October 31, 2015

"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."

He = Freddie Mercury. He was talking about "Bohemian Rhapsody," which was released 40 years ago today.

Marking the occasion in the news:

1. NPR: "8 things you didn’t know about ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’" The most interesting thing is: "Mercury was listening to the soundtrack for 'Cabaret'... while he worked on the song’s musical composition in 1975." And: "In his London home, where he did most of the work, Mercury slept in front of a piano, which doubled as his bed headboard."

2. The UK Telegraph: "Why we still can't get enough of Queen": "Resolutely uncool, their music heaved with pretensions, and their lyrics were often pure nonsense... they seldom if ever tried to 'say' anything..."

3. Entertainment Weekly: "How well do you know Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'?" A quiz. 

4. The Mirror: "On 40th anniversary of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody enjoy 40 fascinating facts about Freddie Mercury hit": "The 120 overdubbed tracks in Bohemian Rhapsody took more than 70 hours to complete. The tape had almost disintegrated by the time they were perfected.... It was knocked off the top spot by Abba’s Mamma Mia – a song which echoed the famous line 'mamma mia let me go' from ­Bohemian Rhapsody’s chorus.... Some think 'Galileo' is a reference to Brian May, who holds a PhD in astrophysics...."

5. BBC: "Brian May on 40 years of Bohemian Rhapsody: 'I still listen to it in the car'": "There's a layer of humour in Queen songs - and Mike Myers [in 'Wayne's World'] managed to find it in Bohemian Rhapsody. It made it into a different kind of classic, and propelled it to a second life in the States. There's a huge irony there - because there was a time when we completely owned America and we would tour there every year. It seemed like we couldn't go wrong - and then we lost America for various reasons....  Freddie had a very dark sense of humour. And he used to say: 'I suppose I'll have to die before we get America back.' And, in a sense, that was what happened. And it was Wayne's World - which came completely out of nowhere - that made it happen."

6. Rolling Stone: "Party On: Queen's Brian May Remembers 'Bohemian Rhapsody' on 40th Anniversary": "We had an unwritten law that whoever brought the song in would have the final say in how it turned out... Probably the most unusual thing was, John [Deacon] said to him, 'What are you going to call it then, is it called "Mama?"' And Freddie went, 'No, I think we'll call it 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' And there was a little silence, everybody thought, 'Okaaay…' I don't think anybody said, 'Why?' but there it was. How strange to call a song 'Bohemian Rhapsody,' but it just suits it down to the ground and it became a milestone. But nobody knew."

42 comments:

jr565 said...

I remember loving the song as a kid until it got to the Scaramouche scaramouche will you do the fandango part, which sounded cartoonish to me. Nowadays, that's the part everyone loves the best. But I still prefer the verses to the opera out of the Rocky Horror picture show.
Though when it gets to the head banging part I get back into it.

madAsHell said...

I'm thinking Mr. Mercury, and Ms. Amy Winehouse used the same make-up artist.

rcocean said...

What no 'Smashing Pumpkin' songs?

Will Cate said...

Being a rock'n'roll kid in the early 70s I was already familiar with Queen from FM radio, and I bought the "A Night At The Opera" album the day it arrived at my local record store. I played it almost every day my entire 10th grade year in school. Bohemian Rhapsody was great, though my favorite track was and still is:

The Prophet's Song

Gahrie said...

I like Queen and Freddie Mercury the way our blog hostess likes Bob Dylan.

MathMom said...

Amazing what you miss when you leave the country for a few years and live in a place where everything is censored. I didn't even know there was a group called Queen until sometime in the 90's.

Bob Ellison said...

Awful video. My cat could edit better.

Gahrie said...

Awful video. My cat could edit better.

In 1975?

madAsHell said...

Awful video. My cat could edit better.

Really??

MTV wasn't born until 1981, or thereabouts. Video's were secondary, and I thought they did a decent show.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

I thought this song was ridiculous when I first heard it, but endless repetition has dulled my senses and I now find it, like most classic pop/rock, a perfectly acceptable way to idle away time when in the car.

pm317 said...

wow.. Brian May has a PhD in astrophysics. Not bad.

pm317 said...

I love Bohemian Rhapsody!

pm317 said...

Musicians of that era and Brits in particular were intellectuals.. I don't see that now.

Patrick said...

I've always liked Queen. Mercury sang very well, Brian May is an excellent guitarist.When this song came out, I was too young to know whether it was pretentious. Now, I am old enough to not care.

Anonymous said...

I didn't pay any attention at all to this song or this band back in the day. Guess I didn't get camp. However, M Myers did bring out some fun and humor in the song. I now think of BR as mildly enjoyable vintage crap.

mezzrow said...

My favorite cover. Complete with dancing and a floor show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlHLMGaJ6tg



Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Oh by the way, which one is "Queen"?

Bob Boyd said...

Freddie Mercury was born Farouk Barsala. There's a poster-like sign on a building in Stone Town, Zanzibar identifying it as the birth place of Freddie Mercury.

Etienne said...

Scatter moosh...

BN said...

Ok, sometimes I can't resist; music arguments make me rant.

So, I don't meant to sound insulting, I do value all your opinions and understand your admiration and enjoyment of Queen. De gustibus non est disputandum, et cetera... but just to play advocatus devilatus here... I'm going to rant. Fast forward or beware.

1. I love the beginning of this song. From memory:

"Mama, I just killed a man.
Put a gun against his head,
Pulled the trigger,
Now he's dead.
Mama! Oooo, ooo-ooo, ooo!
Blah blah blah,
I've thrown it all away."

There's real potential for some insightful pathos there, I mean, amazing potential. Especially for those of us who lived those times as 16, 17, 18 year olds going down the wrong tracks or knowing kids who did, making "bad decisions", as they say. Middle class kids I grew up with doing lots and lots of drugs, playing gangster, getting caught, doing time, winding up walking/living on the streets--some winding up dead, or on the road to getting there. It was common where I grew up, and during exactly that time frame. I was a witness to it; I was there. So I so wanted to hear the rest of this song.

And then... NO SOUP FOR YOU! It goes on to where? "Scaramouche... scaramouche... do you do the fandango?"!!!

Unless that's some secret prison code lingo I'm not familiar with... What the fuckin' fuck?!?!

These guys--geniuses! Brilliant! Undeniably excellent musicians and singers! Ph fuckin' D's in astro shit and whatever! Didn't have the imagination, inspiration, life knowledge, ENERGY, or whatever was needed, to COMPLETE the fuckin' song! So they just glued together 3 or 4 fragments of shit they had layin' around, and called it a... RAPSODY! Tacked on "bohemian" to make it sound cool. Ha! And it worked! That's on us.

Whatever. Very disappointing every time I heard it then and hear it now to this day. And I still LOVE THE BEGINNING!

I guess I just needed closure here. I hate this song.

2. I never could get past their radio songs to buy an album, so maybe their other hidden stuff was better. But the stuff I heard on the radio all struck me as pretentious--I want to say, "gay"--or "cutesy," or, perhaps "twee" borrowed from a recent post (except I don't know what that word means except for surmising from the way it sounds). Somebody said "camp." Yeah...

So, I may not be the best critic of this band as I'm not a fan. So take it for what it's worth.

3. To me, the best thing about Queen was that their pretentious, overly produced "brilliant musician-ized" music (along with much of other early to mid-70s bands, e.g., Bowie, Jethro Tull, ELP, Yes, etc., many of whom I did and do like very much) created the sorely needed backlash leading to punk rock (as well as probably disco too, which I also do actually like--and I'M NOT ASHAMED to say so--so... draw yer own conclusions, but which was also sorely needed at the time). People needed to dance again! The Carter years were tough to get through. We needed some release.

So, in a way, I thank Queen for The Sex Pistols and The Ramones and The Clash and many others, like The Talking Heads and the "campy" B52's--and for Donna Summer too! And for all that I am grateful to Queen.

4. Freddy Mercury reminds me of a time when Muslims could be lapsed and still be accepted and be cool and live "normal" and out in the open. So there was that going for those days way back then.

David said...

Hey, it's fun to listen to. What more do you need?

BN said...

Well, yes, i'll give you that, David. At least to some.

I guess what I want is "art."

And I guess, perhaps, that's being pretentious too. So I admit I'm probably just spouting broken wind.

BN said...

But it's fun to spout it.

David said...

Just like the song BN.

Etienne said...

BN said..."Scaramouche... scaramouche... do you do the fandango?"!!!

Unless that's some secret prison code lingo I'm not familiar with... What the fuckin' fuck?!?!


Punch and Judy puppet shows had Punch kicking Scaramouche's ass and knocking his head off. Of course he couldn't Fandango, he had no head...

Little French kids laugh at the puppet show when his head comes off. They love the violence.

Snark said...

I know an obnoxious amount about the band as I was a dedicated super fan for a while a few years ago. Freddie (born Farouk Bulsara) was of Parsi descent and grew up in Zanzibar, eventually spending years in boarding school in India before the family fled unrest and emigrated to London. Queen was an embarrassment of riches talent wise. Three of the four of them sang and drummer Roger Taylor in particular could have and did sing well enough to carry his own band. People always think Freddie when they think Queen but some of their best songs - the wealth of hidden gems on their albums through The Game in 1980 - were written by Brian May. He sang lead on Sail Away Sweet Sister and '39 among others, and wrote my personal favourite "It's Late." I have mad love for the Roger Taylor written and sung "I'm in Love with My Car". And last but never least quiet and reserved bassist John Deacon wrote the classic "You're my Best Friend". It was a true democracy of a band, though Freddie wrote most of the hits, including Bo Rhap.

Snark said...

Also interesting - the guitar Brian May plays is dubbed 'The Red Special' and was handmade by he and his father when May was still in his teens. They weren't a family of much means so everything right down to the electronics was designed and scrounged from scraps. Wood from an old fireplace mantle, a part off a bicycle etc. It is part of the reason for Brian May's unique and extremely identifiable sound, though Dave Grohl talked about playing that guitar "and sounding like Dave Ghrol". May also uses an old sixpence instead of a pick, which contributes as well.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
phantommut said...

Mama, I just killed a man.
Put a gun against his head,
Pulled the trigger,
Now he's dead.


Ghoulishly, and reading the lyrics in a suggestive way, this is really, really disturbing in light of the AIDS epidemic which had not yet even been identified, but would eventually claim Mercury. Did that culture already know that they were under that pall?

Most people treat it as camp, but I've long seen it as a swan song.

Sydney said...

One thing I never imagined happening in 1975 was high school marching bands playing that song. And yet, they do. It's very popular with them.

Anthony said...

Queen never really "did it" for me. I was heavy into prog rock (Styx, Kansas, Floyd, Rush) but Queen always seemed a little too. . . .weird. And scattershot. First they'd be hard rockers (Sheer Heart Attack, Tie Your Mother Down), then go into pop-y stuff (Killer Queen, Best Friend), and then off into whatever (Bo Rhap, I'm Going Slightly Mad). Oh, and then cross-dressing for a video (I know, I know, British humour; but then, I was a Monty Python fanatic, too).

So I dunno. I admire their musicianship but they were always a 2nd or 3rd tier band for me.

Carter Wood said...

I was in Germany when Freddie Mercury died. The hugest of stories. In terms of German culture, he was the equivalent of, oh, Steffi Graf. Or Udo Lindenberg.

Snark said...

@phantomutt: It was 1975, years before awareness of what the world would come to know as AIDS. One of the more intriguing theories is that the man he "killed" was his heterosexual self. He had just recently ended his relationship with a long time girlfriend that would remain his close friend for the rest of his life and taken his first tentative steps into life as a gay man. There were cultural pressures and rock star image pressures and family expectations that must have made this a daunting change. I like the fit of the lyrics and mood of the song to this idea, but Fred always claimed the song was "just a bunch of nonsense" and had no particular meaning. Other band members have said it does have a meaning but that they won't reveal it. The Brits actually did a whole two hour TV special analyzing the song with various "experts". Somewhere I remember picking up that Fred actually wrote the iconic intro lines back in Art School well before Queen. So who knows!

Snark said...

@Anthony: That scattershot eclecticness was part of what I loved. It was a reflection of the four very different musicians who all contributed songs and unique sensibilities. The first four songs you mentioned were each written by a different band member, the last two by Freddie. All of them except the bassist tried solo outings, and none had any particular relative success. Brian May once lamented that he wished he could have been in AC DC because they were always just what they were with no compromises necessary. But to me it was that crazy blend and constant inner tension that was the beautiful alchemy of Queen.

Gahrie said...

but Queen always seemed a little too. . . .weird. And scattershot

Queen's range was one of the things I liked about them.

Captain Curt said...

I first heard the song while dozing with the radio on. When I got up from my nap, I thought I had had the most amazing dream. It wasn't until a week later when it came on the radio again that I realized what had happened.

jr565 said...

BN you echo my sentiments exactly. That was my almost literal reaction when I heard the song. The verse was beautiful and then it turned into some bizarro gay monstrosity that seemed like a parody of opera with all these falsetto voices uttering gibberish.
When I saw it on Wayne's world I thought it was the longest song to sit through to have to get to a head banging moment.
Still, it has grown on me, to where I now just think the middle bit is silly. I have the same reaction listening to Meatloaf's big song. They did some weird pretensious stuff back in the 70's. It's harmless at this point. You can get some fun out of mocking it.

dbp said...

"Some think 'Galileo' is a reference to Brian May, who holds a PhD in astrophysics....""

Brian May was awarded his PhD many years after the song came out, though astrophysics had been a long-time pursuit.

There are a couple of mentions of "...pulled the trigger...", but that is not the actual lyric: It is "...pulled my trigger...". I believe there is some significance to this. There is a sexual allusion in using "my" instead of "the". The following line, "now he is dead" may refer to Mr. Mercury himself. He has resigned to the fact that he is homosexual--his old self is dead.

Anonymous said...

Other than coming up Freddie Mercury in a click-bait quiz entitled "What Pop Star Are You," I have no comment.

CatherineM said...

They were cool in grade school. Any competition would mean stomping "we will rock you" from the bleachers and singing we are the champions, no time for losers if we won. I think they lost America when they went disco and then the Flash Gordon soundtrack. I think.

rp said...

The two opening quotations from the press are somewhat lacking -- eg, the comments, "their lyrics were often pure nonsense... they seldom if ever tried to 'say' anything..." and "Mercury slept in front of a piano, which doubled as his bed headboard."

I've written a monograph on the theme of death as it appears in Queen's music. Many, many theological themes also appear in Queen's music. Also, how many rock groups have recorded no less than TWO different songs that preach against suicide? ["Don't Try Suicide!" and "Keep Passing the Open Windows!"]

About that upright piano that Freddie Mercury used as the headboard of his bed: it is said that while lying in bed he was able to reach back over his head and to play a few experimental notes on the keyboard when thinking out a song.

Freddie Mercury's vocal range matched that of Aretha Franklin, and his final album, with opera soprano Monserrat Caballe, is astoundingly beautiful. All four members of Queen were brilliant musicians and lyricists. They performed together for 20 years -- which was very unusual for the times (1971-1991). Two of the four original members still tour -- in recent years with vocalist Adam Lambert.

BN said...

Too late, I know, but thanks for enlightening me about the meaning of the song, the "suicide of his straight self" and the subsequent "embracement of 'gay/camp'."

I understand it now, and it makes sense. I still don't like the song, but at least now I understand it.