Queen: Inside the Rhapsody

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What makes a song great is when the listener can relate it to his or her own experience and feel it in his or her own life. Once the lyrics need to be explained some of the magic is lost.

This year is the 40th Anniversary of when Bohemian Rhapsody was first introduced to the world. With over 6.5 million copies sold to date, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is one of the world’s best known and most loved songs.

Singers such as Kanye West, Axl Rose, Elton John, Pink, The Flaming Lips, and Elaine Paige have performed the single. Then Mike Myers and Dana Carvey immortalized it again in the smash hit 90’s film, Wayne’s World.

Although the other members of the band also pitched in as composers, Freddie Mercury wrote many of their signature pieces, including Bohemian Rhapsody. He was an exceptional pianist and a creative songwriter. He had such a precision and a wonderful sense of drama. He played in his own style as if he were a drummer, and he knew exactly the reaction and the effect he wanted to create in every song.

After the track was recorded, the record company and the manager suggested that the song be cut down. It was such an unusual arrangement that had never been done before and they feared it would not sit well with fans. They suggested cutting out the operatic part and the heavy bit. The singers decided to back Freddie’s original idea, take a risk and leave it as it was in its entirety. The rest, as they say, is history.

This decision became a turning point for the band. The video was made as a promotional tool and the idea was to shoot it as if it were a live event. They lit themselves with overhead white lights for parts of it but other parts were filmed on a live stage with stage lights. They wanted to sell the idea that Queen was a live band.

This documentary features conversations with Roger Taylor, Brian May and Justin Shirley Smith discussing the making and history of the hit single ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.

With over 6.5 million copies sold worldwide to date, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is without a doubt one of the world’s favorite love songs. With it’s writer, Freddie Mercury gone, there’s no way of finding out what the song really means. And the truth is, that’s what makes it even more special. Watch this film now.