Who hasn’t heard and sung with Queen’s most iconic song ever. I know I can’t think of anyone that I know of.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” has become a staple of many best ever rock lists. It’s a song that’s been paid homage, imitated, parodied and copied by so many artists both music, tv, film and video games. This song has become synonymous with that most epic of all rock shows: arena rock. It’s an amalgamation of rock power ballad that bridges over to rock opera then into straight hard rock before circling back to a gradual softening of a coda.
One would think that all that wouldn’t mesh very well together, but with Freddie Mercury (arguably one of the greatest rock frontman) on vocals (who also wrote the lyrics), Brian May on lead guitar, John Deacon on bass and Roger Taylor on drums the song ends up not just great, but a gamechanger in how hard rock and heavy metal would be seen since it’s release.
Every hard rock and metal band worth their name would attempt to have their very own “Bohemian Rhapsody” to different degrees of success (I’ve always thought that the power metal bands like Blind Guardian have become successors in this endeavor). The song has become so ingrained in the general public’s pop DNA that just hearing a snippet of the song sans lyrics and people probably would know what song it was they just overheard.
Oh, it also has a killer guitar solo by Brian May which occurs after the ballad section and acts as a bridge into the operatic section of the track.
Bohemian Rhapsody
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Because I’m easy come, easy go
A little high, little low
Anyway the wind blows, doesn’t really matter to me, to me
Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he’s dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I’ve gone and thrown it all away
Mama, ooo
Didn’t mean to make you cry
If I’m not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters
Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine
Body’s aching all the time
Goodbye everybody – I’ve got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama, ooo – (anyway the wind blows)
I don’t want to die
I sometimes wish I’d never been born at all
(guitar solo)
I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango
Thunderbolt and lightning – very very frightening me
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo Figaro – magnifico
But I’m just a poor boy and nobody loves me
He’s just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity
Easy come easy go – will you let me go
Bismillah! No – we will not let you go – let him go
Bismillah! We will not let you go – let him go
Bismillah! We will not let you go – let me go
Will not let you go – let me go (never)
Never let you go – let me go
Never let me go – ooo
No, no, no, no, no, no, no –
Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me
for me
for me
So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye
So you think you can love me and leave me to die
Oh baby – can’t do this to me baby
Just gotta get out – just gotta get right outta here
Ooh yeah, ooh yeah
Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters – nothing really matters to me
Anyway the wind blows…
Great Guitar Solos Series
Through the Shattered Lens 