“Freddie was a very complex person flippant and funny on the surface, but he concealed insecurities and problems in squaring up his life with his childhood,” said May. Scaramouche was a buffoonish character in 16th-century commedia dell’arte shows “Bismillah”, which is taken from the Quran, means “in the name of Allah” Beelzebub is an archaic name for the devil.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” brims with imaginative language and is a testament to Mercury’s talents as a songwriter. Mercury had supposedly written “Galileo” into the lyrics in honor of May, who had a passionate interest in astronomy and would later go on to earn a Ph.D. Every time Fred decided to add a few more ‘Galileo’s we lost something, too.” The references in Bohemian Rhapsody “Once we held the tape up to the light and we could see straight through it, the music had practically vanished. “We ran the tape through so many times it kept wearing out,” May said. Mercury performed with real verve, overdubbing his voice until it sounded like a chorus, with the words “mamma mia”, “Galileo” and “Figaro” bouncing up and down the octaves. For the grand chorale, the group layered 160 tracks of vocal overdubs (using 24-track analogue recording), with Mercury singing the middle register, May the low register, and drummer Roger Taylor the high register (John Deacon was on bass guitar but did not sing). A week was devoted to the opera section, for which Mercury had methodically written out all the harmony parts. The innovative song began with the famous a cappella intro (“Is this the real life?/Is this just fantasy?”) before embracing everything from glam-metal rock to opera. It was a moment that May described as “just the biggest thrill.” By the summer they were ready to record it taping began on Augat the famous Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales.

Queen first properly rehearsed “Bohemian Rhapsody” at Ridge Farm Studio, in Surrey, in mid-1975, and then spent three weeks honing the song at Penrhos Court in Herefordshire. Click to load video The recording of Bohemian Rhapsody

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