"Is This the Real Life..."

This past Wednesday, September 5, was the 61st anniversary of the birth of one of rock music's greatest talents. When his voice was silenced in 1991, the world didn't mourn his loss; they celebrated his life and his gift of music.

I was first turned on to his group's music back in 1974, when they released a minor hit single about a woman "guaranteed to blow your mind, anytime"*. But the next year, they released what can only be decsribed as "The Song", and from that moment I was hooked. Rolling Stone magazine called it "either a progressive rock benchmark, or the most convoluted pop song ever recorded". A BBC Radio poll once revealed this song to be both the best and the worst song in rock history -- at the same time! I am talking, of course, about "Bohemian Rhapsody", by Queen, and the man who wrote that song, the late Freddie Mercury.

For this week's VOTW, I wanted to give tribute to Freddie, but I had a harder time going about it than I thought. I initally wanted a performance piece, or the "Barcelona" video, but I decided that was cliché. Then I discovered a clip of a classical guitar lesson DVD by Edgar Cruz, featuring this song. After more digging, I found performances by people who learned to play it from the DVD.

Of those clips, I judged this to be the best of them. This is a live performance of "Bohemian Rhapsody", arranged for classical guitar, by a gentleman named David Schaub. And I also feel it is a moving tribute to Freddie, and the fact that his voice still resonates after all these years.

If you happen to be a Queen fan, I would recommend you have a Kleenex handy...


* -- The song was "Killer Queen"