Bohemian Rhapsody

Words and Music composed by Freddie Mercury

Introduction

‘ Many of the great experiments of 60’s and 70’s rock- vocal and guitar harmony, orchestration, arrangement, production technique and effects use- came to full fruition on ‘A Night At The Opera’ Wolf Marshall

Bohemian Rhapsody performed by Queen

Piano, Lead Vocals, Operatic Vocals Freddie Mercury

Electric Lead Guitar, Guitar Orchestra, Operatic Vocals Brian May

Electric Bass Guitar John Deacon

Percussion, Operatic Vocals Roger Taylor

  • Bohemian Rhapsody taken from the Album ‘A Night at the Opera’ was released on the 31 October, 1975
  • The single took three weeks to record, was six minutes long and was the focal point of the album. It was No. 1 in the charts for nine weeks and sold over a million copies.
  • Queen made a promotional film for Bohemian Rhapsody, which featured a live stage performance and compositing heads shots of the band. The images reflect the reverb and the multi layering of voices used in the operatic section of the song. The film for the single established the phenomenon of the rock video
  • The single included Brian May’s orchestral style guitar playing on the ‘ red special’ and studio experimentation with recording and production techniques
  • Bohemian Rhapsody was the first rock single to include operatic style singing
  • The cover design for the album ‘A Night at the Opera’ was Freddie’s idea, using a blown up image of his birth sign.

Features of the Song

Recording Techniques

  • Overdubbing (vocal) - Intro, operatic, recap and coda
  • Overdubbing (guitar) - Guitar interlude, second guitar interlude, second song and riff, recap and coda
  • Stereo panning – Intro, main song v.2, operatic, recap and coda
  • Flanging- Intro
  • Distortion – Guitar interlude, second guitar interlude, second song and riff
  • Reverberation – Operatic, recap and coda
  • Multi- track recording- Operatic

Vocal Features

  • A capella -Intro
  • Close harmony - Intro, operatic, recap and coda
  • Falsetto – Operatic
  • Antiphony/ call and response – Operatic

Musical Features

  • Repetition of notes in the melodic line- Intro
  • Changing time signatures- Intro, second song
  • Syncopation- Intro, guitar interlude, second guitar interlude, second song
  • Triplet rhythm- Guitar interlude, operatic, second song
  • Chromatic movement- intro, operatic
  • Word painting- Intro, main song v.2, operatic
  • Sequences- Guitar interlude
  • Imitative counterpoint – Operatic
  • Homophony – Main song v.1 and v.2, guitar interlude, second guitar interlude, second song, recap and coda
  • Polyphony- Intro, operatic
  • Contrast of texture – Operatic
  • Broken chord piano accompaniment- Main song v.1 and v.2, recap and coda
  • Staccato chords- Operatic
  • Diminished chords- Operatic
  • Unifying motifs found through out the work to link sections and frame the song

Guitar Techniques

  • Distortion- Guitar interlude, Second guitar interlude, second song and riff
  • Bends- Guitar interlude, second song and riff
  • Vibrato- Guitar interlude, second song riff
  • Glissando- Guitar interlude, second song riff
  • Guitar lick- Guitar interlude, second guitar interlude, second song riff
  • Guitar riff- Guitar interlude, second guitar interlude, second song riff

Style

  • A fusion of Pop ballad, rock and operatic

Structural Analysis

Intro / Main Song Verse1 / Main Song Verse2 / Guitar Interlude / Operatic Section / Second
Guitar Interlude / Second
Song and Riff / Recap and Coda
16 Bars / 18 Bars / 12 Bars / 8 Bars / 41 Bars / 4 Bars / 13 Bars
+ 10 Bars / 16 Bars
1-16 / 17-34 / 35-46 / 47-54 / 55-95 / 96-99 / 100-122 / 123-138

Introduction (bars 1-4)

Key = B flat major/g minor

Metre 4, tempo slow

4 part close harmony, Acapella

Syncopation

Repeated notes in the vocal line

Changing time signatures 4/4 5/4

Overdubbing

Introduction (bars 5-16)

Piano, bass guitar, crash cymbal

Unifying motif in piano – broken chord RH & semibreve octaves in LH

Changing time signatures

Backing vocals countermotif – ‘ooh poor boy’

Harmony rising and falling by a semitone – ‘easy come, easy go’

Descending chromatic line in bass guitar

Stereo panning – left to right – ‘little high, little low’

Word painting– ‘wind blows’ - Flanging (crash cymbal)

Main Song Verse One (bars 17-34)

Key = B flat moving to E flat major

Balladic style

Chord pattern: I – vi – ii – V Bflat – g min – c min - F

A luscious solo melody is accompanied by piano, accompaniment developed from bar 15 – broken chords

Glissando in bass guitar – bar 20 – ‘trigger now he’s dead’

Descending chromatic scale in bass guitar

Bar 25 - Drum back beat. Bass plays beats 1+3, snare beats 2+4

Unifying motif to link next verse – broken chord piano RH

Main Song Verse Two (bars 35-46)

Key B flat to E flat major

Drums play from start of verse 2/ Crash cymbal on 1st beat of each bar

Piano, bass guitar, drums, lead guitar, bell tree (chimes)

Solo voice, backing vocals

Glissando and descending chromatic scale in bass guitar

Drumbeat continues from verse one

Word painting – ‘shivers down my spine’ chimes bar 37(19)

Mood is tense and angry – bar 42 (24) – ‘face the truth’ semiquaver movement with crash cymbal

Guitar Interlude/Bridge (bars 47-54)

Key = E flat major

Lead guitar (Instrumental solo), bass guitar, drums

Guitar lick based on pentatonic scale

Improvises on chord sequence I – Vb – vi - ii

Descending bass line/ scale passage

Syncopation and triplet rhythm

Sequences/Bends/Vibrato/Glissando/Distortion

Guitar overdubs

Bar 53 – Romantic harmonic device to bring abrupt modulation to A major using chord series: Fm- D flat/ C sharp- A

Rock style fanfare to lead to next section

Operatic Section (bars 55-95)

Key = A major

Abrupt change of tempo, texture, key, mood and style

Dramatic style, faster tempo

Piano, lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, crash cymbal

Bar 55 2 bars of staccato piano chords to open

Both homophonic and polyphonic/contrapuntal texture

Chromatic pattern in the melody (similar to introduction!)

Overdubbing (vocal and guitar)

Word painting: Frightening ‘thunder and lightning’

Falsetto singing – Roger Taylor - ‘Gallileo’

Bar 63 – Sense of imitative counterpoint – open 5ths Stereo panning

Chords rise by major 3rd – A flat – C – E Bar 61-2

Antiphony/ call and response

Bar 86 – emphatic staccato ‘No’

Close harmony in vocals from Introduction - Unifying motif

Harmony moving from tonic to dominant

Ends with triplet rhythm – bar 95 – ups the pace to hard rock riff

Second Guitar Interlude (bars 96-99)

Key = E flat Moves through scale like passages

Lead guitar (Instrumental solo) bass guitar, drums

Hard rock style, dynamics forte

Metre = 12/8

Guitar lick based on a riff

Distortion/Overdubbing

Pedal accompaniment on bass guitar

Second Song and Riff (100-122)

Key = E flat

Lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, piano (end of section)

Heay guitar lick

Bar 100 – Syncopated solo voice in triplets

Repeated notes, descending pattern

Pedal octaves in bass guitar

Change of key (D flat) and time sig (2/4) for one bar – bar 103

Bends/Vibrato/Distortion/Overdubbing

Section ends with riff on guitar then piano

**BARS 115-120 IS MISSING FROM THE VOCAL SCORE**

Recap (bars 123-132)

Key = E flat then moving from C minor to G minor

Metre = 4, style is slow rock

Bar 123 - Chord progression I – Vb - vi

Lead guitar, bass guitar, drums (until bar 131)

Backing vocals ‘ooh’(similar to intro and main song v.2) solo voice

Bar 123 & 125 - Expressive guitar overdubbing resembles a string choir

Bar 128 – Solo voice plaintively sings ‘nothing really matters’

Bar 130 – rubato – Accompaniment slows and thins down as drums drop out

Coda (bars 132-138)

Key = E flat moving to B flat and F

Tempo begins to slow

Broken chords on the piano (similar to intro and verses)

Sparse texture

Panned guitar

‘Anyway the wind blows’, link with the intro

No fade out - Ends with the chord of F major and gong

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