Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

Selecting the right music while running is important, well, to those of us who actually listen to music while running it is vital (I am one of those people who falls into that category). Time signature, tempo, voice (s), softness, loud guitars, no guitars, are all determining factors of what I want to hear while running. My mood is also a deciding factor. Sometimes I want quiet, so I’ll listen to Gillian Welch’s «Red Clay Halo.» If I want loud and hard, superchunk’s «On the Mouth,» fugazi’s «Guilford Fall,» AC/DC’s «Back in Black,» or «You Shook Me All Night Long» all do the trick. If I want cool, Bobby Womack’s «Across 110^th Street» works perfectly. The type of song also has to fit with where I am in my run: beginning, middle, final stretch. For example, I really don’t want to hear something mellow when I’m struggling to finish my run, I want something to motivate me to push on through.
There’s one epic song that covers all the moods and points in my run: Queen’s «Bohemian Rhapsody.» It’s five minutes and fifty-​five seconds of pure awesome-​ness*. When it came out in 1975 on Queen’s «A Night at the Opera,» it sounded like nothing else out there on the radio. Ever since I first heard the song when I was a kid I’ve loved it. I might not have totally understood the meaning of the lyrics, but I was in total awe of Freddie Mercury and Brian May (I was never fortunate enough to see Queen live though). So, the song has always been with me in some form or another. It’s now in current rotation on my iPod shuffle, and I’ve been known to sing along at any given time during the song. I’m sure I must sound pretty terrible to those who are unfortunate enough to be passing by me when I’m listening to the song. But who cares, right? I maintain it is THE perfect song to run, or to workout to.
The song changes six times. Yes. Six.**
Beginning: four part harmony, a cappella.
«Is this the real life, is this just fantasy…»
Then, the piano travels from one headphone to the other and is just quiet enough for me to hear my breathing and my feet hitting the asphalt. I can still hear cars as they speed by, but they don’t detract from my focus.
…
Next: Ballad. You hear Freddie and a piano. Still quiet, but not so much to put me to sleep or to make me lose motivation. It’s as if I’m listening to Mercury tell me a story… a sad, confessional one at that. «Mama…just killed a man…»
…
Next: Guitar solo. The intensity of Freddie’s voice increases…
«Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth… I sometimes wished I’d never been born at all…»
My pace will usually pick up at this point.
…
Next: Opera.
(Seriously, how can I [or anyone for that matter??] not sing along to this part of the song? It has always been cool, WAY before Mike Meyer’s and Dana Carvey brought it back in «Wayne’s World.»)
plunky piano,
(I’m bouncing down the trail… can you see me go?)
«I see a little silhouetto of a man…»
my pace picks up again with this part of the song.
«…thunder bolts and lightning… very, very frightening…»
Voices are going back and forth between the headphones… me singing one of the parts.
«I’m just a poor boy… nobody loves me…»
As I run, my mind fills with visions of this tremendously elaborately staged opera.
Crescendo again…
…
Next: Hard Rock part, more guitar.
I feel aggressive and totally energized listening to Freddie’s claims towards someone who’s been abusive and betrayed him.
«So you think you can love me and leave me to die?»
Brian May’s guitar… screams and is accusatory. If I’m not by now, I’m at my working heart rate. Focused. I bound over busted cracks in the pavement.
…
Ending. May’s guitar is mellow. Piano chimes in again. Then the song goes back to how it sounded in the beginning. Somewhat sad… if you’ve seen the video of Queen performing the song live, you see Freddie sitting at the piano…
«Nothing really matters… anyone can see… nothing really matters… to me.»
Again, I’m singing along quietly. I’m not overcome with sadness at this point, even though, if I weren’t running, I just might be.
The song leaves me feeling fulfilled and energized.
«Any way the wind blows…»
*Gong*
…
Fin.
If you haven’t listened to «Bohemian Rhapsody» in awhile, or you’re just not a fan of Queen (poor you, because you’re really missing out on their collective genius)…go back to it.
Freddie, Brian, Roger and John just might motivate you to run… or in the very least, sing at the top of your lungs.
*If Freddie were alive… I think he might approve of this description.
** I’m no musical scholar who has endlessly studied this song, these are just my thoughts as to how the song affects me.
***Lyrics, Mercury, 1975.