Has it really been 50 years ! , Bohemian Rhapsody Anniversary

[gortex]

50 years ago yesterday Bohemian Rhapsody was released to an unsuspecting world , the Rock Opera song which was too long to be a single redefined what a song could be back in 1975 as it stormed the UK singles charts and held the No1 spot for an incredible nine weeks , it has become one of the greatest songs ever written in my opinion and must have been a real eye opener for musicians of that time.


50 and still awesome.

[Ninurta]

I remember when the song came out, and the way it swept the nation in the US, but never really understood the meaning of it. In general, it seems to be the story of a man who committed an unwarranted murder, or possibly execution, and who was now sitting on Death Row as a result and begging for his life, but I never understood the context or meaning behind it.

In particular, I was learning Arabic at the time from my Syrian partner in crime, and could not quite grasp the inclusion of "bismillah" (b'ism Allah = "in the name of Allah") in it. Was it the story of a man on trial for an extrajudicial killing in a foreign Arab country? Or possibly a man from and Arab nation on trial in a western nation for an extrajudicial killing? After all, the "Bohemia" in the title was not, at that time, in a Muslim nation. I never really knew.

But it did seem to catch fire among the general populace, in spite of my failure to grasp it's meaning.

.