Story of the song: Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

From The Independent archive: Robert Webb on the epic single that made it against the odds

Brian May, Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury and John Deacon of Queen in 1977 (PA)

When “Bohemian Rhapsody” was recorded, in August 1975, no one expected a hit. When he first heard it, the band’s manager, John Reid, said that no disc jockey would play a single so long and complex. But Queen refused to edit their fantasy composition and instead Freddie Mercury passed a demo of it to the Capital Radio DJ, Kenny Everett. Everett spun the disc on air 14 times over one weekend. When the radio station’s phone lines jammed with listeners asking where they could buy the single, Reid relented and it became Queen’s seventh single.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” began life as three separate songs, written by Mercury at his Kensington home. “I’d always wanted to do something operatic,” he said. “Something with a mood-setter at the start, going from a rock type of thing... and then [returning] to the theme.” Mercury and the guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor multi-tracked their vocals to create a 200-piece choir effect. “We did so many overdubs,” said Mercury, “the tape went transparent.” Mercury instructed his three bandmates on where he wanted them to play: “They were saying, ‘this is ridiculous’, but I had it in my head what was going on.”

The separate segments were pasted together in studios in Wales and London and “Bohemian Rhapsody” emerged as just another song for the album, A Night at the Opera. As the album’s recording reached its conclusion, the band initially earmarked “The Prophet’s Song” as the lead single. But Mercury decided instead to take a punt on his operatic epic. “We had numerous rows,” he recalled. “EMI were shocked... but it worked.”