Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen: song analysis, lyrics and translation
Bohemian Rhapsody It is the most emblematic single by the British band Queen. This song was a break with the way of conceiving rock: it combined rock and ballad with opera, and its dark and confusing lyrics continue to be enigmatic and fascinating to his followers.
The song was composed by Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the band, and is included on the album A Night at The Opera. Its launch, in 1975, generated a real revolt in commercial radio: Bohemian Rhapsody it challenged all the conditions to be "radiable." For example, it had a duration of 5'55 '', when only 3-minute songs were accepted on the radio.
Even so, after its release, the piece reached the top of the charts for 9 weeks. The success would be repeated in 1991, after the death of Freddie Mercury, when the subject returned to commercial radio.
The validity of this Bohemian Rhapsody It has been such that a film of the same name has recently been released that reviews the history of Freddie Mercury and the members of Queen. What has made this single a reference for all generations until today?
Letter of Bohemian Rhapsody
[Enter]
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, little high, little low
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me
[Ballad]
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, ooh, 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 beats, 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, ooh, (Any way the wind blows)
I don't want to die
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all
[Guitar solo]
[Operatic section]
I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?
Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very fright'ning me
(Galileo) Galileo, (Galileo) Galileo, Galileo Figaro magnifico
I'm just a poor boy, 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) Will not let you go
(Let me go) Ah
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
(Oh mamma mia, mamma mia) Mamma mia, let me go
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me!
[Rock]
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!
[Coda]
Nothing really matters, anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me
Any way the wind blows
Translation of Bohemian Rhapsody
[Enter]
Is this real life? Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide, there is no escape from reality
Open your eyes to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy, I don't need no compassion
Because easy I come, easy I go, a little high, a little low
Any way the wind blows
not really important to me
[Ballad]
Mom, I just murdered a man.
I put a gun to his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead.
Mama life had just begun
But now I've thrown everything away
Mama, I didn't mean to make you cry
if I don't come back again tomorrow,
Carry on like nothing really matters
Too late, my time has come.
I feel chills. My body hurts all the time.
Goodbye, everyone, I have to go.
I have to leave them all behind and face the truth
Mama, (the wind blows anyway)
I don't want to die ...
Sometimes I wish I hadn't been born.
[Guitar solo]
[Operatic section]
I see a little silhouette of a man
Scaramouche, ScaramoucheWill you do the Fandango?
Lightning bolts and lightning, they really scare me
(Galileo) Galileo, (Galileo) Galileo, Galileo Figaro magnificent
I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
He is just a poor boy from a poor family.
Save your life from this monstrosity
easy I come, easy I go, will you let me go?
¡Bismillah! No, we won't let you go!
(Let it go!)Bismillah! We won't let you go!
(Let it go!)Bismillah! We won't let you go!
(Let me go) We won't let you go
(Let me go) I won't let you go
(Let me go) ah
No no no no no no
(Oh mamma mia, mamma mia) Mamma mia, let me go
Beelzebú has a separate demon for me, for me, for me!
[Rock]
Do you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?
Do you think you can love me and let me die?
Oh baby you can't do this to me baby!
I just have to get out, I just have to get out of here!
[Coda]
Nothing really matters, anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me
Either way the wind blows.
Song analysis
Bohemian Rhapsody It was composed by Freddie Mercury. Within the group's repertoire, this was the most difficult piece to record, due to the complexity involved with the technology available at the time. The choruses were produced by the members of the band themselves, and dozens of takes had to be taken to create the effect of a great choral work.
But beyond that, Mercury's concept of the piece is simply amazing. Let's try to get closer by means of this brief analysis.
The title of the song
Bohemian Rhapsody can be translated into Spanish as Bohemian Rhapsody. From the title, the author announces the genre of what we will hear and its character.
A rhapsody is a musical piece made up of fragments of different works with no apparent relationship between them. The theme is made up of six different sections: a choral introduction, a ballad that serves as the main theme, a guitar solo, an operatic section, a rock section and finally a coda that goes back on the ballad form principal.
This rhapsody has a quality: it is "bohemian". The term bohemian usually refers to the life of certain subjects of society, usually artists, who live outside the order established, they distance themselves from the social norms they consider prisons, and seek to defend their creative freedom and personal.
The structure
The piece, as we have said, is structured in six differentiable parts, each with its own thematic and musical characteristics. Let's see:
Choral introduction
The first part of the song is presented by a choir that acts as a kind of narrator and sanctioner, and that guides the interpretation of the above.
A dreamlike atmosphere seems to be suggested in the text when the chorus questions the boundaries between reality and fantasy. Then the chorus invokes the lyrical subject to look at his reality. This, represented by the soloist voice, looks at his smallness but does not want to be pitied. The drama has begun.
Musically, this section covers the first 48 seconds of the song and is developed almost entirely a cappella, that is, with voices without accompaniment. The chorus alternates with the lead voice of Freddie Mercury. It starts in the key of B flat (Bb).
Ballad
In the text of the ballad, the soloist invokes the mother, a principle that honors life and relates the subject to origin and childhood. However, he will make a confession of a terrible fact: the murder of a man, after which he sees his life destroyed. Looking back, he realizes that he has broken with his past, has broken with his mother, asks her forgiveness and accepts responsibility for him by leaving and taking the consequences of his actions.
In reality, this text can be seen as a metaphor for the death of a stage, the death of a cycle of one's own being that is in transformation. In the midst of it, he evokes guilt, strangeness, uncertainty and the responsibility to assume. The young man has become an adult.
This scene ranges from the second 0'49 '' to the minute 2'35 ''. The section begins with only piano and voice, and gradually the musical dramatic intensity grows along with the lyric, incorporating the other instruments according to the character.
Guitar solo
The guitar solo goes from minute 2'36 '' to 3'02 ''. The guitar solo, performed by Brian May, represents the climactic point of the guitar section. ballad, and was intended as a counterpart to the main melody and not as a recreation of the theme principal.
Operatic section
The operatic section looks like the scene of the lyrical subject's descent into hell (which can be seen as a crisis). The singing of the soloist enters into debate with the choir, as if it were a trial. Soloist and choir alternate, and depending on the passage, the choir condemns or defends the subject.
In this part of the text, Mercury evokes references from the world of opera, such as The Marriage of Figaro. It also refers to the word Bismillah, or Basmala in Spanish. This is a Muslim expression that can be translated as "in the name of Allah." Here, the lyrical subject evokes spiritual protection, who tries to justify himself in his judgment.
This fragment ranges from 3'02 '' to 4'07 ''. The operatic section begins abruptly after the end of the ballad.
Rock section
Both the text and the music seem to express the liberation of the subject and it is the climactic point of the whole subject. The subject strongly assumes the overcoming of the condition of his victim and the claim before the pretense of others to chain him. It covers from minute 4'08 '' to 4'55 ''. The guitar develops here a obstinate which drives the character of the section.
Coda
It goes from 4'55 '' to 5'55 ''. At the end of the rock section, the coda returns to the theme of the ballad and allows a break, a return to the original state.
In some way, this section reintroduces the listener into the dreamlike atmosphere of the beginning, but also leaves open the concern about the solution of the drama posed. It relativizes the story, fades its significance and dissipates the tension.
The topic
The Bohemian Rhapsody theme is perhaps the most controversial element in the piece. Actually, it is not entirely clear what the meaning of the letter is.
For some, the lyrics are an allusion to the life story of Freddie Mercury. Others maintain that it reflects a specific stage of the author, in which he discovered his homosexuality while he was still in a relationship with a woman. For others, it portrays the psychology of a suicide killer.
However, for Mercury the question of defining the meaning of the song was not relevant and, according to the sources consulted, he always refused to explain it. Mercury barely allowed himself to say that the lyrics of the song were about relationships and that, in any case, everyone had to find in it the interpretation that resonated with him.
The truth is that the piece is presented as an emotional delirium that goes through different stages. Each section is a different scene in the painting of an experience in which the boundaries between fiction and reality seem blurred. The piece appears to be itself an opera in six acts condensed in just under 6 minutes.
History of Queen
Queen is a British band that was founded in 1971, and in 1973 they signed their first contract with a record label, which at the time was EMI.
Originally the band consisted of Freddie Mercury, its vocalist and pianist; Brian May, guitarist; Roger Taylor, drummer, and John Deacon, bassist.
The band was very well received from the beginning and, very soon, already by 1974, it was giving its first international tour. He recorded a total of 14 studio albums. The success of the band was always unquestionable and their songs occupied the first places of the billboard for a long time.
In 1991, Freddie Mercury, who was undoubtedly the most iconic figure, died of AIDS. Two years later, John Deacon resigned from the band.
Before dying, Mercury had recorded the songs of a new production. The songs could later be concluded by the members of Queen and the album was released in 1995 under the name of Made in heaven, selling more than twenty million copies worldwide.
Despite the losses, musicians May and Taylor returned to the scene since 2012 with the collaboration of Adam Lambert, singer and songwriter.
Today, Brian May and Roger Taylor continue to act as ambassadors for the Mercury Phoenix Trust project for the prevention and care of AIDS in the world.
Bohemian Rhapsody Video
Bohemian Rhapsody it was the first theme song to have a video clip conceived strictly for promotional purposes. This video was directed by Bruce Gowers and shot at Elstree Studios. It was first aired on the show Top of the Pops, in 1975. You can see it here:
