Queen Song of the Week: Chorus? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Chorus, Part II

BoRhap - oh where to begin. The story goes that Freddie Mercury played the opening part of the song ("Mama, just killed a man.") for the rest of the band, stopped playing, told them, "And that's where the opera bit starts up. Let's get lunch."

As the band worked tirelessly in the studio on the layers and layers of harmonies, Freddie would come in with lyrics scribbled on scraps of napkins for them. It was all in his head - he just needed to recreate it on tape. What many don't realize is that the background vocals of BoRhap were performed entirely by Freddie Mercury, Dr. May and RT. No additional vocalists were used! Each sang his part over and over again, the tapes were overdubbed and spliced together using Scotch tape, and the result is the stunning choral-like harmonies that make BoRhap immediately recognizable from its first note. Additionally, it was RT, not Freddie Mercury, who sang the song's signature high note, a piercing B5 ("For meeeeeeeee") right before the guitar solo begins.

When it came time to release the first single off the album A Night at the Opera, the band chose BoRhap and stood behind their choice even when the record company insisted that at nearly six minutes, the song was too long. Ultimately it was Freddie Mercury who convinced a friend, a local DJ, to play BoRhap on the radio and from there the record company relented. To choose the B-side of the single was just as difficult. The rumor is that RT so badly wanted I'm In Love With My Car (featured here) to be the B-side that he locked himself in a cupboard until Freddie Mercury agreed.

Unfortunately, the complexity of BoRhap made it impossible to play live in full. Typically the band began with Freddie Mercury on the piano and following Dr. May's solo when the opera section kicked in, they'd play a recording while the band left the stage, finally at the end they'd reappear in time to play the hard rock portion ("So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye.") and the outro of the song.

In 2002, RT and Dr. May played the song live in full for the first time with the cast of the musical "We Will Rock You" at the Queen's Golden Jubilee. RT admitted after the show having to ask the musical's drummer how to play the operatic bit of the song because it had been nearly thirty years since he had last played it. More recently, the recording artist Pink has been performing the full version of the song on her Funhouse tour. (No offense, boys, but I like Pink's version better. BoRhap is campy and over-the-top enough, it doesn't need the "musical theater" treatment. Pink's traditional gospel choir is much truer to the original recording).

Finally, not only is BoRhap universally recognized as one of the greatest rock songs of all time, it also played a significant role in launching the music video industry. Because Queen set off on tour immediately following release of the song, they weren't available to perform on Top of the Pops, as each week the artist with the #1 song was invited to do. To make up for their absence, the band spent about three hours and 4500 pounds to make a music video which aired in place of a live performance. While technically not the first music video, the use of the video appealed to other artists who would no longer have to be available to play live on television in order to get their song played.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my discussion of The Millionaire's Waltz.

Happy Listening!

Queen Song of the Week: Chorus? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Chorus, Part I

I'm out of town this weekend (at my father-in-law's wedding), but being the diligent little blogger I am, I still have some posts to keep everyone entertained! I'm sure I'll have tons of pictures of my outfits that I'll post when I get back, but for now everyone have a Queen-tastic weekend!

This week I'm highlighting three songs. It has struck me as I write this feature every week that there is tons of really fascinating information out there about the recording of Bohemian Rhapsody, but since the whole point of this weekly feature is to draw your attention to more obscure Queen songs, it isn't really appropriate to discuss BoRhap.

Ah, but being the clever little thing that I am, I've figured out a way to not only give BoRhap the attention that it clearly deserves, but also to point you in the direction of two other amazingly epic Queen songs: The March of the Black Queen and The Millionaire Waltz.

The March of the Black Queen, written by Freddie Mercury, was released in 1974 on the Queen II album.

Bohemian Rhapsody, written by Freddie Mercury, was released in 1975 on the A Night at the Opera album. It has been released as a single several times where it spent 9 weeks in the #1 spot on the U.K. charts in 1975 and another 5 weeks in the #1 spot in 1991. In the U.S., the song peaked at #9 in 1976 and at #2 in 1992 (thanks in part to Wayne's World).

The Millionaire Waltz, written by Freddie Mercury, was released in 1976 on theA Day at the Races album. I've mentioned this song before (see here) as it was written in 6/8 time.

At some point over the course of music's existence, someone decided that every song should have a chorus. Somebody forgot to tell that to Freddie Mercury because these songs are just three examples of Queen songs without any real chorus. Each song is at least five minutes long, but without a chorus or even a consistent musical style as Freddie Mercury hops around from opera to waltz to rock and back again. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, each of these songs is recognized by die hard Queen fans as some of their greatest works.

The songs (discussed in chronological order):

The March of the Black Queen - I'll admit that sometimes it takes me a few listens before the awesomeness of a Queen song smacks me right in the face. It happened with '39, Tenement Funster, and then again with The March of the Black Queen. This is one of those songs that if you ever are alone with a die hard Queen fan, they will insist that you listen to. At first, I didn't get it - I downloaded the song, listened to it, and thought, "Yeah, that's okay, I guess." Then it sat forgotten on my iTunes playlist.

A few weeks later, I decided to try again. I moved The March of the Black Queen to my running playlist. Now this is a risky move, people, because once a song is on my running playlist, if it comes on while I'm on a run, I'm stuck with it. I tuck my iPhone in my jacket pocket during runs so it isn't accessible for me to skip songs that I don't want to listen to. As if iTunes knew what I was playing at, it randomly selected the song to play in the first five runs that it was on my playlist.

That's pretty much all it took for me to be a convert. When I'm running, I like to focus on something. When I'm not running with music, it can be my breathing, the scenery, or my thoughts. When I'm running with music, I focus on the music. So for five straight runs, I focused on The March of the Black Queen and man, it's a great song.

Portions of the song are actually written in two different time signatures (12/8 and 8/8) simultaneous so it was essentially impossible to play live (although the band did incorporate bits of it into medleys onstage). This song is divided into six separate sections: it starts with a piano intro straight into some great harmonies and high notes before the first verse begins. This whole section is on a bit of an upward spiral, getting faster and higher as the song continues. Following the first two verses is the culmination of the upward spiral with a guitar solo and some more lovely harmonies. Freddie then brings the listener right back down the spiral with the next section which is soft and melodic. Then the more traditional rock portion of the song begins (can listeners identify the two lines of the song where RT sings lead?) which has a great beat and, of course, more harmonies. Finally, the last section is a fast-paced and fun outro. The song ends rather abruptly because on the album it flows directly into the next song, Funny How Love Is.

For anyone interested in a ridiculously thorough actual musicial analysis of the song, check out this amazing webpage.

Many consider The March of the Black Queen to be a bit of a precursor to BoRhap (since it was released the previous year, experiments with various musical styles and utilizes the same vocal layering technique). Despite the potential similarities, The March of the Black Queen is a really stunning song and I'm glad I gave it a few extra listens. I hope you all do as well!

I'll be posting about the other two songs on Saturday and Sunday so check back!

Happy Listening!