13 October 2009

Bohemian Rhapsody as you've never heard it before...


Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody is one of my favorite rock pieces, so I was skeptical when I saw this "oompah band" version posted on Arbroath today, but the rendition by the Austrian ensemble Mnozil Brass is outstanding and thoroughly enjoyable.

There is a thorough analysis of the song at Wikipedia - certainly enough content for a separate post sometime - but for now here are Freddie Mercury's lyrics:

Is this the real life-
Is this just fantasy-
Caught in a landslide-
No escape from reality-
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see-
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy-
Because I'm easy come, easy go,
A little high, little low,
Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me,
To me

Mama, just killed a man,
Put a gun against his head,
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead,
Mama, life had just begun,
But now I've gone and thrown it all away-
Mama ooo,
Didn't mean to make you cry-
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow-
Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters-

Too late, my time has come,
Sends shivers down my spine-
Body's aching all the time,
Goodbye everybody - I've got to go-
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth-
Mama ooo- (any way the wind blows)
I don't want to die,
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all-

I see a little silhouetto of a man,
Scaramouche, scaramouche will you do the fandango-
Thunderbolt and lightning - very very frightening me-
Galileo, Galileo,
Galileo Galileo
Galileo Figaro -magnifico -
But I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me-
He's just a poor boy from a poor family-
Spare him his life from this monstrosity-
Easy come easy go-, will you let me go-
Bismillah! no-, we will not let you go - let him go-
Bismillah! we will not let you go - let him go
Bismillah! we will not let you go - let me go
Will not let you go - let me go
Will not let you go let me go
No, no, no, no, no, no, no-
Mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go-
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me-

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye-
So you think you can love me and leave me to die-
Oh baby-can't do this to me baby-
Just gotta get out - just gotta get right outta here-

Nothing really matters,
Anyone can see,
Nothing really matters-, nothing really matters to me,

Any way the wind blows....

(in this video, there's no more music after the 7:00 mark)

To save you from having to look it up, here is Queen's rendition.

3 comments:

  1. These guys are good musicians. They are also a little nutty. All in all a very entertaining number.

    ReplyDelete