Bohemian Rhapsodybetter known in Argentina as Bohemian Rhapsodyis one of the most popular songs not only by What’s up, but the history of music.
This extraordinary success was written by Freddy Mercury for his 1975 album, A night at the operaand released on October 31 of the same year.
The unusual thing is that the theme it is nearly six minutes long, has no refrain, and consists of six sections: an a capella introduction, a ballad, a guitar solo, an operatic segment, a rock section, and a coda that picks up the tempo and key of the introductory ballad.
The rejection of the label
When the band wanted to release the song as a single, several record company executives pointed this out due to its long run it would never become a big hit. According to Baker, he and Queen gave DJ Kenny Everett a copy of the song, telling him never to play it on the radio. His response was, according to the producer: “I never will,” with a wink.
Everett only played parts of the song and his audiences demanded that he play it on the air many times, Playing it fourteen times in two days. Fans tried to buy the single the following Monday, but it still hadn’t been released.
That same weekend, Paul Drew, who ran RKO radio in the US, heard the song at Everett’s show in London, picked up a copy and started playing it in his country.
In an interview with Sound on soundBaker commented that “it was as fun on both sides of the Atlantic there was a single played on the radio that the record companies turned down“.
Finally, the single went on sale, with the song I am in love with my car as the B-side. It quickly monopolized the British charts, staying at the top for nine weeks.
Furthermore, it was the first single to reach number one twice with the same version, as it returned to the charts upon Freddie Mercury’s death in 1991, albeit with These are the days of our lives as a B-side. It stayed at the top spot for five weeks.
And when did the movie come out Bohemian Rhapsodyon the history of Freddie Mercury and Queen, the theme video has exceeded one billion views on YouTube.
The song transcended the boundaries of rock incorporating that characteristic choral fragment which is now a trademark of the British band which was completed by Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, with abrupt changes of style, key and tempo.
The creation of an immortal success
Freddie Mercury wrote most of Bohemian Rhapsody at his home in Holland Road, Kensington, north London. Famed producer Roy Thomas Baker said the singer played him the introduction on the piano and then stopped and said “And that’s where the introduction section begins.” ‘Opera!”.
Much of Queen’s material was written in the studio, but guitarist Brian May has said this song “It was all in Freddie’s mindbefore arriving at the recording studio.
According to the other band members, Mercury mentally composed the song and conducted it himself. He used a Bechstein concert grand piano, which appears in the legendary video clip. It is one of the most elaborate and best produced recordings in all of rock history.
Both May and Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor sang ten to twelve hours a day non-stop, making money 180 separate records. And since the studios at that time only had 24-track analog tapes available, it was necessary for the three to overdub each other numerous times and repeat these recordings in successive submixes. Eventually, they ended up using 8th generation tapes.
The composer of the piece refused to explain the true meaning of Bohemian Rhapsodystating that it was just “relationships”.
He said in the mid-1970s, “It’s one of those songs that has an aura of fantasy to it. I think people should just listen to it, think about it and then form an opinion about what it says to them…. Bohemian Rhapsody it didn’t come out of nowhere. I did some research because it wants to be a model work”.
From there, many assume that the song contains direct references to the late singer’s personal problems and composer. So much so that in a BBC documentary about the creation process Bohemian RhapsodyRoger Taylor has commented that the real meaning of the piece is: “clearly self-exposed, with just a few nonsensical bits, in between”.
Brian May also said that, “I think Freddie was amused that there were so many different interpretations of that text. I think it’s a great song that goes beyond analysis. It’s not that I want to avoid the issue, it’s that I think we love some songs for that very reason,” she said. Adding, “I have my own ideas and my feelings about Bohemian RhapsodyBut I hate talking about it.”
Some theories about the letter
One theory points to a story of murder and confession (“Mom, I just killed a man”) as an analogy with the bisexuality of Mercury, who had been living with Mary Austin for seven years at the time, but had his first homosexual partner in 1975. According to these hypotheses, the phrase “mama mia, mama mia let me go” would really mean a request to be able to fully experience one’s sexuality.
Lyricist Tim Rice, who worked with the songwriter on his second solo album, Barcelona (1988), coincides with this version.
In an interview with the newspaper Daily mail British admitted that in the letter Mercury “could have killed old Freddie, his old image (…), frankly, was dead. He had destroyed the man he was trying to be and was now himself, trying to live with the new Freddie”.
Another hypothesis is based on the text of a compilation of Queen’s Greatest Hits released in Iran, where it was clarified that the text referred to a dialogue in parts about a man who killed someone and who, like Faust, sold his soul to the devil.
The night before his execution, he calls out to God in Arabic (saying “Bismillah” – “Bismillah! No, we won’t let you go – let him go”) and that with the help of his angels he finally recovers his soul.
Another of the accepted theories about the song is based on the fact that it is a dialogue of a suicidal killer being chased by his demons or moments before an execution.
It is also commented that the theme receives an influence from the writer Albert Camus and his novel Abroad (published in 1942), where the protagonist fires his gun at another person and is sentenced to death for his crime. Likewise, he may also have been influenced by Crime and punishment (since 1866), from Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
unforgettable music
As for the music, he offers a tour that has its starting point in a choral introduction – supported by a then astonishing mixing job that passed from channel to channel the original question: “Is it real life, is it just fantasy?” – leading to a dramatic story starring Mercury.
And May’s guitar builds an everlasting bridge to the operatic section.
In the end, a furious rock prelude to a finale with an air of resignation. And melodically, with Mercury’s piano, it opens one of the great chapters of the popular song under the lyrics “Ooh yeah, ooh yeah/Nothing really matters/Anyone can see/Nothing really matters nothing really matters to me/However the wind blows”. (Nothing really matters/Anyone can see it/Nothing really matters/The wind is blowing anyway.)
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Source: Clarin
