“I see a little silhouetto of a man, Scaramouche, scaramouche, will you do the Fandango? Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me. Galileo, Galileo!”
These are lyrics we’ve all bellowed at the top of our lungs after too many Jack and cokes.
Ever wondered what you’re actually singing? What ‘Scaramouche’ means?
Scaramouche is a stock character from commedia dell’arte (improvised Italian drama from the 16th century), a buffoon who always manages to wriggle out of the sticky situations he invariably finds himself in, usually at the expense of someone else.
His original name ‘Scaramuccia’ means ‘skirmish’, while “Scaramouch” means a boastful, yet cowardly person, which we all know a few of…
It’s the 40th anniversary of Bohemian Rhapsody this weekend, Saturday, Oct 31, and is said to be the song that changed everything.
It’s a song that resonates through time creating a special moment in music history yet to be repeated.
Here are 7 facts about Queen’s most famous anthem;
– Bohemian Rhapsody was voted The Song of the Millennium in 2000, and the Guinness Book of Records’ No 1 song of all time.
– It is the most popular Muppets cover, with more than 47 million views on YouTube
– The song that knocked BR off the Number One chart position in the UK was Mamma Mia by Abba. Ironically, the words ‘Mamma Mia” are repeated in this in Bohemian Rhapsody itself
– This was Queen’s first Top 10 hit in the US. In the UK, where the band was already established, it was Number One for nine consecutive weeks, a record at the time.
– Singer Freddie Mercury may have written ‘Galileo’ into the lyrics for the benefit of guitarist Brian May, who now has a PhD in astrophysics.
– It has been covered by many artists over the years, including Kanye West, Robbie Williams, Elaine Page, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Montserrat Caballe, The Muppets, and Elton John & Axl Rose (at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert in April 1992).
– Freddie played the same piano for Bohemian Rhapsody that Paul McCartney used for the Beatles’ Hey Jude. It was Trident Studio’s stock piano, also used by Elton John, David Bowie and Carly Simon, among many others.
Watch the band perform the song live at their Hammersmith Odeon show on Dec 24, 1975, a newly unveiled clip…
https://youtu.be/M-9ERM0Jr4U
If your love for Queen and the song runs really deep, on Nov, 6, 7 and 8, you can recreate the famous Bohemian Rhapsody head banging scene from Wayne’s World at Westfield Shepherds Bush, London.
Shoppers will be able to film their own version of the scene in a replica of the 1978 AME Pacer used in the movie.
