BOHEMIAN

RHAPSODY

by

FREDDIE
MERCURY

Analysis presented by Mario Lattuada

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY by Freddie Mercury

INTRODUCTION
Bohemian Rhapsody is a song written by Freddie Mercury and originally
recorded by the band Queen (Brian May-guitar, Roger Taylor-drums, John
Deacon-bass and Freddie Mercury-piano and vocals) that was featured on their
1975 album A Night at the Opera. The song is unusual for its time as it has no
chorus, an a cappella and a hard rock section.
It was released as a single and soon became a number one hit lasting 9 weeks on
the British charts.

Released – 31/10/75
Format – vinyl record, (7”)
Recorded – 1975
Genre - Rock
Label – EMI
Produced – Roy Thomas Baker

The song is composed in three distinct sections, which are,

(Please note, all bar numbers quoted herein relate to the music score from HAL
LEONARD Queen Deluxe Anthology. HL 00308246)

Ballad 1-42 (first four bars a cappella)

Pseudo-operatic 43-83
Hard Rock 84-104
Reprise (of Ballad ) 105-200

Bohemian – the lyrics suggest, “easy come, easy go” “poor boy”
Bohemianism “living a wandering or vagabond life”
Rhapsody – is a one-movement work that is episodic yet integrated, free-flowing
in structure, featuring a range of highly contrasted moods, colour and tonality.

MELODY
♦ Mainly diatonic within chord progressions
♦ Chromatic movement at 10-12, 45-46
♦ Rhythmic figures 56-64, quavers/crochets
♦ Use of crotchet triplets 88-90, 92-94 against the rock beat
♦ Melodic variations over same two chords 110-112
♦ Overall the song is melodic and fun to sing.
DYNAMICS
♦ Opening section is a single voice with rhythm section – soft
♦ Operatic – 84 piece choir – contrasting – loud and soft
♦ Hard rock – loud!!

ARTICULATION
♦ Ballad – smooth and lyrical
♦ Operatic - staccato, well marked
♦ Hard rock – rock style – belting it out!

TONE COLOUR
♦ From a solo voice to an 84 piece choir.
♦ Blending of high, low and medium voices (all male in 1975 version)
♦ Multi-layering of guitar parts throughout the song 105-109 is a feature.
♦ Use of different distortion guitar sounds.
♦ Use of three different bass guitar sounds all mixed together; amp, direct and
room sound.
♦ “Bell effect” in bar 55 and 73

Characteristics and the role of instruments and the way instruments combine.

The original recording contains a backing track of piano, bass and drums. Vocal
line is added and then choir parts over dubbed.
Guitar parts also over dubbed in harmony or double tracked.
“Party at the Palace version” – piano, bass, drums lead vocal “We will rock you
choir” and two additional guitars added in short sections towards the end.

Similarities and differences between two interpretations in performance of the same

excerpts.

Three vocalists are used to sing in different sections of the song in the “Palace”
version as opposed to the original being only F. Mercury. The “Palace” version
does not include the a cappella start. Timpani(s) are used in the original version
during the pseudo-operatic section and not in the “Palace” version.
Choir parts are sung by a full choir, which contains a mixture of female and
male voices. The original is multi-tracked using the voices of Mercury, Rogers
and May.
Apart from the first 14 bars of the original 1975 release, the “Palace”
performance is exactly the same. With classic songs like “Bohemian Rhapsody”,
fans usually like to hear the original version!
HARMONY
The song starts off in Bb Major tonality. Bar 10 uses parallel chromatic chords,
B Bb A Bb in first inversions. The last Bb chord then leads to the Eb chord in
bar 11 - 12 to form a perfect cadence. This gives the listener a sense of resolution
following the chromaticism.
Bars 29-32 have a feeling of modulation to Eb Major, but we are then taken back
to Bb Major in bar 33 for the repeat of this section. Again a feeling of Eb Major
at bar 35-41 but this time at bar 42, another modulation leads to A Major at bar
43 which is a semi tone down from the original Bb Major. This is an abrupt
change and leads into the new pseudo-operatic section.

Bar 45 employs the same chromatic melody as previously (bar 10) but this time
rather than the chords moving in chromatic step motion, pedal point is used
using IV I Idim I (in A Major). At bar 49 more instability is created using
temporary modulations \ Db/Ab Ab \ C/G E \ A
Bar 56 returns to the B Bb A Bb chromatic idea which is followed by the
IV I Idim I pedal point section, only this time in Eb Major- a tritone up from A
Major!

This use of chromatic harmony and rapid modulations creates a feeling of unrest
and tension until finally we hear a series of Bb to Eb chords (V-I perfect
cadence) and a feeling of tonality moving back to the original key. This feeling of
stability is once again broken with an F#7 (Gb7) chord, which is then followed by
four perfect cadences, all harmonically unrelated. They are, F#7-Bmin, A-D, Db-
Gb and Bb-Eb. These cadences move very quickly in crotchet beats.

The song now leads into the Rock section and is more stable in the key of Eb
Major. The reprise section at bar 105 remains in Eb Major until the end except
for the last five bars (116-200), which move to F Major, being a tone above Eb
Major!

VIDEO
The video for the single was directed by Bruce Gowers. It was created for the
sole purpose of allowing the band to be on tour and appear on BBC’s Top of the
Pops. Shot in just four hours on the band’s rehearsal stage, it cost only 4500
pounds to produce.

The “Bohemian Rhapsody” video is often cited as “the first ever music promo
video”.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” did start a major trend in the music industry: following
its success, it became regular practice for record companies to produce promo
videos for their artist’s single releases. Prior to this, if the artist was not
available, Top of the Pops would generally show dancers performing a routine to
the song.
RECORDING
The song was recorded over three weeks by the band and producer Roy Thomas
Baker, beginning in August 1975 at Rockfield studios near Monmouth-South
Wales. According to band members Freddie had worked out the entire song in
his head and directed the band through the song.
The multi-part vocals took 84 hours to complete. Since the studios of the time
only offered 24-track analogue tape, it was necessary for the band to overdub
themselves many times, and “bounce” these down to successive submixes.
When they first heard the song, record company executives requested that the
middle section of the song be cut. This was due to fears that the song was twice
the normal length of a single.

POPULARITY
“Bohemian Rhapsody” is the only single to have been UK Christmas number 1
twice (in a single recording), first in 1975/76 (9 weeks) and then in 1991/92
following the death of Mercury.
The song consistently ranks highly in media reader polls of “the best singles of
all time” In 2002 it came first in the “Guinness World Records British Hit
Singles” beating the Beatles, Madonna, Abba and Robbie Williams!
RESOURCES
DVD’s
QUEEN THE DVD COLLECTION
GREATEST VIDEO HITS 1
PARLOPHONE 7243 4 92944 9 3

(This 2 DVD set contains the original version of the song as well as a section
called, “Inside the Rhapsody”. This includes information on, “the Bo Rap story”,
“making the video”, “creating the Rhapsody” and “the greatest song”.
It is an excellent resource to show a class of students!)

PARTY AT THE PALACE

THE QUEEN’S CONCERTS, BUCKINGHAM PALACE
BBC OA 0857 D
(This version contains the band Queen with the cast of “WE WILL ROCK
YOU”, live in 2002)

QUEEN THE DVD COLLECTION

LIVE AT WEMBLY STADIUM
PARLOPHONE 7243 4 90471 9 8
(Interviews with band members and a live version of Bohemian Rhapsody with
Freddie Mercury)

CD’s
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
HOLLYWOOD RECORDS 61065 (US), EMI (UK)

QUEEN GREATEST HITS I II & III

PARLOPHONE 7243 5 29883 2 7

BOOKS
Rees, D and Crampton, L. Q ROCK STARS ENCYCLOPEDIA
London. Dorling Kindersley. 1999
(This book contains an excellent chronological listing of the Queen’s history
detailing all songs, recordings and other important facts.)
QUEEN DELUXE ANTHOLOGY
Milwaukee,Wi. HAL LEONARD HL 00308246
(Music score)

INTERNET SITES
www.answers.com/topic/bohemian-rhapsody
www.absoluteastronomy.com/reference/bohemian_rhapsody
www.search.com/reference/Bohemian_Rhapsody
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Night_at_the_Opera_(album)
www.queenonline