After class, I nervously stood in line to speak to my professor. I somewhat rehearsed what I was going to say. It still sounded clumsy, but I myself was a clumsy underclassman. How would he react? Would he be upset or offended? It turns out, he didn’t care one bit. It was a big lecture hall. I was one of many faceless faces. He signed my withdrawal paperwork and I officially dropped Philosophy 101.
Months later, my parents wanted to have a word with me. They were trying to understand what was happening with my grades. Two Bs, one C and a W. And what the hell was a W? They weren’t happy at all. My first semester away at college and my grades looked like this. I was a straight A student in high school and this was taking a really bad turn.
If you don’t turn it around, we’re pulling you and you’re coming home.
I don’t blame them. Tuition wasn’t cheap and they were sacrificing a lot for us kids to get a college education. In my remaining years, I made sure I found a balance between academics and fun and I brought my grades up. Maybe if I didn’t drop my Philosophy 101 class, I could answer today’s prompt. I never knew the reverb of that W would cause a little collateral damage 40 years later.
So no dinner guest for me…
I started reading one person’s take on Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Apparently, the author’s view evolved as he grew older.
When I first listened to Bohemian Rhapsody, I was in my teens, and I hated it. It unsettled me. It didn’t sound like rock at all. It wasn’t like the awesome Highlander soundtrack that had introduced me to Queen in the first place… wasn’t what I expected from the band.
Bohemian Rhapsody was weird. Bits of it sounded childish and silly. It had no structure, no rhythm, no story. It was psychedelic and confusing — all over the place. My idea of rock was strong riffs and epic choruses that stuck with you. But this song was annoying, its lyrics depressing.
As I matured, I came to appreciate Bohemian Rhapsody more and more, especially the lyrics. The more I delved into existential philosophy, the more I came to relate to the words, and later, the musical interpretation.
That actually sounded interesting, so I dug in. As he started analyzing the lyrics, it slowly dawned on me why I dropped Philosophy 101 in the first place. I found myself skipping sentences and then paragraphs. Ugh. Then I dropped the whole thing altogether. It was like déjà vu. The best part this time was it didn’t require a signature. So I learned I don’t have a big enough brain to hold my focus on the philosophical interpretation of the lyrics. I’m not going to lose any sleep over that.
One of the best impromptu singalongs of this song occurred at a Green Day concert – before the concert even started. Listen to the crowd sing Bohemian Rhapsody as they wait for the Green Day concert to begin. So cool they captured this on video.
If you can make 65,000+ people sing in sync 27 years after your death, you’re not a singer but a legend.
YouTube comment by vishwaswalhekar1983
They aren’t just singing the melody they’re singing the whole freaking song, guitar solo and all.
YouTube comment by JaylinPlessinger
You can do whatever you want with my music, just don’t make it boring.
Freddie Mercury
I’ll leave you with this last clip. Angelina Jordan was thirteen when she sang this rendition of this song. When I think of Bohemian Rhapsody, I come back and listen to the Green Day crowd or Jordan’s version. They both can’t be more different. Both are awe inspiring in their own unique ways.
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