Anthem of Rhapsody, Essay Example

Although the song “Bohemian Rhapsody” (1975) by the band Queen is very famous, many people are probably unaware of some of its deeper ideas and meanings. The song makes a statement about youth and age. It also makes a statement about life and death. One of the other important meanings of the song is that of being an outsider.  The song uses its musical basis along with its lyric to create an anthem of alienation that is supposed to help make feelings of loneliness and despair seem less powerful. The way that the song helps the people listening to it feel better about themselves is by building up a sense of community through the song’s words and rhythms.  There is also an aspect of the song that relies on audience identification. The reason that this is possible is because of the way in which the song’s writer, Freddie Mercury, is able to personify the character created in the lyric. Mercury’s emotional singing style is one of the reasons that the song is so powerful. It is also another reason that so many people love the song despite the fact that it deals with controversial ideas about cultural diversity.

One theme of cultural diversity in the song is that of youth. The song deals with the feeling of frustration that many young people feel in trying to find a purpose and meaning in their lives. This sense of loneliness and confusion is shown form the very opening of the song when Mercury sings the first word of the lyric “Mama” and then goes on to sing “Just killed a man” (Rhapsody). The implication of the opening lyric is that the young are given too much responsibility, too quickly after being held in childhood by society. The lyric goes on to describe how the singer of the song has thrown his life away even thought it had only started. This shows the feeling of futility that many young people experience as they are initiated into adult society.

The feeling of youth turning toward age is started right from the opening of the song. The opening of the song builds very slowly and is built of a piano theme and vocal melody. The theme of the opening lyric is something close to the “To be or not to be” soliloquy in Hamlet. The basic idea is that the song’s singer is unsure as to whether or not life is worth living at all.  The piano and vocal melody along with the lyric project a sense of loneliness and dread. The feeling of alienation is peculiar to youth and it is this precise feeling that the introduction to the song tries to capture. The special feeling of wasted life that can only be felt by the young is the emotional basis of the first part of the song. Throughout the developing sections of the song, the sense of age and encroaching time will be used to make the song feel darker and more painful. The theme of the youth section of the song is a cry for young people to be recognized as important members of society rather than throwaways.

Another very closely aligned theme of diversity that is expressed in the song is that of sexuality, specifically the stigma against homosexuality or any type of sexuality that is not seen as “straight” by mainstream society. the song avoids making any overt reference to sexuality or homosexuality. This means that the theme is latent, or hidden just behind the literal meaning of the lyrics. One of the ways that we can be sure that sexuality and homosexuality are themes in “Bohemian Rhapsody” is from the title. As is well known, the word “Bohemian” is a slang term for individualists and artists and also for homosexuals.

Additionally, as pointed out by Aldrich and Wotherspoon in the book Who’s Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History: From World War II to the Present Day (2001) Freddie Mercury became an icon of gay rights. After dying from AIDS, his work and life became an important touchstone for gay activism. Aldrich and Wotherspoon write that “the re-release of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, soon after Mercury’s death, saw it rise to the top of the pop charts and raise desperately needed money for AIDS research.” (Aldrich and Wotherspoon 276). The connection betwen the theme of alienated youth and ostracized homosexual are not only linked in the song “Bohemian Rhapsody” they are virtually one and the same. The character in “Bohemian Rhapsody” is shunned by society because he is young and he is also shunned for being homosexual. The song also suggests that the way society deals with the young is to blame them for everything that is wrong. This is also true, according to the song, for the way that society treats homosexuals.

The song “Bohemian Rhapsody” is about youth and deviant sexuality but it is also about the oppression that is created by scoiety. The idea that the song is saying that only the young  or only homosexuals are mistreated or exploited by society is wrong. The song is actually suggesting that everyone in society is eventually a victim of the way that scoiety rejects and abuses the individual. However, one very important thing to keep in mind is that “Bohemian Rhapsody” in the end is an anthem that celebrates the individual. So what it really becomes, despite the opening sounds of dejection and loneliness, is an anthem of individualism. The path from the opening mood to the final, triumphant mood is the emotional development of the song all conveyed through musical patterns.

The song as a whole is made like a confession. Many people take the lyric of the song to be autobiographical. They belive that the song represents Freddie Mecury’s personal experiences in life as an artist and a gay man. The facts of Mecury’s life are  somewhat important in coming to understand the full meaning and impact of the song since he is the song’s sole songwriter and lead singer. Mecury’s life lends some credit to the idea that the song “Bohemian Rhapsody” is autobiographical. As Aldrich and Wotherspoon write, Mercury’s original birth name was as uninteresting as his original status at birth. They write that Mercury  was born in 1946 as” Frederick Bulsara to a government accountant of Parsi extraction in Zanzibar.” The authors go on to say that he later “migrated to England where, while having a degree in graphic design and illustration, he pursued his interest in music” and eventually joined the rock band Queen where, under his guidance, “saw them ride the wave of popularity to international stardom.” (Aldrich and Wotherspoon 276). Part of the appeal of the band was Mercury’s theatricality, a quality that forms an important part of his singing on “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

The sense of epic drama is meant to make the person who hears the song feel that they are part of a larger picture. This means that the song effectively inverts the source of oppression: society. It turns the feeling of oppression into an anthem. Part of the way that Mercury accomplished this artistic feat was to employ the recording studio as a kind of instrument. By layering many different tracks in the studio, he was able to create vast choruses of voices and washes of instruments that created a sense of hugeness. The person listening to the song felt in their hearts that they were experiencing something profound.

The reason that Mercury wanted the song to build slowly to a raging crescendo was that this progress mirrors the feeling of the lonely individual eventually becoming part of a larger community of other lonely people. This is directed toward an anthem in “Bohemian Rhapsody” so the loneliness is couple with anger. The source of the anger is the oppressive nature of society that punishes individualism. The answer to this sense of oppression is the creation of a counter-society that is founded on the idea of individualism. The song “Bohemian Rhapsody” is supposed to be the anthem of that new scoiety. The vision that is shown by the song is idealized because it imagines tat music is a rallying point for all the people who have been hurt by society. it also imagines that the combined force of alienated individuals is enough to break through the oppression of the society that demands conformity.

Freddie Mercury intended “Bohemian Rhapsody” to be not only idealistic, but futuristic as well. This means that although the song borrows from classical tradition and from opera, it si essentially a creation of the then-modern studio technology that was available in the 1970’s. In fact. Mercury reportedly stretched the available recording technology almost to the breaking point in creating the song. John Covach writes in his article “Pangs of History in Late 1970s New-Wave Rock” (2003) that “”Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (1975) – which ended up employing dozens of tracks – is a good example of how studio multi-tracking can turn the three voices into an operatic chorus. Queen’s blending of rock and operetta was [a] fusion of rock and classical music styles” (Covach 176). The blending of styles was also meant to symbolize the power of cultural diversity. This sense of diversity is the key way that Mercury is able to blend the ideas of romantic individualism and strength-in-numbers.

The development of the song is constructed with an increasing number of tracks. The increase in tracks corresponds thematically to the mounting numbers of people who are united under the anthem. The unification of diverse individuals is shown through the changes in the music. The way that the rhythm of the song changes and also the way that the vocal harmonies are put together is complicated and expressive. The technical complications of the studio work and the song composition are very much state-of-the-art and show an almost movie-like approach to songwriting and song production. In some ways Mercury seems to have approached the creation of  “Bohemian Rhapsody” in a way that is similar to the director of a movie. The audience for the song would experience as many twists and turns of melody and rhythm as the average action movie offers in car-chases and gun-fights. Also, the song features a story even though the details of the story are hazy. The feeling of fear and torment that is shown by the song’s character is a device that encourages suspense. In the long run, the character seems to meets a tragic end, but the climax of the song is during the singer’s most individualistic and empowered section.

In the climax section of the song, Queen is well-known to have used close to two-hundred vocal tracks to create the feeling of crazy crescendo. The whole band contributed vocals. The theme of the unification of individuals is best represented by the way these vocals are mixed together to form a powerful, seamless whole.  Anyone who listens closely to “Bohemian Rhapsody” will understand, if only at a subliminal level, the true power and beauty of diversity. this is especially true if the opening, lonely sections of the song are contrasted with the climactic lyric “Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me!” (Rhapsody). This is the point of highest musical and lyrical intensity in the song. it is also the peak point of the theme which rises to challenge the notion of damnation and personal freedom.

Right at the highest point of excitement in the song, the rhythm and melody shift into a hard-rock section. The singer begins to shout an aggressive and affirming message as if to suggest that he has passed through damnation and through hell and come out stronger on the other side. there can be no more powerful message of individualism than the message sent by this section of the song.  The rising power that is felt and expressed by the singer is also felt by the listener as the song branches out from its climax to an affirmative anthem. The way that the singer has come through the various negative experiences and emotions of the song is suddenly revealed to be a transformation a than actually resulted in the gaining of personal strength.

Therefore it can only be said that “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a sing of deep hope and optimism. It’s two core themes are: first, that individualism is stronger than oppression, and second, that a community comprised of diverse individuals is the path to both personal and collective liberation. the song celebrates the idea that standing up for diversity and personal freedom should b the foundation of any society. the song also describes the sense of futility, anger,. and hopelessness that happens when individuality is oppressed.

Works Cited

Aldrich, Robert, and Garry Wotherspoon, eds. Who’s Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History: From World War II to the Present Day. London: Routledge, 2001.

Covach, John, ed. “9: Pangs of History in Late 1970s New-Wave Rock.” Analyzing Popular Music. Ed. Allan F. Moore. New York: Cambridge UP, 2003. 173-95.

Queen. “Bohemian Rhapsody” (1975) EMI.