(Single from album, "A Night At The Opera")
Ok, so this is the first review of 2013, and what better a way to kick off the new year than with the greatest song of all time. Having promised a review of said song several weeks ago, I suppose many of you expected a Smiths song, or perhaps an indie classic...well you were wrong. Pushing the very boundaries of popular music to extremities, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is 38 years old this October, and it's still an absolute classic, having featured in hundreds of television programmes, films, greatest song countdowns, and also at several million discos, parties, weddings, gatherings and also as cover versions at other bands' live shows. Everybody knows the song, andeverybody has, undeniably, at some point, done a total "Wayne's World" and rocked out to the classical, operatic section with uncontrollable drama and style before air-guitaring their way through the heavier, electric rock section - I know it, you know it, and so, without further-a-do, I give you the greatest song of all time...
I won't waste a lot of time on the actual structure of the song, simply because, the chances are, you've heard it before, a million times. The song starts as an a cappella harmony before a gentle piano enters at about 0:15, accompanied still by the vocal track, which, on the full studio production, makes clever use of sound engineering and alternate stereo channels to create a truly chilling effect. The piano section continues into a waltzing serenade of tragedy as drums and electric guitar are heard for the first time, along with bass, at around the 1 minute mark. At this point, the subject, lyrically, has revealed himself to be a delinquent, guilty of a murder, but apologetic, sorrowful, desperate, questioning of existence, and praying hopelessly for his release. After a brilliant guitar solo from Brian May, closing the first ballad-style section of the song, the rock opera continues into another piano based section, dominated by histrionic, and theatric vocals; the subject is, at this point, being examined in court. This, the most infamously parodied section of the track, is perhaps also the most famous. The stark difference in sonic balance and the sheer extremity of the instrumentation is one which is very rarely seen in pop music, and, before it has much chance to evolve, the crescendo sounds and the heaviest rock section of the song initiates moving on the tone and atmosphere, once again. Then, amidst a background of electric guitar serenading once again, the piano re-enters the equation, and Mercury's touching closing line resonates with the listener as the 'any way the wind blows' refrain is spoken over the final cymbal crash. Having been denied release, the lyrical subject has seen life for what it really is, exclaiming 'nothing really matters' as if accepting the ultimate punishment for his crime, death, with open arms.
Most of the perfection on this record, is in the sound engineering, as well as the actual playing of the instruments. There is no denying here, despite the regard in which this song is held, that Queen was composed of very accomplished musicians. Even Mercury is an opera standard vocalists. It's like the royalty of the world coming together to rule one super nation; here, the best rockers got together to be a band. And it works. From the smooth, stereo engineering behind the a cappella section, to the reverb of the piano track, from the crispness of the electrifying guitar solos and to the heavy, rock thrash of the drums in the later part of the song, it's a wonder of musical architecture, and, in fact, it's visual sonic wavelength, is testament to this - look it up; you can see every section of the song, just in the dips and peaks of the waveform.
Which brings me onto the poetic nobility of the lyrics. This is the first rock opera. Forget "American Idiot", forget "Quadrophenia" - this is it. The story is extreme and dramaturgical, but warming, eloquent and poignant, despite it's seeming distance from our own life stories. This perhaps, our ability to relate to something so extreme, is a subtle comment on ourselves as the mainstream body of music listeners. Whether or not we subscribe to the pop charts, we are very much a part of the same public that do, and our exposure to radio and television as well as their subsequent forms of advertising, are examples of this. Maybe that's what it's trying to say - I can't claim to know; it's certainly a lot deeper than is possible to reach an easily conclusive point with when analysing...
Those last paragraphs are, really, despite their length, is a rather brief summary of the song. There is so much one could say about this track; so much to analyse in the lyrics, and so much more to say about the emotion of the instrumentation. It's almost impossible to manifest the sheer quality of this song in words. It would be like attempting to embody extreme feelings of joy or pain in words, in that you could never hope to understand the context of what is being said until you have, for yourself, experienced it.
If, reading this, you find you haver never heard the song, go out of your way to. It is a musical masterpiece, as well as several other things in the world of rock and popular music; a defining moment in production as one of the cleanest sounding songs of the decade but also a defining moment in the career of a band who, despite this stroke of genius so early on in their career, would go on to further fame, and not off the back of this record. But also, it's so much else. Although punk, arguably, would lift popular music off from the status quo and on to a whole new sound, attitude and style, "Bohemian Rhapsody", released a few years before the Sex Pistols revolutionised the mainstream, symbolises the ultimate peak of what music up until 1975 could possibly hope to be. For me, as well as several other things, some mentioned, some not, the most important part of this record, is it's truly masterful, and untouchably perfect representation of the rock genre. If punk hadn't happened a mere 2 years after the release of this song, then it is true to say that bands would forever be trying, in this one field to catch up with Queen. In many respects, and even outside of the rock genre, most musicians would cite their first listen of "Bohemian Rhapsody" as an important moment in their lives, and on which indefinitely chiselled their ambition to work in music. Even the way the music video, the first ever of it's kind (made up to apologise for the fact that the band couldn't appear on "Top of the Pops" one week), revolutionised and stipulated modern, popular music is commendable. The epic, high quality here seems almost never-ending...
It's easy to ham up a song that is just ok and make it sound awesome, and to a degree, we all do this with our favourite bands and songs. But with this song, it's very important that it's perfection must never be ignored, nor it's elegant, lyrical genius, dramatic, graceful delivery or pure and soulful rock majesty. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is beautiful, and, whilst every now and then, a new scene or touch of genius appears in the music world, nothing will ever do the same to us ever again, as what was achieved by Queen in 1975. Long live the greatest song of all time. Long live Queen.
★★★★★★
Versions of “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Album/Single Version - 5:55