List of Bohemian Rhapsody cover versions
The song "Bohemian Rhapsody", written by Freddie Mercury and originally recorded by rock band Queen for their album A Night at the Opera, has been covered by many different artists.
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| Year | Artist | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Fuzzbox[1] | On their 1987 single "What's The Point"[2] |
| 1987 | Bad News | This spoof rock band (created for the UK Channel 4 TV series The Comic Strip Presents...) also released "Bohemian Rhapsody" as a single. It reached number 44 in the UK Singles Chart. It featured on the album Bad News. The cover version was produced by Brian May.[citation needed] A 12inch version was released as well ending completely different, when during the last guitar brake a false chord was played and the song stops whilst being shouted 'fuck basterds, I played the wrong chord'. The 12inch version then continues with some studio chatter and a 'bad news version' of Pretty Woman. |
| 1988 | Paige, Elaine[1] | The Queen album |
| 1990 | Cud[1] | On the anti-poll tax compilation album Alvin Lives (In Leeds). |
| 1992 | Queen + Elton John and Axl Rose | Elton John and Axl Rose performed "Bohemian Rhapsody" in The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. This version showed John playing the first verse of the ballad section in keyboards, and later singing in the front stage accompanied by Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor (Spike Edney plays the rest of the vamp until the operatic section). After the taped Opera section, Axl Rose appeared using a microphone similar that Mercury used in his live concerts; the Outro section was played in duet showing Rose's appreciation to John. |
| 1993 | Yankovic, "Weird Al" | A polka cover named "Bohemian Polka" on his album, Alapalooza. |
| 1993 | Comic Relief | A parody of the original video by celebrities from major UK TV networks on the BBC telethon |
| 1995 | Dream Theater | The album A Change of Seasons features the live track "The Big Medley", a cover song medley that includes a segment of "Bohemian Rhapsody." |
| 1996 | Harris, Rolf[1] | This version reached the British charts for one week at #50 |
| 1998 | The Braids | High School High soundtrack album. The San Francisco Bay Area duo recorded an R&B version of this song for the soundtrack to the Jon Lovitz movie High School High. It was produced by Third Eye Blind's lead singer Stephan Jenkins with Bob Coleman and was also released as a single in the fall of 1996. It peaked #21 in UK and #42 on the Billboard Hot 100, while staying on the charts for 17 weeks. |
| 1996 | Magic Affair[3] | Released as a single and as part of the "Queen Dance Traxx I" compilation. |
| 1997 | Montserrat Caballé with Bruce Dickinson | On album Friends For Life |
| 1998 | Molotov | As "Rap, Soda y Bohemia", on the album Molomix |
| 1998 | Reality (band) | Roots Reggae version on the album Movin On |
| 1998 | Faye Wong | Performed the song on her concert - Faye Wong Scenic Tour 1998-99.[4] |
| 2001 | Ours (band) | Released as a limited edition CD single |
| 2001 | Paul de Leeuw | Dutch singer and TV personality, performed the song during his live shows in Ahoy Stadium in Rotterdam in 2000, released on single and album (zingen terwijl u wacht). The performance however was rather poor and falsely sung. |
| 2005 | DeLisle, Grey | Album Iron Flowers. A shortened rendition, covering only the ballad portion of the song to a much slower melody. |
| 2005 | Flaming Lips, The | Album Killer Queen. The cover was also performed live. |
| 2005 | Constantine Maroulis | Album Killer Queen. With the cast of We Will Rock You. |
| 2005 | Edgar Cruz | DVD Arranging for Solo Guitar / The Queen Titles. |
| 2005 | G4 | First performed on first series of The X-Factor, released as a single which became #9 in the UK charts. It was included on their self-titled album |
| 2005 | McNeil, Suzie | On the CBS reality show Rock Star: INXS |
| 2005 | Children in Need | A selection of BBC News presenters perform the song on the BBC telethon |
| 2007 | CollegeHumor | A parody entitled, "Brohemian Rhapsody", set in a fraternity house[5] |
| 2007 | Moymoy Palaboy | A lip-syncing rendition of the song.[6] |
| 2007 | Newton Faulkner | An acoustic cover of the song. YouTube.[7] |
| 2008 | Autumn, Emilie | Recorded on the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun & Bohemian Rhapsody Double Feature EP and frequently performed live in concert. |
| 2008 | Rajaton | Recorded on the Rajaton sings Queen with Lahti Symphony Orchestra and on several occasions performed live in concert. |
| 2009 | Muppets, The | see section |
| 2009 | Pink | Funhouse Tour, and subsequent DVD release |
| 2010 | Prince Poppycock | On Americas Got Talent |
| 2010 | Jonathan Groff in Glee | Featured on the TV show in the episode "Journey", and released on the EP Glee: The Music, Journey to Regionals |
| 2010 | Never Shout Never | From the album Punk Goes Classic Rock |
| 2010 | Hayseed Dixie | From the album Killer Grass |
| 2010 | Jake Shimabukuro | A ukulele instrumental version from the album Peace Love Ukulele |
| 2010 | Batesmotelpro | A Turkish lottery advertisement by YouTube phenomenon group Batesmotelpro.[8] |
| 2011 | William Shatner | From the album Seeking Major Tom |
| 2011 | Pato Fu | From the album Música de Brinquedo Ao Vivo |
| 2012 | Robert Wilkinson | A video featuring Robert Wilkinson [9] (after being arrested for drunk driving by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Edson, Alberta) singing Bohemian Rhapsody in the police car during the ride to the police station, titled "Arrested Drunk Guy sings Bohemian Rhapsody," became famous on YouTube [10][11][12] |
| 2012 | Jessica Sanchez | On the American Idol season 11 Top 6 performance show |
| 2012 | Dalagita | X Factor Indonesia Audition |
| 2012 | The Protomen | From the album Present: A Night of Queen |
| 2012 | Between The Buried And Me | As part of an encore of their 2012 European tour with Periphery and The Safety Fire; the band played after the tapped operatic section to the end before playing "Mordecai" |
| 2013 | Puscifer | From the EP "Donkey Punch the Night" |
| 2013 | Florent Mothe | From the album "Rock in Chair" |
| 2013 | A Capella Science (Tim Blais) | A parody of Bohemian Rhapsody, titled "Bohemian Gravity", was released on YouTube. The parody describes string theory and was created by Tim Blais, performing under the name A Capella Science.[13] |
| 2014 | The Forest Rangers feat. The White Buffalo, Billy Valentine & Franky Perez | A cover for the premiere episode of Season 7 of Sons of Anarchy, plays when the protagonist, Jax Teller tortures and kills an innocent man whom he believes is the murderer of his wife.[14] |
| 2014 | Panic! At The Disco | Firstly performed on The Gospel Tour, and later on used in other shows as well.[15] |
| 2015 | Kanye West | Performed the song on Glastonbury Festival.[16] |
| 2015 | Lake Street Dive | Performed the song for their annual Halloween video. They said "Happy HallowQueen!!!! Here's our version of BOOhemian Rhapsody!".[17] |
The Muppets
| "Bohemian Rhapsody (Muppets Version)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Single by Queen + The Muppets | ||||
| Released | November 23, 2009 | |||
| Format | Music video Digital download |
|||
| Recorded | 2009 | |||
| Genre | Rock, comedy rock | |||
| Length | 4:46 | |||
| Label | Walt Disney | |||
| Writer(s) | Freddie Mercury | |||
| Producer(s) | Roy Thomas Baker, Queen | |||
| Queen singles chronology | ||||
|
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The song was performed by The Muppets characters in 2009. A music video was posted on YouTube on November 23, 2009 before the release of the track, and features Muppets characters singing partially modified lyrics of the original song.[18] It garnered over seven million hits within its first week of release. Unlike other cover versions, the Muppets' single features the final master of Queen's original 1975 recording.[19]
The video and song is an official production of The Muppets Studio. The success of the video caused Walt Disney Records to release the cover as a single on December 13, 2009, where it peaked at #32 on the UK Singles Chart.
Video
The Muppets' version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" was directed by Kirk Thatcher, who has been involved with several other Muppets videos.[20] According to studio manager Lylle Breier, the idea of the Muppets singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" had long been an idea that they wanted to do, but only was able to bring the project together within a short time before the video's release.[21] Thatcher noted they had a long list of possible songs they wanted to do with a large group of Muppets, including Don McLean's "American Pie", but "Bohemian Rhapsody" was their ultimate selection.[20] Filming was completed within a day by 20 staffers; Thatcher considered the task to be "epic in scale" considering they normally only use half a dozen Muppets for a single scene.[20] Breier stated that this and other videos that The Muppets Studio released to YouTube are part of a promotional push for the Muppets; Breier likened outlets on the Internet like YouTube to the variety shows of the 1970s, and felt that the Muppets easily fitted into that culture.[22]
The video is a montage by about 70 different Muppets characters singing their part of the lyrics against a black screen, in the same style used by Queen for portions of their promotion video[23] of the song as well as mimicking the four-person layout used for the cover of Queen's second album. After completing the song, which ends up with mosaic of all the characters singing, it is revealed that this was one side of a computer video conference with Kermit the Frog, who laments his decision for that type of meeting to Scooter.
The video presents an abridged version of Queen's song with some lyric alterations to retain the appropriateness of the characters for a family audience.[24] For example, within the first stanza of the ballad portion of the song, the lyrics where the singer laments to his mother that he "just killed a man" are replaced by Animal calling out repeatedly for "mama".[21] Other aspects of the lyrics are changed for humorous purposes surrounding the Muppets characters. Pepe the King Prawn starts the opera portion of the song stating that he sees "a little silhouetto of a clam". The back-and-forth lyrics, "Bismillah! No! We will not let you go...let him go!", are replaced with Fozzie Bear begging "Let me joke" to Statler and Waldorf, who state "[We] do not like your jokes". The line "Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me" is replaced with the remaining Muppets who have not been in the video singing "Does anyone know if there is a part for me?" The first two lines of the hard rock section have been replaced with "So they tell us this video's going to fly, all I know is we're not getting paid tonight!" The song ends with Miss Piggy, lounging on Rowlf the Dog's piano, singing "Nothing really matters but moi!"[24]
The video premiered on YouTube on November 23, 2009. Within a week, the video had accrued over 7 million views,[24] and has nearly 15 million views within the following five months.[25] The video was nominated and won the "Viral Video" category in the 14th Annual Webby Awards.[26] The popularity of the video led to the song being distributed through digital download on iTunes in December by Walt Disney Records[27] and EMI.[28] The song reached #32 on the UK Singles Chart for the week of December 26, 2009.[29] For New Year's Eve at Disneyland, the video was projected onto the Fantasmic! mist screens in-between performances, and in place of an extra midnight performance. The performance also utilized the show's various laser effects and lighting towers working in tandem with the video.
Muppet performers
- Steve Whitmire — Kermit the Frog, Rizzo the Rat, Beaker, Statler, The Newsman, Chicken, Bunny, Penguin, Snowth, Turkey, Flowers, Cactus, Monkey
- Dave Goelz — The Great Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Waldorf, Zoot, Beauregard, Frackle, Penguins, Rat, Cactus, Monkey
- Eric Jacobson — Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle, Snowth, Chicken, Frackle, Penguin, Prairie Dog p
- Bill Barretta — Pepé the King Prawn, Rowlf the Dog, Dr. Teeth, Swedish Chef, Old Tom, Bobo the Bear, Johnny Fiama, Mahna Mahna, Big Mean Carl, Rat, Flowers, Cactus, Monkey, Prairie Dog
- David Rudman — Scooter, Janice, Yolanda the Rat, Rat, Penguins, Monkey, Prairie Dog
- Matt Vogel — Camilla the Chicken, Floyd Pepper, Angel Marie, Crazy Harry, Sal Minella, Dr. Julius Strangepork, Lew Zealand, Rat, Flowers, Cactus, Monkey, Prairie Dog
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/songlibrary/covers/bohemianrhapsody.shtml
- ↑ Strong, Martin C (1999) The Great Alternative & Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 0-86241-913-1
- ↑ http://archive.org/details/wcd_bohemian-rhapsody_magic-affair_flac_lossless_29267596
- ↑ Video on YouTube
- ↑ "Brohemian Rhapsody"
- ↑ Video on YouTube
- ↑ Video on YouTube
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5zZ2hByA2A Date=2014-09-09
- ↑ http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/drunk-bohemian-rhapsody-robert-wilkinson-video
- ↑ http://www.spinner.com/2012/03/29/bohemian-rhapsody-cop-car/
- ↑ http://mashable.com/2012/03/30/bohemian-rhapsody-drunk-video/
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ CTV News Interview
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ [4]
- ↑ YouTube Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody video
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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Further reading
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody video on YouTube
- "Bohemian Rhapsody" cover versions BBC
- Bohemian Rhapsody - Edgar Cruz on YouTube
