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Bohemian Rhapsody Analysis

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With its evolving and unique sound, “Bohemian Rhapsody” by the British band Queen may be one of the strangest, most inspired and least-understood songs in the history of rock. Released on October 31, 1975 in the album A Night at the Opera, “Bohemian Rhapsody” became very popular, staying at the top of the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks and by the end of January, had more than a million copies sold. Freddie Mercury, the sole writer of this song, never disclaimed the song’s official meaning, but Brian May, the lead guitarist of the band, believes it is about his struggles in life and how he tried to get past society’s standards, for the lyrics progress through the central character’s understanding of the situations portrayed in the song. …show more content…

The song becomes operatic, almost as if to show the importance of the situation at hand. The character begins to plead with lyrics “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.” However, those who are holding the judgement express no mercy, for then they respond with “Bismillah! No we will not let you go”. The seriousness of the condition at hand is also shown by the stern choir of voices striking the character with judgement.
The song then transitions to a hard rock sound, with the drums and guitar unleashing powerful rhythms. This sound perfectly matches the character’s reaction to their judgers, which anger and defiance. This can be seen from the lyrics “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”. However, this doesn’t last long, for after a short powerful guitar riff, the song shifts to a down tempo ballad. This leads to the character feeling resignation and complacency with the lyrics “Nothing really matters, anyone can see, nothing really matters...to me”. Then the song fades out with the character saying “Any way the wind blows”, as if they are accepting whatever challenge they had before.
All in all, this work of art manages to be equally loved by young kids

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