"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
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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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"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
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Bohemian Rhapsody may also refer to:
Bohemian Rhapsody (disambiguation) | Introduction
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
"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 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
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
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
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
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)
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 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
Towards the end of the ballad section, the band builds in intensity, incorporating a guitar solo (in E major) played and composed by Brian May. The intensity continues to build, but once the bass line completes its descent establishing modulation to the new key (A major), the entire band cuts out abruptly at 3:03 except for quiet, staccato A major quaver (eighth-note) chords on the piano, marking the start of the "Opera" section.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Guitar solo (2:37–3:05)
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)
"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 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)
Baker recalled in 1999:
Bohemian Rhapsody | History and recording
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 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)
"" received an American Music Award for Top Soundtrack.
Queen (band) | "Bohemian Rhapsody"
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
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" 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
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
The interlude is full of "obscure classical characters: Scaramouche, a clown from the "Commedia dell'arte"; astronomer Galileo; Figaro, the principal character in Beaumarchais' "The Barber of Seville" and "The Marriage of Figaro"; and Beelzebub, identified in the Christian New Testament as Satan, Prince of Demons, but in Arabic as "Lord of the Flies". Also in Arabic the word "Bismillah'," which is a noun from a phrase in the Qur'an; ""Bismi-llahi r-rahmani r-rahiim"," meaning "In the name of God, most gracious, most merciful". Despite being twice as long as the average single in 1975 and garnering mixed critical reviews initially, the song became immensely popular, topping charts worldwide (where it remained for an unprecedented nine weeks in the UK) and is widely regarded as one of the most significant rock songs in history.
A Night at the Opera (Queen album) | "Bohemian Rhapsody"
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)
The band used the bell effect for lyrics "Magnifico" and "Let me go". Also, on "Let him go", Taylor singing the top section carries his note on further after the rest of the "choir" have stopped singing. Lyrical references in this passage include Scaramouche, the fandango, Galileo Galilei, Figaro, Beelzebub and Bismillah, as rival factions fight over the narrator's soul, some wishing to "let [him] go" and "spare him his life from this monstrosity", while others sending him "thunderbolts and lightning,/very, very fright'ning [him]". According to "Freddie Mercury: The Definitive Biography" by Lesley-Ann Jones' theory: It is also a figurative representation of the four members, Mercury, May, Taylor and Deacon respectively.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Opera (3:05–4:07)
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)
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
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"
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"
This musical format of writing a song as a suite with changes in style, tone and tempo throughout was uncommon in most mainstream pop and rock music but common in progressive rock. The genre had reached its artistic and commercial zenith between 1970 and 1975 in the music of British bands such as Jethro Tull, Yes, Genesis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Gentle Giant, Van der Graaf Generator and Curved Air. The music of progressive rock was characterised by dramatic contrasts, frequent shifts in tempo and in rhythmic character from one section of a composition to the next. Bands from the genre had blended rock with classical music, its structural features and compositional practices, as well as using classical music instrumentation.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Composition and analysis
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
The piano begins in B major along with the entrance of John Deacon's bass guitar, marking the onset of this section. After it plays twice, Mercury's vocals enter. Throughout the section, the vocals evolve from a softly sung harmony to an impassioned solo performance by Mercury. The narrator explains to his mother that he has "just killed a man," with "a gun against his head" and in doing so, has thrown his life away. This "confessional" section, Whiteley comments, is "affirmative of the nurturant and life-giving force of the feminine and the need for absolution". In the middle of the verse (1:19), Taylor's drums enter, and a descending chromatic run leads to a temporary modulation to E major (up one fourth).
Bohemian Rhapsody | Ballad (0:49–2:37)
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)
The concert title is a play on the "Hungarian Rhapsodies" by Franz Liszt and one of Queen's most celebrated hits, "Bohemian Rhapsody".
Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live in Budapest | Introduction
The Bohemian Girl is an English Romantic opera composed by Michael William Balfe with a libretto by Alfred Bunn. The plot is loosely based on a Miguel de Cervantes' tale, "La Gitanilla". The best-known aria from the piece is "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls" in which the main character, Arline, describes her vague memories of her childhood. It has been recorded by many artists, most famously by Dame Joan Sutherland, and also by the Norwegian soprano Sissel Kyrkjebø and Irish singer Enya.
The Bohemian Girl | Introduction
"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
In the "Classic Albums" documentary about the making of "A Night at the Opera", Brian May stated that the band was somewhat taken aback at first by the bitterness of Mercury's lyrics, and described by Mercury as being "so vindictive that he [May] felt bad singing it". After the song came together, it was agreed that the "author should have his way", and the song was recorded as written. As with "Bohemian Rhapsody", most of the guitar parts on this song were initially played on piano by Mercury, to demonstrate to May how they needed to be played on guitar.
A Night at the Opera (Queen album) | "Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...)"
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
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)
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
Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by American composer George Gershwin. It may also refer to:
Rhapsody in Blue (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
On the night before his execution, he calls for God saying, "Bismillah" ("In the name of God" in Arabic), and with the help of angels, regains his soul from Shaitan (the devil in Islam). Despite this, critics, both journalistic and academic, have speculated over the meaning behind the song's lyrics. Some believe the lyrics describe a suicidal murderer haunted by demons or depict events just preceding an execution. The latter explanation points to Albert Camus's novel "The Stranger", in which a young man confesses to an impulsive murder and has an epiphany before he is executed, as probable inspiration. Others believe the lyrics were only written to fit with the music, and have no meaning; the DJ, television entertainer and comedian Kenny Everett, who played an influential role in popularising the single on his radio show on Capital Radio, quoted Mercury as claiming the lyrics were simply "random rhyming nonsense".
Bohemian Rhapsody | Lyrics
"Rhapsody", Op. 1, Sz. 26, BB 36, is a composition for piano by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. It was finished in 1904. A year later, he wrote a version for piano and orchestra. The catalogue number of this composition is Op. 1, Sz. 26. The initial full-length composition for piano eventually received a catalogue number BB 36a, whereas the second version, with piano and orchestra, received a catalogue number BB 36b.
Rhapsody, Op. 1 (Bartók) | Introduction
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
After completing the song, which ends up with mosaic of all the characters singing, it is revealed that this was one side of a computer video conference with Kermit the Frog, who laments his decision for that type of meeting to Scooter. The video presents an abridged version of Queen's song with some lyric alterations to retain the appropriateness of the characters for a family audience. For example, within the first stanza of the ballad portion of the song, the lyrics where the singer laments to his mother that he "just killed a man" are replaced by Animal calling out repeatedly for "mama".
List of Bohemian Rhapsody cover versions | Video
"You're My Best Friend" was the first Queen single to be written by John Deacon. He composed it while he was learning to play piano, and played the Wurlitzer electric piano (which Mercury called a "horrible" instrument in an interview) on the recording and overdubbed the bass guitar afterwards. The song was written for his wife, Veronica Tetzlaff. The song was released as the album's second single after "Bohemian Rhapsody" and was also a top 10 hit in the UK.
A Night at the Opera (Queen album) | "You're My Best Friend"
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
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
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"
"The New Rolling Stone Album Guide" described it as "either a prog-rock benchmark or the most convoluted novelty song ever recorded". Writing for the BBC in 2015, the "Chicago Tribune"s music critic Greg Kot called it a "prog-rock pocket operetta" and said the song's "reign as a work of wigged-out genius rather than a dated gimmick testifies to its go-for-broke attitude—one that has resonated across generations". In 2009, "The Guardian"s music critic, Tom Service, examined the song's relationship with the traditions of classical music, describing its popularity as "one of the strangest musical phenomena out there":
Bohemian Rhapsody | Musical impact
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 work is notable for its extensive use of descriptive instructions: only two staves have no such markings.
Rhapsody (Osborne) | Introduction
The song has been described as "reminiscent" of "Bohemian Rhapsody" because it was "harking back to their progressive rock roots". It features a flamenco guitar section performed by Yes guitarist Steve Howe and Brian May, an operatic interlude and sections of hard rock that recall early Queen, in addition to lyrics inspired in part by Mercury's illness; although media stories about his health were being denied strenuously, he was by now seriously ill with AIDS, which would claim his life in November 1991, 10 months after the song was released. The song was accompanied by a music video featuring animated representations of the band on a cinema screen akin to "Nineteen Eighty-Four", eerie plasticine figure stop-motion and harrowing imagery; it has been described as one of the band's darkest and most moving works.
Innuendo (song) | Introduction
In an article in "The Atlantic Monthly" in 1955, Leonard Bernstein, who nevertheless admitted that he loved the piece, wrote:
Rhapsody in Blue | Responses
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
Other aspects of the lyrics are changed for humorous purposes surrounding the Muppets characters. Pepe the King Prawn starts the opera portion of the song stating that he sees "a little silhouetto of a clam". The back-and-forth lyrics, "Bismillah! No! We will not let you go...let him go!", are replaced with Fozzie Bear begging "Let me joke" to Statler and Waldorf, who state "[We] do not like your jokes". The line "Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me" is replaced with the remaining Muppets who have not been in the video singing "Does anyone know if there is a part for me?" The first two lines of the hard rock section, here performed by Dr.
List of Bohemian Rhapsody cover versions | Video
Rhapsody is a 1915 piece for piano solo by the English composer John Ireland. A performance takes about 8 minutes. "BBC Music Magazine" (September 2010) called it "one of Ireland’s most important piano works". In the "Gramophone Awards Issue" 2010, Andrew Achenbach described it as a "magnificently stormy essay". According to "Muso Magazine" (August 2010), it "contains the sort of wacky virtuosity found in Debussy's "L'isle joyeuse"" (1904).
Rhapsody (John Ireland) | Introduction
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
"Bohemian Rhapsody" has been affiliated to the genres of progressive rock (sometimes called symphonic rock), hard rock, and progressive pop. The song is highly unusual for a popular single in featuring no chorus, combining disparate musical styles and containing lyrics which eschew conventional love-based narratives for allusions to murder and nihilism. The Beach Boys' 1966 single "Good Vibrations", which also consisted of disparate music sections recorded separately, was a precursor to "Bohemian Rhapsody". Music scholar Sheila Whiteley suggests that "the title draws strongly on contemporary rock ideology, the individualism of the "bohemian" artists' world, with "rhapsody" affirming the romantic ideals of art rock".
Bohemian Rhapsody | Composition and analysis
The opening ballad would be played on stage, and after Brian May's guitar solo, the lights would go down, the band would leave the stage, and the operatic section would be played from tape, while coloured stage lights provided a light show based around the voices of the opera section. Most playings of the opera section from the tape would often be accompanied by a portion of the song's music video containing the footage used for the operatic portion of the song. Other playings would be played over montages of footage filmed from the band members' other experiences throughout their daily lives.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Live performances
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
'Bohemian Rhapsody' is full of drama, passion and romance and sounds rather like one of those mini-opera affairs that Pete Townsend ["sic"] used to tack on to the end of Who albums", before concluding, "The significance of the composition eludes me totally, though I must admit to finding it horrifically fascinating. It's likely to be a hit of enormous proportions despite its length." Ray Fox-Cumming of "Record Mirror" was also left unmoved, saying, "It has no immediate selling point whatsoever: among its many parts. there's scarcely a shred of a tune and certainly no one line to latch onto. There's no denying that it's devilishly clever, encompassing everything from bits of operatic harmonies to snatches that sound like Sparks and David Cassidy, but, in the end the whole adds up to less than the sum of its parts." He did, however, say that it was "unthinkable" that it wouldn't be a hit.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Critical reception
The band only played the ballad section of "Bohemian Rhapsody" as part of a medley with older material, and the only other "Opera" track was "God Save The Queen" played on tape at the very end of the show.
A Night at the Odeon – Hammersmith 1975 | Background
"Innuendo" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Written by Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor but credited to Queen, it is the opening track on the album of the same name, and was released as the first single from the album. The single debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart in January 1991, the band's first number one hit since "Under Pressure" in 1981, and additionally reached the top ten in ten other countries. At six and a half minutes, it is one of Queen's epic songs and their longest ever released as a single, exceeding "Bohemian Rhapsody" by 35 seconds.
Innuendo (song) | Introduction
The narrator makes the second of several invocations to his "mama" in the new key, continuing the original theme. The narrator explains his regret over "mak[ing] you cry" and urging "mama" to "carry on as if nothing really matters". A brief, descending variation of the piano phrase connects to the second verse. Then the piano intro plays, marking the start of the second verse. As the ballad proceeds into its second verse, the speaker confesses how ashamed he is by his act of murder (as May enters on guitar and mimics the upper range of the piano at 1:50). May imitates a bell tree during the line "sends shivers down my spine", by playing the strings of his guitar on the other side of the bridge.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Ballad (0:49–2:37)
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
Comedy heavy metal band Bad News used the opening riff and other song structures in their song "Hey, Hey, Bad News". Brian May produced their self-titled album, and played on their cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody" from the same album.
Liar (Queen song) | Legacy/Cover Versions
The gypsy Laci Pócsi and his band are said to have been a source of inspiration for this piece.
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 1 | Introduction
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
As he explained in a 1986 interview, "I hate doing the same thing again and again and again. I like to see what's happening now in music, film and theatre and incorporate all of those things." Compared to many popular songwriters, Mercury also tended to write musically complex material. For example, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is non-cyclical in structure and comprises dozens of chords. He also wrote six songs from "Queen II" which deal with multiple key changes and complex material. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", on the other hand, contains only a few chords. Although Mercury often wrote very intricate harmonies, he claimed that he could barely read music.
Freddie Mercury | Songwriting
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
American Rhapsody is a musical composition written for the accordion by John Serry Sr. American Rhapsody may also refer to:
American Rhapsody (disambiguation) | 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 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
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
The Bohemian Girl is an opera composed by Michael Balfe. The Bohemian Girl may also refer to:
The Bohemian Girl (disambiguation) | Introduction
Bassist Tony Kanal stated "Push and Shove" was to No Doubt as "Bohemian Rhapsody" was to Queen. A music video for the song was uploaded to Vevo on September 25, 2012.
Push and Shove (song) | Introduction
In a 2001 poll of more than 50,000 readers of "The Observer" newspaper and viewers of British TV's Channel 4 for the 100 best number-one singles of all time, the song came second to John Lennon's "Imagine". In a 2002 poll of more than 31,000 people conducted for Guinness World Records' "British Hit Singles", "Bohemian Rhapsody" was voted Britain's favourite single, beating Lennon's "Imagine" to the top spot. In 2002, it came in 10th in a BBC World Service poll to find the world's favourite song. It has been in the top five of the Dutch annual "Top 100 Aller Tijden" ("All-Time Top 100 [Singles]") since 1977, reaching number one on eight occasions, more than any other artist.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Polls
Even after the split with Queen, one of Sheffield's other companies, Trilion Video was contracted by the band in 1975 to produce the music video for Queen's song "Bohemian Rhapsody", which has been regarded as the first modern music video.
Norman Sheffield | "Bohemian Rhapsody"
"The Story of Bohemian Rhapsody" is narrated by Richard E. Grant, and runs for approximately 57 minutes. Throughout the programme, Brian May and Roger Taylor revisit the place where they recorded the 1975 album "A Night at the Opera", and discuss the song and the video.
The Story of Bohemian Rhapsody | The program
Elvis Costello sang a version of the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love", which he introduced by asking the audience to "help [him] sing this old northern English folk song". Queen's twenty-one minute performance, which began at 6:41 pm, was voted the greatest live performance in the history of rock in a 2005 industry poll of more than 60 artists, journalists and music industry executives. Queen's lead singer Freddie Mercury at times led the crowd in unison refrains, and his sustained note—"Aaaaaay-o"—during the a cappella section came to be known as "The Note Heard Round the World". The band's six-song set opened with a shortened version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and closed with "We Are the Champions".
Live Aid | Wembley Stadium
The lights fade up, and the shots cross-fade into close-ups of Freddie. The composition of the shot is the same as Mick Rock's cover photograph for their second album "Queen II". The photo, inspired by a photograph of actress Marlene Dietrich, was the band's favourite image of themselves. The video then fades into them playing their instruments. In the opera section of the video, the scene reverts to the "Queen II" standing positions, after which they perform once again on stage during the hard rock segment. In the closing seconds of the video Roger Taylor is depicted stripped to the waist, striking the tam tam in the manner of the trademark of the Rank Organisation's Gongman, familiar in the UK as the opening of all Rank film productions.
Bohemian Rhapsody | Promotional video
Galileo Figaro – The central character of the musical; a dreamer who hears strange words in his head. He is eventually revealed to be a reincarnation of Freddie Mercury. The character's name is a reference to the lyrics in the Queen song "Bohemian Rhapsody". Scaramouche – A sarcastic, cynical character and Galileo's love interest. In the finale she shows talent playing the electric guitar, and Galileo declares that she is a reincarnation of Brian May, only this time "he's a babe". The character's name is a reference to the lyrics in the Queen song "Bohemian Rhapsody". Killer Queen – The villain of the musical, she rules over iPlanet with an iron fist.
We Will Rock You (musical) | Characters
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
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
Addressing the song's enduring popularity, author and music lecturer Jochen Eisentraut wrote in 2012: "A year before punk made it unfashionable, progressive rock had an astounding success with the theoretically over-length (nearly 6-minute) single 'Bohemian Rhapsody' which bore many of the hallmarks of the 'prog' genre". He said it was "unique at this point to hear a hit single in this style", it was "more accessible than other music of the genre" and was "able to communicate beyond the usual confines of the style". Author and progressive rock historian Stephen Lambe called it a "remarkable" single and said it "provides a neat but coincidental bridge between prog in its prime and the move to more aggressive songwriting", suggesting the song "feels like a grotesque (although probably unintentional) parody of progressive rock".
Bohemian Rhapsody | Musical impact
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
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
King's Rhapsody is a musical with book and music by Ivor Novello and lyrics by Christopher Hassall. The musical was first produced at the Palace Theatre, London, on 15 September 1949 and ran for 841 performances, surviving its author, who died in 1951. It starred Novello in the title role of the heir to the throne under pressure from his long-lived mother, Queen Elana, to abdicate in favour of his infant son, with Phyllis Dare as his mistress Marta Karillos, Zena Dare as Queen Elana, Vanessa Lee as Princess Cristiane, Robert Andrews as Vanescu, and Olive Gilbert as Countess Vera.
King's Rhapsody | 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"
Some familiar examples may give an idea of the character of a rhapsody:
Rhapsody (music) | Introduction
Overture (one in A major for the 1843 production, and a completely different one in C major for the 1867 Paris production conducted by Jules Pasdeloup) Act 1 Act 2
The Bohemian Girl | Musical numbers
Larry Flick from "Billboard" described the song as a "surprisingly potent jeep-funk rendition of the Queen classic" and commented further that "if you let go of everything connected to the original recording and give yourself to this interpretation, you will discover an often poignant street commentary as told from the viewpoint of a young woman." He also added that "the problem is that many may have a difficult time digesting the new concepts tied to this well-worn rocker." Jeremy Helligar from "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that "stripping ”Bohemian Rhapsody” down to an insistent shuffle beat, assorted piano fills, and soulful vocals, they create a sound so moving that you might want to reach out and hug the speakers." Bönz Malone for "Vibe" called the track a "soaring" remake.
List of Bohemian Rhapsody cover versions | Critical reception
This rhapsody is composed of several distinct melodies. Some of them are Hungarian folk songs, such as "Magosan repül a daru". Others are of uncertain origin; they may have been written by Liszt himself.
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 14 | Sources of the melodies
The song is dedicated to him, the album says: "Dedicated to Johnathan Harris, boy racer to the end". When it came down to releasing the album's first single, Taylor was so fond of his song that he urged Mercury (author of the first single, "Bohemian Rhapsody") to allow it to be the B-side and reportedly 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.
A Night at the Opera (Queen album) | "I'm in Love with My Car"
"The Bohemian Girl" is mentioned in the short stories "Clay" and "Eveline" by James Joyce which are both parts of "Dubliners". In "Clay", the character Maria sings some lines from "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls". The aria is quoted again in Joyce's novel "Finnegans Wake". In the P.G. Wodehouse short story ‘Without The Option’ Oliver Randolph Sipperley, mainly referred to, by Bertram Wooster as ‘Sippy’ greets Wooster with the quote ‘the heart bowed down by weight of woe to weakest hope will cling.’ George Orwell recalls ‘a little poem’ he wrote, in his essay ‘Why I Write’. The poem’s final verse runs: I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls, And woke to find it true ...
The Bohemian Girl | Other references
The Hungarian Rhapsodies are set of 19 piano pieces based on Hungarian folk themes, composed by Franz Liszt. Hungarian Rhapsody may also refer to:
Hungarian Rhapsody (disambiguation) | Introduction
In 2002, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" was voted "the UK's favourite hit of all time" in a poll conducted by the "Guinness World Records British Hit Singles Book". In 2004, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Many scholars consider the "Bohemian Rhapsody" music video ground-breaking, crediting it with popularising the medium. Rock historian Paul Fowles stated that the song is "widely credited as the first global hit single for which an accompanying video was central to the marketing strategy". It has been hailed as paving the way for the MTV Generation. In December 2018, "Bohemian Rhapsody" became the most-streamed song from the 20th century, and the most-streamed classic rock song of all time.
Queen (band) | Legacy