Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
Bohemian Rhapsody: An examination into the construction of meaning
through Queen's magnum opus.
By Jordan Williams
1/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
“Freddie was sitting in his apartment and he said, ‘I’ve got this idea for a song.’ So
he started playing it on the piano… Then he suddenly stopped and said, ‘Now, dears,
this is where the opera section comes in….’” 1
Roy Thomas Baker
1. “Queen’s Tragic Rhapsody.”
2/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
This investigation aims to discuss the differing ways that meaning can be
constructed through researching an individual artwork. For the purpose of this
research the focus is on providing a case study of Queen’s 1975 release
Bohemian Rhapsody, aiming to analyse the piece from four distinct aspects in
order to ascertain how meaning is both developed and construed. The reason for
the selection of this particular piece as a focus is due to its historical effect on
popular culture, representing the epitome of the potential for an artwork to
attain a love-hate relationship in the public eye, “Bohemian Rhapsody became
Queen’s first Number One British single, and it hit the Top 10 in America. In the
years since, the song has routinely headed British lists of all-time best and worst
singles.” 2 This undertaking will follow a sequential examination into the
individual components that represent the differing constituents involved in
creating the complete work. Firstly, the lyrical content that represents the
semantic component and assists in the formation of the narrative in the piece
will be analysed to gather a basic understanding of what the author is conveying
by composing the personas story. Freddie Mercury’s intended meaning is veiled
through the ambiguities in his lyricism and the through-composed, linear
structure of the narrative he presents, allowing the potential for great debate
regarding analysis from the audience’s subjective interpretations. In addition to
the lyricism, essential musical components such as structure, instrumentation
and expression will be studied to determine how these fundamental musical
constructs are utilized to amplify meaning expressed by the piece as a cohesive
whole. An examination into the conceptual designs of the visual components (i.e.
music video) will then determine the elastic potential for multi-media artwork to
either illustrate, or transform the meaning inferred by the audio components,
2. “Queen’s Tragic Rhapsody.”
3/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
exhibiting how crucial the visual designers role becomes in interpreting or
reflecting thematic content and musical ideology. Finally, the importance of
context will be studied, examining the original studio recording and contrasting
this with live performances, as well as the impact and efficacy of reappropriating
the work. In short, the intention of undertaking this research is to focus on
examining the philosophical concept of meaning, and its existence as a process
that can be subjectively perceived and ascribed through the process of realizing
and viewing a piece. The approach that will be undertaken through this analysis
derives strong influence from Roland Barthes death of the author concept,
questioning the attribution of meaning from a post-structural perspective.
Cook’s theory that “language constructs rather than represents reality” 3
holds very interesting connotations when examining the lyrics within the
introductory section of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Kneis believes the opening
stanza “captures the surreal moment when you make a mistake and it feels the
whole world is falling apart around you… The hero is “caught in a landslide” of
his own doing, and his reality is washed away.” 4 The narrative appears to
demonstrate a persona struggling with a psychological dilemma, a theme that is
expanded upon throughout the through-composed adventure, only gaining
resolution by designing an ambiguously concluding refrain, “anywhere the wind
blows.” McLeod, analysing the piece with an operatic focus, writes that the piece
“depicts a suicidal young man, played by Mercury, confessing to a murder (or
possibly describing his own suicide – the terms are unclear) bemoaning his short
life and imploring his mother to ‘carry on as if nothing really matters.” 5
3. Cook, “Music: A Very Short Introduction,” 78.
4. “Notes on Notes: An In-Depth Analysis of Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen and the Heroes’ Journey.”
5. McLeod, “Bohemian Rhapsody: Operatic Influences on Rock Music.” 192.
4/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
Examining the story arc from a superficial level appears to show the personas
guilt-ridden confession of murder to his mother. However a deeper look into the
semantic content infers a sense of liberation, but not without cost. The extensive
usage of mythological figures associated with contrasting cultures demonstrates
the personas experimentation into the multifaceted contemporary society, as he
attempts to break the shackles of familial enforced religion to create his own
cultural avenue through which to experience life. This means that the persona is
also required to escape from his family in order to achieve a fulfilling life to his
own accord; therefore metaphorically killing off the man he once was to allow
his transition into this ideal. As Kokozej writes, “We assume he has committed
suicide, but not a real suicide: he has killed his own old self and become someone
different; with the death of his old self he is beginning a new life, namely – in the
case of Freddie – becoming an artist (or ‘artist’).” 6 The dilemma the persona now
faces is regret, excitedly weighing up the worth of this decision to embark on his
lonesome quest into the world, beginning the process of forging a new identity to
become the hero the persona envisaged himself as.
Irrespective of the original meaning intended by Mercury, in a postBarthes, post-structural society the linguistic meaning is subverted by a
subjective analysis into the veiled lyricism. The implication is that the
importance of meaning as a concept is founded in an individual’s context; what
may have been the truth for the original composer may be at odds with what is
the truth for the audience, thereby determining that the defining characteristics
of meaning and subject matter is a process formed by creation of a stimuli, and
6. “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
5/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
concluded only after the listener/viewer has synthesized/formulated a response.
This is a concept corroborated by Koelsch who examines the attribution of
musical semantic meaning from a clinical neurobiological perspective,
concluding:
the understanding and the interpretation of musical information, as well
as meaning communicated by other individuals in general is usually
multi-dimensional… it is also a psychological reality that the
understanding of meaning is idiosyncratic in the sense that the same
utterance, musical phrase and the like, is interpreted differently by
different individuals (due to different personal associations, different
cultural backgrounds, different grasps of the structure etc.). 7
By studying the semantic component within the context of a musical work, it
becomes abundantly clear that Barthes ‘death of the author’ notion is an effective
philosophical observation, determining that the importance of meaning,
emotional associations and subject matter is a process dependant on the
audience’s subjectively contextual analysis. Mercury’s masterful lyrical crafting
in Bohemian Rhapsody exemplifies this concept within the context of a musical
artwork, having forged decades of attempted interpretations as the listeners
search for meaning in the lines. As the author, Mercury himself stated on the
topic when questioned about his original meaning, “I’ll say no more than what
any decent poet would tell you if you asked him to analyze his work: if you see it,
dear, then its there.” 8 t is therefore apparent that in constructing meaning, the
desire to possess a profound connection with a work forces the listener to create
7. Koelsch, “Towards a neural basis of processing musical semantics,” 103.
8. “Queen’s Tragic Rhapsody.”
6/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
their own meaning, signifying the impossibility of a universal truth within an
artwork. This entails that the pursuit of objectivity is a futile exercise, and that
the author’s original intentions behind the work fade to irrelevance as avid
listeners determine the new meaning.
The musical components within a piece play a fundamental role in
creating atmosphere that acts as an amplifier to the lyrical inferences
throughout. Kneis determines that Bohemian Rhapsody owes its commercial
success due to its structural design, observing that it is built from “the most wellknown structure there is, one that predates the verse/chorus format or even
written music by millennia: Bohemian Rhapsody follows Joseph Campbell’s
“Hero’s Journey” almost beat-for-beat.” 9He provides an analysis for the
structure; determining that six distinctive sections assist in the narrative flow
provided by Mercury’s lyrics. This begins with a soft piano-driven introduction,
with a steady build through the piano ballad, the first guitar solo coalescing into
mock-operatic elements then reaching its climactic hard-rock section, before
finally dwindling down as the piece ends with a sense of closure, provided by the
piano and soft timbre of Mercury’s voice. Kneis concludes that Bohemian
Rhapsody “takes all these things we’re familiar with and understand, and uses
them as tools to tell a classic story in a brand new format. That combination is
what makes the song instantly accessible, yet still exciting and fresh sounding
even after all these years.” 10 Baker, having experienced the realisation of this
piece from his role as the songs producer, analyses the structure of the piece as
3-part song to contrast the differing genres that assist in creating atmosphere.11
9. “Notes on Notes: An In-Depth Analysis of Bohemian Rhapsody Queen and the Hero’s Journey.”
10. ibid.
11. “Queen’s Tragic Rhapsody.”
7/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
Both are able to conclude that the structural design represents a tumultuous
journey that is only concluded by ending the piece softly, instruments dropping
out to leave only the piano and vocals, projecting a sense of tranquillity and also
intimacy after the chaos that precedes. “Instead of having to rely on plotting or
visuals, music can take a listener through a series of connected emotions that
form a story of sorts. Bohemian Rhapsody is a perfect example of this…. Music
can step in and represent inner base emotions – a subject where words often fail
us.” 12 Kneis makes this observation, meanwhile Langer offers a reason why
music is more effective at conveying emotion than the language, “Because the
forms of human language are much more congruent with musical forms than
with the forms of language, music can reveal the nature of feelings with a detail
and truth that language cannot approach.”13 It is apparent from these sources
that music itself holds more of an emotional, or expressive characteristic then
being a communication medium. Koelsch examines this notion of separating
these two modes, placing them in opposite ends of the same spectrum, “there is a
continuum of the degree of specificity of meaning information, with “expression”
being located towards one end, and “communication” towards the other.” 14
The virtuosic musicianship presented by Queen shows a technical
mastery in contriving an adventure through a musical medium. The instrumental
control that they exhibit throughout the piece effectively assists in strengthening
the lyrical communication by providing an expressive aural backdrop, thereby
allowing the listeners mind to make sense of the turbulent adventure
experienced by the persona. As the band juxtaposes thematic content from
differing musical cultures, they capture the persona’s desire for a multifaceted
12. “Notes on Notes: An In-Depth Analysis of Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen and the Hero’s Journey.”
13.Langer, “Philosophy in a New Key: A Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite and Art,” 235.
14. Koelsch, “Transitional zones of meaning and semantics in music and language: Reply to comments on ‘Towards a
neural basis of processing musical semantics.” 126.
8/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
life, transcending the inherent limitations within individual cultural influencers
by cohesively hybridizing a musical artwork to demonstrate the process of
attaining freedom. Although the musical elements in Bohemian Rhapsody are
successfully utilized in evoking an emotional response, the meaningful
communicative medium occurs through the lyrical content. This analysis
determines that the music source therefore fulfills a supplementary role in the
process of creating meaning. As Hasty writes, “because we find it difficult or
impossible to say what exactly we have heard, music can seem purely subjective,
willful, unruly, irrational.” 15
The conceptual design of music videos provide a two-pronged function,
simultaneously acting as an amplifier (or modifier) for conveying meaning, in
addition to providing a commercial for the music track. Gow writes that,
visuals sometimes do little more than reinforce meanings or themes
arising from music, yet in light of the ambiguity characteristic of many
popular songs it seems reasonable to conclude that visuals can have a
more significant influence upon how audiences experience what they
hear. 16
This notion of subjectivity based on audience perception allows a great scope of
interpretation within a piece that features visual accompaniment. Within the
context of an audio-visual based piece, attributing meaning occurs on a multidimensional realm, as the issue that surfaces is the question of whether the
visual design works to amplify meaning, or alternatively to allow an effective
15. Hasty, “The Image of Thought and Ideas of Music.” 2.
16. Gow, “Mood and Meaning in Music Video,” 257.
9/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
medium for intentionally exploring a transformation of meaning. Burns
concludes, “Music video is a visualization of the recording, while at the same time
it may also be an adaptation of a movie or other visual or narrative text.” 17 The
synchresis employed by music video directors assists in reflecting fleeting
musical moments, whereas a thematic story arc interprets the narrative present
in the song to develop a cohesive and complete cross-sensory experience for the
audience. Bjornberg notes, “music videos with a visual narrative are often based
on narrative lyrics… regardless of the degree of musical narrativity.” 18 His focus
on the imagery within the language component appears to be in conflict with
Gow’s concept of AudioVisual Synergies. Gow surmises through his examination
into Bohemian Rhapsody’s video clip from a holistic approach that the work
offers huge potential for visual interpretation, “By moving through such a
diverse series of tonal, rhythmic, and instrumental shifts this unconventional
pop tune generates a wealth of possibilities for creating engaging AudioVisual
synergies.” 19 In studying how meaning can be extrapolated from music videos, it
becomes apparent that they hold the ability to explore meaning through either
its visual amplification or modification of musical content, and therefore design
becomes an incredibly important process to achieve either.
Railton & Watson believe that the concept of music video has much
further reaching implications than being a visual manifestation of the artwork,
noting a trend that videos have been “used as a way of interrogating the
relationship between music and cultural politics.” 20 They determine that within
the music video phenomena, meaning is derived from a capitalistic intent, “they
are first and foremost a commercial for an associated but distinct consumer
17. Burns, “Formula and distinctiveness in movie-based music videos.” 7.
18. Bjornberg, “Structural Relationships of Music and Images in Music Video,” 69.
19. Gow, “Mood and Meaning in Music Video,” 259.
20. Railton, D & Watson, P, “Music and the Moving Image: Music Video and the Politics of Representation,” 4.
10/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
produce, the music track itself.” 21 The intention behind creating the music video
clip for Bohemian Rhapsody was to provide a commercial convenience, allowing
Queen to remain utilizing the vast soundscape created in the studio recording for
their planned feature release on Top of the Pops. 22 The powerful silhouette
imagery employed to accentuate the persona’s existential crisis in the
introductory section shifts into a close-up of their now visible faces as the line
“open your eyes” is delivered by Mercury. The facial focus image becomes a
recurring motif throughout the operatic sections, cycling between images of
Mercury with a distorted series of facial replications to represent the choir
created by his overdubbing, as well as the band in honeycomb formation. The
facial focus is a theme that is juxtaposed in the rock sections by displaying the
band in full view in a live concert; the contrast between the two sections
demonstrating a clear distinction between two disparate personas, exemplifying
the heroic transition presented by the narrative. The transition from a faceless
shadow to world famous rock star is indicative of the commercial requirement to
strictly adhere to an industry standard mould (i.e. rock star image/lifestyle) to
effectively cultivate a following from the masses. Therefore, it may be surmised
that the visuals in Bohemian Rhapsody were actually designed to act as a social
commentary, attacking the capital ideologies that have become a pervasive force
in the music industry. This becomes a very interesting notion when considering
that the work has become “widely hailed as the music video that launched the
MTV age… which as well as being voted best music video, is widely regarded as
the greatest single of all time.” 23 From this interpretation, it is apparent that
visual meaning assists in creating a medium to connect music with cultural
21. Railton, D & Watson, P, “Music and the Moving Image: Music Video and the Politics of Representation,” 2
22. Queen: The Story of Bohemian Rhapsody (documentary).”
23. “Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody voted best video.”
11/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
politics, with capitalist desire providing the key motivating factor behind
transforming the musical art form into a visual manifestation.
Arguably, the most well known live Bohemian Rhapsody performance
occurred at Wembley Stadium in 1986 (released as part of the Queen at
Wembley DVD). The performance seeks to deliberately reference the
theatricality of the operatic section by its reliance on both the studio recording
and music video to represent the textural complexities in the vocal chorus. 24
This demonstrates that the meaning in the operatic section is contrived through
both the dense texture and the accuracy that can only be achieved in a studio,
Queen choosing to contrast this with free-flowing and ornamented introductions
and conclusion. The on-stage persona’s are in line with the original music video
release throughout the rock section, showing the reliance on perceived image to
creating an identity, and subsequently an overall meaning derived from the
audiences association with persona. Interweaving the studio recording and video
with the live performance complete with a light show and smoke screen to
contrast the musically light and dark sections throughout the piece further
exhibits the bands desire to remain authentic to the original work, respecting the
effort involved in realizing the song. It is apparent that Queen considered the
core identity of the piece to be founded in its juxtaposition between the rock
associations and the operatic elements that would have proven inconvenient to
perform in a live venue. This implies that it would have been a logistical
impossibility to accurately portray the desired narrative without the
implementation of the original ideologies and imagery presented in the initial
24. Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody (Live at Wembley Stadium, Saturday 12 July, 1986).
12/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
release, relying on the technology of the day to portray the personas heroic
journey.
An interesting trend to note is the Bohemian Rhapsody’s charting history.
A huge spike occurred 16 years after its release, coinciding with its usage in the
film Wayne’s World. The impact of reappropriating the song in this way led to an
alternative video clip being created splicing together scenes from both the
original music video release and from the movie. 25 Gow writes, “Even though this
version of the video brings out the sillier aspects of Bohemian Rhapsody, then, it
also allows viewers to feel that the song is so timeless and its creators so
imaginative that they can withstand their farcical inclusion into Wayne’s World.” 26
By portraying the “mock opera” elements contrasted with the hard-rock lifestyle
of the main characters, the piece was introduced to a new generation of listeners
who would now associate the piece with a comedic car-ride. This in effect
channels the original meaning through its recontextualisation to now provide a
focus on introducing the new heroic persona Wayne and his ensuing adventure
to fight the capital machine. The key ideal that distinguishes the new hero from
the initial is his unwillingness to show subservience to his superiors, appealing to
the teenage rebellion mentality associated with the MTV generation, which in
itself drew influence from punk sensibility. This ideology is congruent with an
examination into the original video clip, signifying that the fundamental
motivation behind music video creation is related to maximising the potential for
capital gain from the original musical work. The conclusion provided by this
analysis into the differing manifestations of the musical work is that attributing
meaning is a process founded in the listener (or viewers) associations, or desired
25. Gow, “Mood and Meaning in Music Video,” 260.
26. ibid.
13/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
connection with an artwork. Irrespective of the recontextualisation a piece may
experience, there will always remain a natural tendency to channel the thematic content
for its new purpose.
This research project with the focus on the case study of Queen’s magnum opus
Bohemian Rhapsody has addressed the necessary components to begin understanding
how meaning is created and ascribed to a musical piece through the process of creation,
realisation and viewing the final product. Through the examination of Queen’s
Bohemian Rhapsody, an analysis of the four main components associated with the work
as a whole was undertaken to observe the process required for creating meaning,
acknowledging that ascribing meaning from the audience becomes more important
than even the authors or composers intentions. Initial study focused on the lyrical
construction, observing how the author utilised language to create a narrative and then
providing a subsequent analysis to attempt to extrapolate the fundamental issues
explored by the composer. Secondly, the musical elements demonstrated how
unnecessary semantics are in conveying emotion, as the two are on opposite ends of the
meaning continuum, however complement each other by fulfilling the information the
other lacks to cohesively form a completed work. Shifting the focus from the sonic
source to the visual, meaning was found to inhabit influence on multiple levels: meaning
was created by representation, interpretation and by intent to act as either an amplifier
or a modifier, depending on the intended design. Research discovered that music videos
function as a commercial for the music, thereby concluding that the integration of visual
components is motivated by capital influence. Finally, by examining the piece in its
different manifestations; conducting a comparison between the original studio
recording to a notable live performance and then further examination into how it may
14/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
be reappropriated to shift specific elements of meaning, I have demonstrated the
importance of contextualising the piece and determining that any attempt to recycle the
piece will still retain echoes of the thematic content that initially inspired the creation.
The key issue consistently found is that the construction of meaning is a process
occurring through a series of events between the source and receiver. Although
focusing on the philosophical concept of meaning, it became clear that this concept does
not provide a fully-fledged argument for analysing a musical work, requiring an
engagement into studying the alternative topics researched in this unit: such as
aesthetics, expression and emotion, politics, conflicting musical cultural influencers, and
post-structural agenda. Further research relevant to the topic would be to address an
understanding of the physical processes involved in attributing meaning to both music
and language, examining the neural and auditory pathway in an attempt to comprehend
how meaning is a subjective creation, yet functions as a crucial process in attributing a
profound connection to what is essentially an irrelevant artwork to our own lives. Until
such time when this becomes a possible procedure, the inherently post-structural
subjective investigation into any artwork will dip into absurdist philosophies, therefore
echoing Bohemian Rhapsody’s heroic personas concluding sentiment that:
Nothing really matters
Anyone can see.
Nothing really matters.
Nothing really matters to me.
Anyway the wind blows…
15/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
Bibliography
Bjornberg, Alf. “Structural Relationships of Music and Images in Music Video.” Popular Music 13
(1994): 51-74.
Burns, Gary, “Formula and distinctiveness in movie-based music videos.” Popular Music and
Society 18 (1994): 7-17.
Carr, David. “Music, Meaning and Emotion.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 62
(2004): 225-34.
Cook, Nicholas. Music: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Gilmore, Mikal. “Queen’s Tragic Rhapsody.” Last modified July 7, 2014. Accessed September 1,
2014. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/queens-tragic-rhapsody-20140707.
Gow, Joe. “Mood and Meaning in Music Video: The Dynamics of AudioVisual Synergy.” Southern
Communication Journal 59 (1994): 255-61.
Grieser Painter, Julia, and Koelsch, Stefan. “Can out-of-context musical sounds convey meaning? An ERP
study on the processing of meaning in music.” Psychophysiology 48 (2011): 645-55.
Hagberg, Garry L. “Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations, Linguistic Meaning and Music.”
Paragraph 34 (2011): 388-405.
Hasty, Christopher. 2010. “The Image of Thought and Ideas of Music.” In Sounding the Virtual:
Gilles Deleuze and the Theory and Philosophy of Music. Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2010.
Kneis, Andy. “Notes on Notes: An In-Depth Analysis of Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen and the Hero’s
Journey.” Last modified July 1, 2012. http://andything.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/notes-onnotes-an-in-depth-analysis-of-bohemian-rhapsody/ (accessed September 1, 2014).
Koelsch, Stefan. “Transitional zones of meaning and semantics in music and language: Reply to
comments on ‘Towards a neural basis of processing musical semantics.’” Physics of
LifeReviews 8 (2011): 125-28.
Koelsch, Stefan. “Towards a neural basis of processing musical semantics.” Physics of Life Reviews 8
(2011): 89-105.
Kokozej, Daria. “Bohemian Rhapsody.” No date. http://www.mercury-andqueen.com/bohemianrhapsody.htm (accessed October 20, 2014).
Langer, Susanne. Philosophy in a New Key: A Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite and Art. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1967.
McLeod, Ken. “Bohemian Rhapsodies: Operatic Influence on Rock Music.” Popular Music 20 (2001):
189-203.
Morris, Michael. “The Meaning of Music.” The Monist 95 (2012): 556-83.
Progrock70s. “Queen: The Story of Bohemian Rhapsody (documentary).” Last modified September 23,
2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgD_eu_jlUQ (accessed October 1, 2014).
Queen Official Channel. “Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody (Live at Wembley Stadium, Saturday 12 July,
1986)” Last modified August 1, 2008. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oozJH6jSr2U
(accessed September 12, 2014).
Railton, Diane and Watson, Paul. Music and the Moving Image: Music Video and the Politics of
Representation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011.
16/17
Music & Philosophy
Assessment 3: Essay
Jordan Williams 17208967
Stillwell, Robynn. “In the air tonight: text, intertextuality, and the construction of meaning.” Music and
Society 19 (1995): 67-103.
The Telegraph (UK). “Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody voted best video.” Last modified October 8,
2007.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1565502/Queens-Bohemian-Rhapsody-votedbest-video.html (accessed October 27, 2014).
Sound Recording
Mercury, Freddie. Bohemian Rhapsody. With John Deacon, Brian May and Roger Taylor. © 1975 by EMI
Music. EMI OC 066-97176, Compact Disc.
17/17