They are both great songs of course, what I mean is do you think that had MFK been released in 1973, and Bo Rhap kept on the ANATO album, that MFK would have done what Bo Rhap did for the music world? I wonder as Brian has stated (and he isn't the only one) that MFK is not disimilar to Bo Rhap and it is like an earlier version of the song*. So do you think MFK would have set the world on fire like Bo Rhap did? Or maybe to a lesser extent?
*Note: not his exact words.;D
No doubt in my mind: NO!
By the way; are you sure about your quote? I can only remember Brian saying something like that about March of the Black Queen!?
jeroen wrote: No doubt in my mind: NO!
By the way; are you sure about your quote? I can only remember Brian saying something like that about March of the Black Queen!?
I said, it wasn't the exact quote, on the ANATO 30th Anniversary edition if you run the commentary on the DVD, when Death on Two Legs is playing, Brian starts to talk. He's saying something along the lines of 'I guess 'suddenly' isn't the right word, it was a gradual realisation...' he also says that, and here's where I can't remember exactly, Queen were developing the ideas as far back as Queen II. But here he made a mistake, saying 'If you listen to 'My Fairy King' on Queen II you'll hear those ideas taking shape (harmonies etc)
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So actually yes you may be right, Brian may actually have been talking about 'March of the Black Queen' and got the song's name wrong as opposed to the album. He definitely said 'My Fairy King' though. I don't know, it may have been a mistake on his part.
I don't if My Fairy King would've had the same impact as Bo Rhap, but I do prefer MFK to BR...maybe because, they talk too much about Bo Rhap (but can you really talk too much about a Queen song?)
'My Fairy King' was by far the most complex, sophisticated and original song in the first album (and that's very hard to achieve to begin with!). But of course 'Bo Rhap' is more complex, more sophisticated, more original and above all, much more listeneable and catchy.
My Fairy King would never have been a hit. Not even a top 30 hit probably.
deleted user 04.10.2006 15:45
I can really see a progression from "My Fairy King" to "March of the Black Queen" to "Bohemian Rhapsody".
From what I hear "Bohemian Rhapsody" is the most refined. It feels like a whole, despite having different "styles" of music in it.
In the other two, they feel more "broken up", like several songs instead of one.
Or, this could be because of what albums they are in - in Queen and Queen II the songs segued into each other (and had more in common musically with those around it), which isn't really the case with A Night at the Opera.
ALSO - I was not alive in 1973, nor do I know all that much about it. So, it would be hard for me to say if a certain song would have had this or that effect. If, hypothetically, "Bohemian Rhapsody" was release in 1973, it could have been recieved differently for all I know.
It's not about the year IMO, but the fact Queen were already in the map. Had they released 'Bo Rhap' as their debut single, it'd have probably been regarded as too eccentric.
But at the time they issued it, the public was already used to risky extreme singles ('Keep Yourself Alive', 'Seven Seas Of Rhye', 'Killer Queen', 'Flick Of The Wrist' and for a lesser extent 'Now I'm Here').
Of course most of 'Bo Rhap's popularity was because it's a masterpiece in its own way, but the fact they'd already set the ground, and promotion, surely helped, as did all those absurd urban myths (134, 180 or 200 voices, and so on).
Oh please,no song will ever be like Bohemian Rhapsody, well atleast for me, even though I'm kind of sick of it, thats the kind of song that just grabs you by the ears and makes you go 'WOW'
Yeh, I think that Bohemian Rapsody is much better, as it is my favorite song. But I also feel as though the fairy King was the third best song on the first albulm, first being Liar and second Keep Yourself Alive.
B.R
I'd say.... nah. MFK is more like art for arts sake. Bohemian Rhapsody took some of that genius, refined it, and made it a shitload more accessible, and more commercial.
That is not a bad thing. That takes a bit of brains, taking something that is pretty complex, but making it easy for the general public to get into.
But all the same, I keep both songs in the same bucket, along with Millionaire Waltz, March of the Black Queen and Innuendo - they're me favourites.