The best part of being able to perform “Bohemian Rhapsody” is the way the song comes to together for the first time. Along with the fact that this is arguably the greatest classic rock song in history, and Queen is a legendary and phenomenal band, my favorite part is hearing it sung for the first time. Just the way pieces are written on a page and sound so different individually can make it a beautiful song as a group. When my choir sings about the poor boy that nobody loves, and seeing a silhouette of a man, the words don’t always make sense. But “Bohemian Rhapsody” is more than just words thrown on a page; it’s a summary of life.

In many ways, “is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” can be used to describe the days and weeks of our lives. “Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality”, is a way to communicate being caught up in the moment and forgetting everything else. As the saying goes, “easy come, easy go”, the wind may blow good or bad things your way, but it won’t be permanent. Life is always changing, and “Bohemian Rhapsody” captures all aspects of life, from killing a man (“put a gun against his head”) and the consequential guilt the follows. “Mama, life has just begun, but now I’ve gone and thrown it all away”, connects a mother and her son in a difficult time, resulting in the son leaving for good.

Now as the “poor boy” is alone, he starts to become insane; he see’s a silhouette of a man that frightens him and tortures him. “I’m just a poor boy and nobody loves me” but even in his circumstances, someone is on his side (“We will not let you go. Let him go!”). The devil has already reserved a seat for him in hell, and as his life is disappearing he wants to know why everyone looks down upon him. The hysterics have begun and he yells, “So you think you can love me and leave me to die”! This poor son has “just got to get right out of here”.

His last moments are coming closer and our poor boy has made his decision, “Nothing really matters, anyone can see. Nothing really matters to me”. As the song closes, you reflect on the story, the music, and the life that has just ended. “Bohemian Rhapsody has an opera-style beginning, followed by a staccato interruption, a rock-n-roll action sequence, screams for survival, and finally a piano ending that all summarize life quite well. All because of his actions, our main character is gone with the wind; besides, “anyway the wind blows doesn’t really matter...”