My Ten Favorite Murder Ballads: Bohemian Rhapsody (#9)

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Monday, Monday...blah. Actually, it was a pretty good Monday (for a Monday): got my car's maintenance done, got all the work that came in over the weekend at work finished, and I lost two pounds last week! I chalk that last one up to pushing dad around the Fairgrounds in a wheelchair for three hours last week. So to kill off Monday here's another one of my ten favorite murder ballads. #9: Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen I think people should just listen to it, think about it, and then make up their own minds as to what it says to them. (Freddie Mercury) Okay, Freddie. I've listened, and I've made up my mind that it's a murder ballad! Actually, in this case, a murder opera. I'll never forget Casey Kasem introducing this song on American Top 40 one week as having "everything but the kitchen sink" in it. That includes murder. "Mama, just killed a man." Well, that doesn't leave much to the imagination, does it? To me (again, harkening back to Mercury's comment to listen and interpret for one's self [he never said precisely what this song was about, and the surviving members of Queen have remained tight-lipped in the 25 years since Mercury's death]), it's a man in prison ("will you let me go?," "just gotta get out, just gotta get right out of here") awaiting his execution ("goodbye everybody, I've got to go, gotta leave it all behind and face the truth," "mama, I don't wanna die") after being convicted of murder. Given that this is one of the most overplayed songs in FM "classic" rock history I was a little hesitant to include it. But dang, I love this song. Bohemian Rhapsody Written by Freddie Mercury Recorded by Queen From A Night At the Opera, 1975 No escape from reality: