Hello once again!
I read in various sources that Bohemian Rhapsody originally was seven minutes long. I'd like to ask you whether it's true and if yes whether it will be released as a part of the Queen Rarities box.
Thank you!
<b><font color=B22222>daria k. wrote: Hello once again!
I read in various sources that Bohemian Rhapsody originally was seven minutes long. I'd like to ask you whether it's true and if yes whether it will be released as a part of the Queen Rarities box.
Thank you!
More than likely it's not true. I don't know much else.
Yeah i have hurd that many a times to. HOw ever i do know that Quene were by all means looking at making any chops with this song,,they wanted it in its entirety. Altought that doesnt close the door on there being a 7 min version, but i dont think there would of been one.
It's all rumours, the band hasn't confirmed or denied it.
There are comments againt, or in favour of this rumour.
For example. Someone (can't remember who) said: "we never wanted to cut up the song"
That could mean: "They wanted us to cut up the song, but we didn't"
or "They wanted us to cut up the song, so we did. We never wanted to do it, but we had to"
And ofcourse the quote from Roy Baker where he says "Freddie added some more galileo's and the opera section just got longer and longer"
The opera section is about 1 minute long. So if THIS is the longer and longer version I wonder how short it was before Freddie added the extra bits..
Also, everybody told Queen they were mad for wanting to release such a long song, because no radio would ever play it. This is really strange cause it's not even 6 minutes long. There are quite some songs from the 60's and 70's which are as long as Bo Rhap, or even longer!
FriedChicken<br><font size=1>The Almighty</font> wrote:
Also, everybody told Queen they were mad for wanting to release such a long song, because no radio would ever play it. This is really strange cause it's not even 6 minutes long. There are quite some songs from the 60's and 70's which are as long as Bo Rhap, or even longer!
i agree. there are numerous Led Zep songs that are longer than 6 minutes. one song even lasted 11 minutes. i think that one was "going to california". the 7-minute one was... "stariway to heaven". kinda not fair, huh?
The doubt was not wether to release it or not, it was wether to release it as a single (and the lead single of the album at that).
I realy wasn't arround at the time but if the radio philosophy hasn't changed must, I kind of believe that the length of a song like BohRhap could keep some stations from playing it.
also, if you check Queen's previous single releases, they where all short songs: Keep Yourself Alive, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Killer Queen, and so forth.
Very clever thoughts, Niek but you forgot to mention that all Queen members said on various occasions that they strictly refused to edit the song for the single release. We all know the story how Freddie took the promo to Kenny Everett who played the unreleased song 14 times over the weekend and it went down so well that EMI released the unedited original song.
What you say about Roy Thomas Baker: He may have spoken about a raw version that was never meant to be the final edit. I am sure that there are demos of the song in the archives but that does not mean that Queen ever planned to release a 20 min version with hundreds of "Galileos", they just tried out some things in the studio. The discussion with the record company was about the final cut of the song and not some possibly longer previous demos.
Hehe. Maybe we could have a contest to see who could come up with the best fable about how it got shortened. Gee, I wonder who would win...
Perhaps the gong at the end originally kept going for another minute or so, in tribute to Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin" but later God Save The Queen was added so the gong needed to be shortened.
Yeah, that's it!
Since the backing track was done in one take (not neccesarily a first), I'm sure that when Roy said "more Galileos" he meant more parts over the existing 1 minute (e.g. adding the "never never never let me go" bit during the "we will not let you go / let me go" bit, or changing a block of "magnifico" by a cascade in order to get the ring effect), not that he extended the length of the section.
I don't think that's right, sebastian.
RTB specifically talks about adding tape to make it longer. There are also interviews where it is talked about snipping up tom tom parts to edit into other places.
I'm quite sure that the middle was edited and altered quite a bit based on this. I also believe that the entire backing track was not done in a single take, because the sound of the instruments is different at the rockn'roll section vs the main song. RTB talks about how the drums 'cleaned up' during that part which means they must have been recorded at a separate time.
And I thought it was basically 'common knowledge' that it was in fact recorded in about 3 different sections, despite what Bri said relatively recently.
What with all the different ANATO/Bo Rhap documentaries there's been recently, I find it hard to remember what was said where. But I do remember Roy or someone confirming that that backing track was recorded in sections, rather than it being one single live take.