we ultimately wanted from Bohemian Rhapsody was not carbon-copied concerts, but behind-closed-doors insight into a deeply private, complicated, internationally beloved superstar." After the release of the film, "Bohemian Rhapsody" re-entered the US "Billboard" Hot 100 for the third time (having previously charted in 1976 and 1992), charting at number 33 on 12 November 2018.
Queen (band) | "Bohemian Rhapsody"
The first trailer for the film was released on 15 May 2018 and with more than 5 million views in the first 24 hours, it was the top trending video on YouTube. Television writer and producer Bryan Fuller argued that the trailer favors Mercury's relationship with women as opposed to men, and also highlighted the absence of the singer's AIDS diagnosis from the synopsis. Instead, it's simply referred to as "a life-threatening illness". Executives stated that the film would acknowledge Mercury's gay relationships. With the release of the trailer, Queen reached three of the top 20 positions on the "Billboard" Hot Rock Songs chart: "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Another One Bites the Dust" and "We Are the Champions".
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Marketing
It was 16-track... The tape had gone over the (recording) head so many times, overdubbing, that the oxide had worn off." This anecdote was later mis-attributed to the "Bohemian Rhapsody" sessions. Despite never being released as a single, it remains a favourite amongst Queen's fans. The full piece was too complicated to be performed live; however, the uptempo section containing the lines "My life is in your hands, I'll foe and I'll fie..." etc. was sometimes included in a live medley, with vocals by Mercury and Taylor, during the 1970s. The opening piano piece is only known to have been played live once, at Providence Civic Center on 14 November 1978 (likely in response to a fan shouting for the song near the beginning of the concert.) After playing the intro the band quickly transitioned into "Bohemian Rhapsody".
Queen II | "The March of the Black Queen"
His funeral service on 27 November in Kensal Green, West London was private, and held in accordance with the Zoroastrian religious faith of his family. "Bohemian Rhapsody" was re-released as a single shortly after Mercury's death, with "These Are the Days of Our Lives" as the double A-side. The music video for "These Are the Days of Our Lives" contains Mercury's final scenes in front of the camera. This track had featured at the beginning of the year on the "Innuendo" album, and the video for it was recorded in May 1991 (which proved to be Mercury's final work with Queen).
Queen (band) | 1988–1992: Mercury's final years
The songs became her second and third Top 10 hits as a solo artist. "Here's the Answer" was officially released in January 1961, but did not chart any "Billboard" list.
Here's the Answer | Release
Commenting on bohemianism, Judith Peraino said, "Mercury intended ... [this song] to be a 'mock opera', something outside the norm of rock songs, and it does follow a certain operatic logic: choruses of multi-tracked voices alternate with aria-like solos, the emotions are excessive, the plot confusing." "Bohemian Rhapsody" begins with an introduction, then goes into a piano ballad, before a guitar solo leads to an operatic interlude. A hard rock part follows this and it concludes with a coda. The song is in the keys of B major, E major, A major and F major, and is predominantly in meter.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Composition and analysis
Rhapsody in Blue is a 1945 fictionalized screen biography of the American composer and musician George Gershwin (1898–1937) released by Warner Brothers.
Rhapsody in Blue (film) | Introduction
Originally titled "Freddie's Overture", it was one of the last numbers to be written (early 1988). The song was originally released as a CD single in Japan with other tracks from the LP, "How Can I Go On" and "Overture Piccante" which was then released as a maxi CD single in the Netherlands in 2000.
Barcelona (Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé album) | "Guide Me Home"
All-in-all the studio spent $121 million promoting the film. On 11 June 2018, at CineEurope, an early showing of the film closed the show with appearances by Rami Malek and producer Graham King and special appearances by Brian May and Roger Taylor, who were playing a concert of Queen + Adam Lambert in Barcelona.
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Marketing
The end of this section is marked by the bass entrance and the cross-handed piano vamp in B.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Intro (0:00–0:49)
On 4 November 2016, it was announced that Rami Malek would star as Freddie Mercury, after the producers saw his work in "Mr. Robot". He had to make a pre-recording at Abbey Road Studios, which was sent to Queen members for approval. On 21 August 2017, additional cast members were announced: Ben Hardy as drummer Roger Taylor, Gwilym Lee as lead guitarist Brian May, and Joseph Mazzello as bass guitarist John Deacon. On 30 August 2017, it was reported that Allen Leech had been cast in the film to play Mercury's personal manager, Paul Prenter, who worked for him from 1977 to 1987, when he was fired for betraying Mercury by selling his personal information to UK newspapers.
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Casting
During the making of the track, four additional studios – Roundhouse, Sarm East Studios, Scorpio Sound, and Wessex Sound Studios – were used. According to some band members, Mercury mentally prepared the song beforehand and directed the band throughout. Mercury used a C. Bechstein concert grand piano, which he played in the promotional video and the UK tour. Due to the elaborate nature of the song, it was recorded in various sections. The piano was the same one Paul McCartney used to record the Beatles' song "Hey Jude", as well as the same one Rick Wakeman used on David Bowie's 1971 album "Hunky Dory".
Bohemian Rhapsody | History and recording
2), Adele's "Someone like You" (No. 3), Oasis' "Don't Look Back in Anger" (No. 4) and The Beatles' "Hey Jude" (No. 5). The song was also ranked No. 5 in RadioMafia's list of "Top 500 Songs".
Bohemian Rhapsody | Polls
Freddie offers himself as a replacement and impresses them with his vocal ability. Freddie goes to Biba, encounters Mary, and they become a couple. With Freddie as the lead singer and new bassist John Deacon, the band plays pub gigs across Britain. Freddie urges them to think bigger and sell their van to finance a record album. As they work in a studio late at night, an A&R rep from EMI asks engineer Roy Thomas Baker for demos. Freddie changes the band's name to Queen and his name to Freddie Mercury. They sign with John Reid, Elton John's manager, and land a U.S.
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Plot
The narrator bids the world goodbye announcing he has "got to go" and prepares to "face the truth" admitting "I don't want to die / I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all." This is where the guitar solo enters.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Ballad (0:49–2:37)
Initially following the song's release, the operatic middle section proved a problem for the band. Because of extensive multi-tracking, it could not be performed on stage. The band did not have enough of a break between the Sheer Heart Attack and A Night at the Opera tours to find a way to make it work live, so they split the song into three sections that were played throughout the night. The opening and closing ballads were played as part of a medley, with "Killer Queen" and "March of the Black Queen" taking the place of the operatic and hard rock sections.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Live performances
"" received an American Music Award for Top Soundtrack.
Queen (band) | "Bohemian Rhapsody"
In 1977, "Bohemian Rhapsody" received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus and Best Arrangement for Voices.
A Night at the Opera (Queen album) | Accolades
The song was released as a single and is also included in the following albums and box sets: "Queen", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "15 Of The Best", "Queen Live In Concert", "Greatest Hits" and "The Singles Collection Volume 1". The single was mostly distributed in 1978, on 7-inch vinyl records, with "Fat Bottomed Girls" on the B-side and EMI record label. In Argentina, the titles were translated as "" and "" respectively. The labels were changed to Pepita in Hungary and to Elektra in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. The Polish issue had the label of Tonpress and either "Spread Your Wings" or nothing on the B-side.
Bicycle Race | Distribution
The song was regularly performed between 1974 and 1981 as part of a medley. In 1974–75, the song was played following "In the Lap of the Gods", and in 1975–76, the song followed "Bohemian Rhapsody". In 1984 and 1985, during The Works Tour, it was reintroduced in a medley following a truncated version of "Somebody to Love".
Killer Queen | Live performances
The disc artwork features photography by Denis O'Regan In November 2019 the soundtrack received an American Music Award for Top Soundtrack.
Bohemian Rhapsody: The Original Soundtrack | Introduction
"Mustapha" is a song written by Freddie Mercury. It was released as a single in 1979. The lyrics consist of English, Arabic, Persian and possibly a number of invented words. Some understandable words are "Mustapha", "Ibrahim" and the phrases "Allah, Allah, Allah will pray for you", "salaam alaykum" and "alaykum salaam". In live performances, such as the performance on "Live Killers", Mercury would often sing the opening vocals of "Mustapha" in place of the complex introduction to "Bohemian Rhapsody", going from "Allah, will pray for you" to "Mama, just killed a man...". However, sometimes the band performed an almost full version of the song, with Mercury at the piano.
Jazz (Queen album) | "Mustapha"
The song was recorded by Lake in 1974 and released separately from ELP in 1975, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart. It was kept from number one by Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". Lake commented: "I got beaten by one of the greatest records ever made. I would’ve been pissed off if I’d been beaten by Cliff (Richard)." However, orchestrator Godfrey Salmon was less charitable: "I was surprised the single wasn’t more successful. I thought 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was rubbish, and still do. When it got to No 1 before we’d even brought ours out, I thought it would be long gone by Christmas.
I Believe in Father Christmas | Release
The song begins with a close five-part harmony a cappella introduction in B major—as evidenced by the presence of a V–I cadence (F7–B) multi-track recordings of Mercury although the video has all four members lip-syncing this part. The lyrics question whether life is "real" or "just fantasy caught in a landslide" before concluding that there can be "no escape from reality". After 20 seconds, the grand piano enters, the song modulates briefly to E major and Mercury's voice alternates with the other vocal parts. The narrator introduces himself as "just a poor boy" but declares that he "needs no sympathy" because he is "easy come, easy go" and then "little high, little low" (when heard in stereo, the words "little high" come from the left speaker and the "little low" comes from the right); chromatic side-slipping on "easy come, easy go" highlights the dream-like atmosphere.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Intro (0:00–0:49)
Due to popular demand, Virgin/EMI released the CD in the U.S. and Canada on 14 October 2008. It is identical to the one released by "The Mail on Sunday" except it comes in a standard jewel case and the booklet contains the song-by-song comments that were published in the newspaper. It has also been released as a digital download on iTunes. A limited red vinyl version was released in March 2015 to celebrate the opening of "David Bowie Is" exhibition in Philharmonie de Paris, France.
ISelect | Commercial release
After Mercury plays ascending octaves of notes from the B mixolydian mode (composed of the notes from the E scale), the song then returns to the tempo and form of the introduction, initially in E major, before quickly modulating to C minor, only to soon go through an abrupt short series of modulations, bringing it back to C minor again in time for the final "nothing really matters" section. A guitar accompanies the chorus "ooh, ooh yeah, ooh yeah." A double-tracked twin guitar melody is played through an amplifier designed by John Deacon, affectionately nicknamed the "Deacy Amp". Mercury's line "Nothing really matters..." appears again, "cradled by light piano arpeggios suggesting both resignation (minor tonalities) and a new sense of freedom in the wide vocal span".
Bohemian Rhapsody | Outro (4:54–5:55)
At the time the single was released, it was being promoted on television with one of the first purpose-made promotional films in the pop era, produced and directed by their co-manager Alex Wharton (the father of DJ Sonny Wharton). The short film clip used to promote the single predates Queen's similar "Bohemian Rhapsody" video by a decade. It also predates what The Beatles did with promotional films of their singles "Rain" and "Paperback Writer", both released in 1966, although The Beatles had done promotional films in 1964 and 1965. The song reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in late January 1965.
Go Now | Promotion and chart success
Pre-production began in July 2017 in the United Kingdom, with principal photography commencing in London in September 2017. Queen archivist Greg Brooks was instrumental in helping recreate each scene to make it as true to life as possible. He worked daily with Fox for months from the beginning, providing answers to questions. There were about a hundred extras, who were all individually scanned 360° and digitally replicated to imitate a larger crowd. The entire Live Aid performance was filmed on a giant set at the former airfield RAF Bovingdon, but in the final cut "We Will Rock You" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" were cut out.
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Filming
It peaked at number 2 on the "Billboard" 200 in its 18th week, becoming Queen's second-highest charting album in the country. It was the 6th best selling album in the 2019 UK end of year charts. The soundtrack has been certified Platinum in several countries including the UK, Australia, and Japan.
Bohemian Rhapsody: The Original Soundtrack | Commercial performance
A rapid series of rhythmic and harmonic changes introduces a pseudo-operatic midsection, which contains the bulk of the elaborate vocal multi-tracking, depicting the narrator's descent into hell. While the underlying pulse of the song is maintained, the dynamics vary greatly from bar to bar, from only Mercury's voice accompanied by a piano to a multi-voice choir supported by drums, bass, piano, and timpani. The choir effect was created by having May, Mercury, and Taylor repeatedly sing their vocal parts, resulting in 180 separate overdubs. These overdubs were then combined into successive submixes. According to Roger Taylor, the voices of May, Mercury, and himself combined created a wide vocal range: "Brian could get down quite low, Freddie had a powerful voice through the middle, and I was good at the high stuff." The band wanted to create "a wall of sound, that starts down and goes all the way up".
Bohemian Rhapsody | Opera (3:05–4:07)
It peaked at number four on the US "Billboard" 200 and became the band's first platinum-certified album in the US. The worldwide sales for the album are over six million copies. It also produced the band's most successful single in the UK, "Bohemian Rhapsody", which became their first UK number one. Despite being twice as long as the average length of singles during the 1970s, the song became immensely popular worldwide.
A Night at the Opera (Queen album) | Introduction
In a 1974 interview with "Melody Maker", Mercury, who had been working on the song even before Queen formed, said, "... that song took me ages to complete. I wanted to give it everything, to be self-indulgent or whatever." The multifaceted composition, the band's second longest (6:34), is one of two Queen songs (the other being "Bohemian Rhapsody") containing polyrhythm/polymeter (two different time signatures simultaneously 8/8 and 12/8) and a simpler polyrhythm around the end uptempo section, which is very rare for popular music. The lead vocals cover two and a half octaves (G2 – C5). May regards it as a precursor to "Bohemian Rhapsody", stating, "You've got to bear in mind that we'd already made 'My Fairy King' on the first album and we'd done 'The March of the Black Queen' on the second album, so we were well in tune with Freddie's excursions into strange areas, and that was something that we really enjoyed." Taylor recalled in a 1977 interview, "The tape went transparent, genuinely...
Queen II | "The March of the Black Queen"
The "a cappella" opening was too complex to perform live, so Mercury tried various ways of introducing the song. When the song "Mustapha" became a live favourite, Mercury would often sub in that song's "a cappella" opening, which was easier to reproduce live as it was only one voice. During the Hot Space Tour, and occasionally at other times, Mercury would do a piano improvisation (generally the introduction to "Death on Two Legs") that ended with the first notes of the song. Often, the preceding song would end, and Mercury would sit at the piano, say a quick word, and start playing the ballad section.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Live performances
Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live in Budapest is a concert film of the British rock band Queen's performance at the Népstadion in Budapest on 27 July 1986. It was part of the band's final tour with original lead singer Freddie Mercury, The Magic Tour. Queen were one of the few bands from Western Europe to perform in the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. The film had a limited release in theatres worldwide on 20 September 2012. The concert was released on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time on 5 November 2012 worldwide, except in the United States where it was released a day later.
Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live in Budapest | Introduction
Audience demand intensified when Everett played the full song on his show 14 times in two days. Hordes of fans attempted to buy the single the following Monday, only to be told by record stores that it had not yet been released. The same weekend, Paul Drew, who ran the RKO General stations in the States, heard the track on Everett's show in London. Drew managed to get a copy of the tape and started to play it in the States, which forced the hand of Queen's US label, Elektra. In an interview with "Sound on Sound", Baker reflects that "it was a strange situation where radio on both sides of the Atlantic was breaking a record that the record companies said would never get airplay!" Eventually the unedited single was released, with "I'm in Love with My Car" as the B-side.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Release
Queen had embraced progressive rock as one of their many diverse influences. "Bohemian Rhapsody" parodies many different elements of opera by using bombastic choruses, sarcastic recitative and distorted Italian operatic phraseology. An embryonic version of this style had already been used in Mercury's earlier compositions for the band "My Fairy King" (1973) and "The March of the Black Queen" (1974).
Bohemian Rhapsody | Composition and analysis
The second disc also contains some extras, such as a documentary about "Bohemian Rhapsody" called "Inside the Rhapsody" and a photo gallery. A Flames version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" is available. Audio commentaries by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon are taken from previously recorded interviews whilst Brian May and Roger Taylor have recorded new commentaries for the DVD. Both confessed they have few memories of many of the videos because they did not see them for a long time prior to the commentary being recorded.
Greatest Video Hits 1 | Disc 2
In a BBC Three documentary about the making of "Bohemian Rhapsody", Roger Taylor maintains that the true meaning of the song is "fairly self-explanatory with just a bit of nonsense in the middle". When the band released a "Greatest Hits" cassette in Iran, a leaflet in Persian was included with translation and explanations (refers to a book published in Iran called "The March of the Black Queen" by Sarah Sefati and Farhad Arkani, which included the whole biography of the band and complete lyrics with Persian translation (2000)). In the explanation, Queen states that "Bohemian Rhapsody" is about a young man who has accidentally killed someone and, like Faust, sold his soul to the devil.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Lyrics
The song has won numerous awards and has been covered and parodied by many artists. In 1977 "Bohemian Rhapsody" received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus and Best Arrangement for Voices. (The winners were Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now," and Starland Vocal Band's "Afternoon Delight," respectively.) In 1977, only two years after its release, the British Phonographic Industry named "Bohemian Rhapsody" as the best British single of the period 1952–77. It is a regular entry in greatest-songs polls, and it was named by the Guinness Book of Records in 2002 as the top British single of all time.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Achievements and accolades
The critical response to "Bohemian Rhapsody" made it one of the worst-reviewed films to win a Best Picture award at the Golden Globe Awards (lowest Rotten Tomatoes score since "Out of Africa" in 1986, with a 60%), as well as to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards (worst since "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" in 2012, with a 46%). Owen Gleiberman of "Variety" wrote: "Rami Malek does a commanding job of channeling Freddie Mercury's flamboyant rock-god bravura, but Bryan Singer's middle-of-the-road Queen biopic rarely lives up to the authenticity of its lead performance." Paul Whitington, writing for the "Irish Independent", gave the film 3/5 stars, saying: ""Bohemian Rhapsody" is not big on subtlety: it tells Freddie's story loudly, taking dramatic shortcuts, over-neatly conflating events and reducing most of the surrounding characters to single dimensions.
Bohemian Rhapsody (film) | Critical response
During "Bohemian Rhapsody", Freddie's vocal and piano part, along with video footage from Queen's 1986 show at Wembley Stadium would be used, while the rest of the band would play live music. After the operatic section, Rodgers would sing the heavy part, while the closing lines of the song would be an interchanging duet between Rodgers and Mercury. The song would end with Mercury taking a bow to the crowd, and the band would leave the stage. For the encore, a largely rigid line up of "The Show Must Go On", "All Right Now", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions" would be played, before the band would leave the stage, Taylor throwing his drumsticks into the audience.
Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour | The show
The concert was originally released in VHS form (usually in two-tape releases worldwide), but due to time limitations, "Love of My Life" and "More Than Words" by Extreme, "Animal" and "Let's Get Rocked" by Def Leppard, Spinal Tap's "The Majesty of Rock", U2's "Until The End of the World", Mango Groove's "Special Star" and Robert Plant's version of "Innuendo" were removed from the original release. The US release also omitted Bob Geldof's performance of "Too Late God", and Zucchero Fornaciari's performance of "Las Palabras de Amor". In April 2002, for the 10th anniversary of the Mercury Phoenix Trust, the second half of the concert (featuring the performances by the surviving members of Queen) was released on DVD and entered the UK charts at No.
The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert | Home releases
The Iranian authorities permitted an album of songs by English rock band Queen to be released in Iran in August 2004, partly because the song "Bohemian Rhapsody" contains several exclamations of the word "Bismillah".
Basmala | In popular culture
After the line "nothing really matters" is repeated multiple times, the song finally concludes in the key of E major, but then changes again to F major just before it ends. The final line, "Any way the wind blows", is followed by the quiet sound of a large tam-tam that finally expels the tension built up throughout the song.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Outro (4:54–5:55)
In an article in "The Atlantic Monthly" in 1955, Leonard Bernstein, who nevertheless admitted that he loved the piece, wrote:
Rhapsody in Blue | Responses
The operatic section leads into a rock interlude with a guitar riff written by Mercury. At 4:15, a quadruple-tracked Mercury (in stereo, the four parts are panned two on the left and two on the right) sings angry lyrics addressed to an unspecified "you", accusing them of betrayal and abuse and insisting "can't do this to me, baby", before the final lines conclude that the singer "just gotta get right outta" an unspecified "here". Three ascending guitar runs follow. Mercury then plays a similar B run on the piano, as the song builds up to the finale with a "ritardando".
Bohemian Rhapsody | Hard rock (4:07–4:54)
The album was officially released on September 12, 1963, on Decca Records, later peaking at #39 on the "Billboard" 200 albums chart.
...&quot;Let Me Sing&quot; | Release
The cover was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on 12 June 2018.
List of Bohemian Rhapsody cover versions | Panic! at the Disco version
Although the song has become one of the most revered in popular music history, the initial critical reaction was mixed. The UK music papers reacted with bemusement, recognising that the song was original and technically accomplished, but they mostly remained indifferent. Pete Erskine of "NME" observed that, "It'll be interesting to see whether it'll be played in its entirety on the radio. It's performed extremely well, but more in terms of production than anything else... Someone somewhere has decided that the boys' next release must sound 'epic'. And it does. They sound extremely self-important." Allan Jones of "Melody Maker" was unimpressed, describing the song as "a superficially impressive pastiche of incongruous musical styles" and that Queen "contrived to approximate the demented fury of the Balham Amateur Operatic Society performing "The Pirates of Penzance"...
Bohemian Rhapsody | Critical reception
The first volume was released 5 November 2001, and entered the compilations charts at #5. It featured twenty tracks on CD1 and twenty one on CD2. It opens with an exclusive version of the Queen song "Tie Your Mother Down" subtitled "(Air Guitar Edit)", which features a different intro (a snippet of the song "We Will Rock You") than the original version (which was sometimes credited separately from the song). Also on the album was another Queen song, "Bohemian Rhapsody", the four-minute edit of the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Freebird", and many other songs, including a rare appearance from The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
The Best... Album in the World...Ever! | Volume 1 (2001)
Though the entire Gershwin project may take 30 to 40 years to complete, it is likely that Second Rhapsody will be an early release.
Second Rhapsody | Preservation status
The album was completed a week before the group were to embark on their A Night at the Opera Tour in support of the album. This resulted in a 36-hour mixing session, as the group wanted to have time to rehearse their setlist before touring. Due to time constraints, the group only had three and a half days to rehearse, at Elstree, with four hours taken off to shoot the music video for "Bohemian Rhapsody". The tour spanned 1975 and 1976, and covered the UK, the US, Japan, and Australia.
A Night at the Opera (Queen album) | Release