Bohemian Rhapsody - L.
Last night I lay in bed drowsily channel-surfing and landed on VH1's Top Ten show. The topic of this episode was Top Ten Male Vocalists of blah or blah, I forget exactly what. Having taken some H-bomb allergy medicine, I was only half paying attention.
The number two vocalist on the list turned out to be Freddie Mercury. OK, whatever. To highlight his vocal prowess, VH1 choose to play Bohemian Rhapsody. Even though I knew it was considered a benchmark song of the 70's, I'd managed to make it 38 years without ever having been exposed to its lyrics. So I perked up a bit and squinted at the TV, interested.
White satin skinsuits, shorty vests, pageboy haircuts. All predictably terrible and very 70's. Seems standard so far.
Mama, just killed a maaaaaan..put a gun against his head, pulled the trigger, now he's deaaaaaaad....lots of piano drama work.
Whoopee do. THIS is Bohemian Rhapsody? The big frakkin' deal? Whatever. I gave in to the H-bomb and let myself drift.
Talking heads in black turtlenecks, fuzzy 70's camera effects.
Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango? Gallileo, Gallileo, Figaro!
I wondered about the allergy medication, shook my head, and refocused on the TV.
Bismallah! We will not let you go! No, no, no, no, no!
What the hell?
Mama mia, mama mia, mama mia, let me go! Beezelbub has a devil put aside for me!
THIS is Bohemian Rhapsody?
**Laughs hysterically**
2 comments:
I'm afraid this is one of those songs where the lyrics are the least important aspect. The real impact is the variety of sound.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" was so unusual for its time -- at turns operatic, wall-of-sound ballad, then "unplugged," then hard rock with no chorus -- that it grabbed your attention, especially compared to other hits of the time, like Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" and Elton John's "Island Girl" (both of which I had on 8-track).
It's enduring joy is partly due to the lyrics making no sense -- you can add your own understanding to it. The other part is, it was your/your friends' older brother's favorite album, so it was de facto cool.
This version is cuter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY
Casey
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