BBC Radio 4 LW

Rhapsody in Bohemia

29/10/2005

BBC Radio 4 - Rhapsody in Bohemia

A playful deconstruction of Queen's pop classic, Bohemian Rhapsody.

A playful deconstruction of Queen's magnum opus Bohemian Rhapsody. Contributors include Hilary Finch, Jane Manning, Andy Watts, Tommy Pearson and Andrew McGregor.

In the three decades since the group Queen's extravagant existentialist six minute pop production about 'a poor boy' who'd 'just killed a man' first topped the British charts, Bohemian Rhapsody has become woven into the musical, visual and literary fabric of all our lives - with the exception of Times music critic Hilary Finch who offers here an 'innocent ear' review, having somehow never heard it! 


Other musicians and writers - including the classical singer Jane Manning, tribute band 'Freddie Mercury' Rob Comber, singer-songwriter (and unrepentant Queen fan) Andy Watts, film buff Tommy Pearson, broadcaster Andrew McGregor and the composer and former pop band member Joby Talbot - evaluate the song's cultural legacy in this award-winning feature that includes glimpses of Queen themselves and reference to Camus, the Qur'an, commedia dell'arte and, of course, the film comedy Wayne's World.


Producer: Alan Hall
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4.

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