Bohemian Rhapsody is the movie and song tittle I will be analyzing in this post. The movie Bohemian Rhapsody came out just last year and it is about Freddie Mercury and his musical journey. Obviously the song I picked from the sound track was also Bohemian Rhapsody. I picked this movie because it is amazingly well made and I definitely recommend everyone sees it. Also the song is one that I listen too throughout most of my life. I would sing it loudly with my friends in high school in the hallways and it always comes up when my family does road trips for some reason. It’s a unique song that I think has every emotion inside it which makes it versatile and somehow also catchy.
Bio/History of the Song:
The Movie came out November 2, 2018 but the original song was released in 1975. The movie was produced by 20th Century Fox, Initial Entertainment Group, and Regency Enterprises. It is about mostly Freddie Mercury(lead vocalist) and the band including: Brain May(keyboard), John Deacon(bass guitar) , and Roger Taylor(Drums).
The story starts out with Freddie joining the band and they play smaller gigs in places like bars in London. Then it jumps ahead a year later to when they record their first album, which gets them recognized by a manager. They eventually do a tour of America. When they get back they propose to their publishing company (EMI) that they do an album that has a twist of opera in it called “A Night at the Opera”. So they go to a remote recording studio in the country side to “get away from all distractions”. There they come up with Bohemian Rhapsody. They bring the song and the album back to EMI and the publisher hates it and they leave the company.
My personal favorite part is at 2:20 with the rooster :P.
Social Message:
Like a lot of Queen’s songs it probably has to do with or symbolizes aspects of the band member’s lives. In this case it is about Freddie and it has something to do with death. I won’t go breaking down the whole song but verses like “Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me” (Beelzebub being satan), and “I don’t wanna die”. There are also two possible references to god in the parts referencing Galileo which also according to Quora is the name of Jesus Christ in Ancient Rome. As well as the term “Bismillah” which is Arabic for “In the name of God”. He could be him asking god to let him into Heaven because the phrase “Let me go” is repeated numerous times. It’s a hard song to decipher and I think they meant for it to be that way but to me it is Freddie asking god to let him into heaven and the devil saying he will never let him go.
My Opinion:
Obviously I love this song but I’ll delve a little deeper. It has an Intro, a ballad, an operatic section, rock section, and then an outro. I can’t list all of the meter changes because there are too many. Most websites say that you play the song in C major at 104 beats per minute. There is no chorus, no continuous beat and, key changes. However it is still something you can sing along to, despite all of that. It’s its own story and play in a single song with words that are seemingly meaningless that you can remember the lyrics too anyway.
Works Cited:
RunPee, Jill FlorioCo-Creator of. “What Is a Scaramouch? The Meaning Behind Bohemian Rhapsody from Queen.” RunPee, 13 Apr. 2019, runpee.com/what-is-a-scaramouch-the-meaning-behind-bohemian-rhapsody/.
“Bohemian Rhapsody.” Queen Songs, http://www.queensongs.info/song-analysis/songwriting-analyses/no-synth-era/a-night-at-the-opera/bohemian-rhapsody.
“Bohemian Rhapsody.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 24 Oct. 2018, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1727824/.
Onyx Odyssey 