A literal Bohemian Rhapsody!

A tip o’ the hat to Daddy Warpig for finding this first.

I daresay everyone reading these words knows Queen’s 1975 monster hit ‘Bohemian Rhapsody‘.  Here’s the original music video, which broke new ground in the genre back in its day.

I don’t know why it’s taken this long, but someone has finally produced a live-action, literal version of the song.  Here it is.

Full marks for creativity!

Oh – and if you’d never heard the story behind the song, here’s a BBC documentary explaining how ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ came to be.  It’s very interesting to see how Queen worked together.

Aaaah . . . memories of my sometimes misspent youth.  It hardly seems possible that the song is 41 years old now.  I can remember when it first came out, and how it galvanized rock and pop music in general, like an electric shock.

Peter

5 comments

  1. What this doesn't convey is what it was like to hear/see this as part of a live concert (preferably in a large venue). Lights – action – energy across the stage. And then the operatic section in the middle — which needs the overdubs, and can't be done live. So the stage goes solidly dark, and then the operatic section (with a light show). And, after that section was over, the lights would come on, and they'd play through to the close.

    It's hard to forget the first time I saw it live — and that was four decades ago.

  2. Ben Yalow, really not a "can't be done live" but rather "would need more performers if done live".

    I'm more from the classical/folk side of music, where it's not unheard of to have a hundred performers at a time… or… well, Mahler's 8th anyone?

    But, yeah, modern music and especially studio / recorded work can do a whole lot with much fewer people.

  3. In the stopped photo of that video from the Beeb, Brian May sits working out something on his guitar. Brian May is a genuine Renaissance Man of rock guitar.

    Brian stopped his Ph.D. work in astrophysics in 1974 when the group started getting famous, then went back and finished his Ph.D. in 2007. He also built the electric guitar he uses, Red Special, with this father, and has been playing it as his primary instrument since the 70s. He sells a line of guitars on the market.

    Not your average guy.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *