Saturday, November 13, 2021

Song of the Month - January 2021 - Bohemian Rhapsody

I'm going to work my way backwards through Facebook's confusing system and try to get all the videos Eric has posted for his Song of the Month series. Today's month is January 2021, and the song is Bohemian Rhapsody.

Jan 1st - Song of the Month, Day 1: Right! New month, new year, new song! And boy, do we need this new year! So this month's song has to be a big, bold, brassy one that will knock the door down and say, "Hey, we're not kidding around, this year had better be a BIG improvement over the last one!" So then the choice became REALLY simple. Ladies and gentlemen, and everyone else who may fall somewhere in between, I present to you the Song of the Month for January, 2021!



Jan 2nd - Song of the Month, Day 2: I discovered ASL videos when I subbed for a class of deaf kids one time at my local middle school. Neat kids, and it was definitely a peek into a community I would probably NEVER have encountered otherwise. During their downtime, they'd call up ASL music videos on their ipads! Who knew this was a thing? And one of them was this guy! Boy, the passion he puts into it, and the changing background reflecting the changes in the song… It works really well.



Jan 3rd - Song of the Month, Day 3: I suspect we're going to get all kinds of interesting interpretations like this one this month!



Jan 4th - Song of the Month, Day 4: Panic! at the Disco's cover, performed live from Sydney at the American Music Awards.



Jan 5th - Song of the Month, Day 5: Pentatonix!



Jan 6th - Song of the Month, Day 6: So what happens when you put a song's lyrics through Google Translate a few times, into different languages, and then import it all back into English? Well, you get something like this!



Jan 7th - Song of the Month, Day 7: Well THIS is a little different take!



Jan 8th - Song of the Month, Day 8: The orchestral version!



Jan 9th - Song of the Month, Day 9: I was going to feature this earlier in the week, but when I saw it had various supporting videos, I thought I'd save it for the weekend to give you more time to watch them all.



The live version, at the Hollywood Bowl!



With commentary!



Jan 10th - Song of the Month, Day 10: I knew I wanted a Queen performance today, so went looking for a performance with current front man Adam Lambert. But wow, there are a lot to pick from! I finally settled on this Rio concert from 2015, but if you're interested, there are quite a few others to pick from:



Bonus: Adam's "American Idol" tryout:



Jan 11th - Song of the Month, Day 11: A flash mob!



Jan 12th - Song of the Month, Day 12: Apparently, before a lot of their concerts, Green Day plays "Bohemian Rhapsody" for the crowd to sing along with. Here's an example from Hyde Park in 2017.



Jan 13th - Song of the Month, Day 13: An all-women cover.



Jan 14th - Song of the Month, Day 14: This is definitely one of the more unusual versions of "Bohemian Rhapsody" you will ever hear.



Jan 15th - Song of the Month, Day 15: Wow, the ways people will make music...



Jan 16th - Song of the Month, Day 16: Rami Malek recreates Freddy's performance at Live Aid in his Oscar-winning role from the movie "Bohemian Rhapsody":



Writing and recording the song:



Jan 17th - Song of the Month, Day 17: Well now how could I have this scene from the movie yesterday and NOT follow it up with the original? From the Live Aid concert in 1985:



And how could I not follow THAT up with this side-by-side comparison? Plug in those headphones, this one takes advantage of the two different channels!



Jan 18th - Song of the Month, Day 18: It's a holiday*, we have time for a long one. How about a montage of auditions for "The Voice" and other singing competitions?



* Well, it's a holiday here in the United States, at least.

BONUS: Queen covers from "The Voice Kids" around the world, including another "Bohemian Rhapsody".



Jan 19th - Song of the Month, Day 19:



Jan 20th - Song of the Month, Day 20: You have never experienced "Bohemian Rhapsody" until you have heard it in the original Klingon.



Jan 21st - Song of the Month, Day 21: This was not the original plan when I picked this song, but things just worked out very well. Today is my (mumble, mumble)th birthday, which gives me an excuse to showcase one of my favorite artists. The trouble is, this singer doesn't do a lot of just plain covers, nor do a lot of artists cover his songs, making it difficult to otherwise feature any of his songs in this Song of the Month thing I seem to have started. But one of his covers (the others are a cartoon theme song and a commercial jingle!) happens to be of "Bohemian Rhapsody". He's never made a video of it, but some clever people out there have, and this is one of the best of them. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Bohemian Polka"!



Jan 22nd - Song of the Month, Day 22: I think it's about time for a choric version, don't you?



Jan 23rd - Song of the Month, Day 23: Live in Montréal in 1981.



Jan 24th - Song of the Month, Day 24: A friend of mine recommended this version, mashed up with "Someone to Love". Yeah, these kids are pretty good!



Jan 25th - Song of the Month, Day 25: From "Georgia's Got Talent":



Jan 26th - Song of the Month, Day 26: I seem to be on an eastern Europe stretch right now, as I found this version by the Presidential Orchestra of Belarus.



Jan 27th - Song of the Month, Day 27: I know many of my Facebook friends will appreciate this version by the Arizona "Star Wars" cosplay community.



Jan 28th - Song of the Month, Day 28:



Jan 29th - Song of the Month, Day 29: Did you know there's a heavy metal mariachi band out there? No, me neither, until I discovered this. But it just goes to show how versatile this song is.



Jan 30th - Song of the Month, Day 30: It's All-Star Mash-up Day!



BONUS: Queen and a few other musicians join Paul McCartney singing a Beatles classic.



Jan 31st - Song of the Month, Day 31: We reach the end of another month, so we must say good-bye to "Bohemian Rhapsody". This one has been particularly varied fun, as I suspected it would be. I always like to end the month where it began, with a different version of the song by the originating artist. So what other video could I show today but this one?



BONUS! The scene as it appeared in the movie:



Feb 7th - And if I'd known this existed, I would have introduced you to Walk Off the Earth a month early. They posted their version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" in tribute to Mike "Beard Guy" Taylor after he passed away unexpectedly at the end of 2018.



Feb 13th - Retro Song of the Month: Someone pointed me to this version of last month's song. Well, why not?



Then THIS turned up as well… It's not quite as polished…

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