Rocktober 30, 2023

Rocktober 30th! 

Today our song is: Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

Wikipedia tells us this about the song:

According to Freddie Mercury's friend Chris Smith (a keyboard player in Smile), Mercury first started developing "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the late 1960s; Mercury used to play parts of songs he was writing at the time on the piano, and one of his pieces, known simply as "The Cowboy Song", contained lyrics that ended up in the completed version produced years later, in 1975, specifically, "Mama ... just killed a man." Producer Roy Thomas Baker, who began working with Queen in 1972, related how Mercury once played the opening ballad section on the piano for him in Mercury's flat:

He played the beginning on the piano, then stopped and said, "And this is where the opera section comes in!" Then we went out to eat dinner.

Guitarist Brian May said the band thought that Mercury's blueprint for the song was "intriguing and original, and worthy of work", According to May, much of Queen's material was written in the studio, but this song "was all in Freddie's mind" before they started.

Queen spent a month rehearsing at Ridge Farm Studio in Surrey in mid-1975, and drummer Roger Taylor recalled that "Bohemian Rhapsody" was one of the songs the band worked on while they were there.  Recording began on 24 August 1975 at Rockfield Studio 1 near Monmouth, South Wales, after a three-week rehearsal at Penrhos Court, near Kington, Herefordshire. During the making of the track, four additional studios – Roundhouse, Sarm Studios, Scorpio Sound, and Wessex Sound Studios – were used.  According to some band members, Mercury mentally prepared the song beforehand and directed the band throughout.

  

Be sure to stop by tomorrow to see what is next on the list!