Chapter 1: factfile 3 chapter 2: background information 4
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The VideoQueen were about to embark on a UK Tour and were anxious for TV coverage in their absence, especially on Top of the Pops. So they decided to make a short film to promote Bo Rap as they nicknamed it. They engaged Bruce Gowers to direct it. It was shot in Elstree Studios in four hours and cost £4,500 approximately, expensive in those days. Queen planned the shots including their now famous pose of the four heads looking up to the light in the Gallileo break as in the cover of Queen II. The video captured the atmosphere reflecting multi-layered vocals of the single in kaleidoscopic colour. Promotional films had been used before, most of them just showing bands performing on stage, stand-ins for the real thing. Apart from the Beatles the others were ordinary. The Beatles had made a special film in the ‘60s for the double hit singles ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘Penny Lane’. But the Bo Rap video was the first to establish the phenomenon of the Rock Video. Their later hits all had promo films. This video was a work of art, exciting to watch and was as good if not better than the real thing. Today it gives an insight into what they looked like on stage. The stage set for this sell-out tour was more spectacular than ever: bigger lighting, more dry ice and pyrotechnics. Roger had an extended drum kit including a gong. Freddie and indeed all the band were more flamboyant and diverse in their dress and antics. Freddie wore satin sequinned catsuits, embroidered jackets and Japanese kimono jewellery. CHAPTER SIX ‘BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY’ — THE ANALYSIS
NotesIn the analysis that follows, page, system and bar references are to the PVG sheet music published byInternational Music Publications Limited. The bar numbers can also refer to the Guitar-Tab edition. There are discrepancies between the written music and the sound, some of which will be pointed out. The small notes on pages 3 and 4 of the PVG score refer to variations on the repeat. Note Chord Notation: e.g. on p2, fourth system, fourth bar, the chord of B flat (D bass) is the same asthe chord of B flat, first inversion or B flat/D. LyricsIs 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. 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, ooo, 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 late, my time has come, Sends shivers down my spine, body’s aching all the time. Goodbye, ev’rybody, I’ve got to go, Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth. Mama, ooo (Any way the wind blows) I don’t want to die, I sometimes wish I’d never been born at all. I see a little silouhetto of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango. Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very fright’ning me Gallileo, Gallileo, Gallileo, Gallileo, Gallileo figaro – Magnifico. I’m just a poor boy and 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! No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh Mama mia, mama mia, mama mia, let me go. Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me. 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. Nothing really matters, Anyone can see, Nothing really matters, nothing really matters to me. Any way the wind blows.
GeneralThis song is a tightly-integrated, large-scale work, which fuses pop, rock and opera; it is unified by motifs, harmonic progressions and well-conceived transitions. It broadly follows the ballad/rocker/ ballad style of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway To Heaven’. It contains many changes in mood, rhythm, style, tonality, and texture. It features many techniques (more than a classical symphony might have !), for example, imitative counterpoint, frequent and/or abrupt modulations, diminished and chromatic passing chords, altered chords, inversions (voicing), secondary dominant cadences, and melodic sequencing. Stylistic features include romantic piano accompaniment, dynamic and textural contrasts, rich vocal harmonies, hard driving double octave power riffs, orchestral and piano interludes, operatic fanfares, antiphonal and a capella vocals. It can be divided into four main sections as follows:
Intro section 1Bars 1–4: The intro opens with a four-part a cappella close harmony vocals with repeated notes and rhythm a feature in the melody line. 
Fig. 1: bars 1–2 Even though B flat is very dominant, the first chord could be said to be Gm7 which would give rise to the sequence Gm7–C7–F7–B flat, where C7 is an altered version of ii7 acting as V7 of F (secondary dominant). The progression adds strength to the opening and increases the sense of drama and tension.
The piano enters with broken chords in the right hand and semibreve octaves in the left hand. The melody, syncopated in anticipation, rises at ‘open your eyes and see’ and at bar 7 is accompanied by a recurring figure and is one of the many unifying elements that frames the whole song. 
Fig. 2: bar 7 The backing vocals countermotif at bar 8 ‘Ooh poor boy’ is another element that acts as a building block ˙ . œœ
Ooh, poor boy. Fig. 3: bars 8–9 At bar 10 major chords falling and rising in chromatic steps (consecutive chords) give rise to the melodic idea in the operatic section. Cb Bb A Bb
Fig. 4: bar 10 The effect is intensified by panning from left to right at bar 11. The flanged crash cymbal paints the wind blowing at bar 12 while the backing vocals countermotif continues with Ooh the wind blows
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