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SONG BATTLE: Bohemian Rhapsody vs. Xanadu

Segue Myles

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  1. 1. Which of these classics is the best?

    • Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody
      10
    • Rush: Xanadu
      65

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Lorraine
Lorraine

I'm going to take two aspirins and lay down now.

lemonycake
lemonycake

Xanadu and it isn't even close! Everything else pales in comparison to its brilliance

bluefox4000
bluefox4000

Had you put the Prophet Song there........then i would have some serious pause.   Truthfully.   Mick

toymaker

toymaker

Posted
Posted

Both songs are paragons of song-craft. Here are two bands that assembled amazing works of writing, imagination, chops, atmosphere and chills. I suspect that more hours were logged in the studio for Bohemian Rhapsody, but mostly for the vocals. Mercury's achievement, there - being a rock musician, generally a blues-based form at heart, but creating a mini opera that sort of manages to be respectful of the form but also a bit of campy humor - and not only imagining it, but pulling it off. I will always respect the song - even though I think The Prophet's Song is an even huger masterpiece.

 

If I were presented the choice, though, I think I would still go with Xanadu. There's something about the sound of this song and the cohesiveness - at the end of the doubled bass and guitar riff, where it descends and you have Peart basically playing an extended fill. It kind of makes me feel like a little kid with the coolest toy ever. It's kind of weird that a song about a man doomed to live alone for eternity in an ice kingdom makes me feel youthful. The Queen song, about a guy whose life will probably be cut short, makes me feel older and sort of ponderous.

 

Or, you know, whatever I feel like on the given day.

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Lorraine

Lorraine

Posted
Posted

Xanadu may be the most perfectly written and performed song ever. So many wonderful nuances to it that support an incredible song to begin with. Simply epic.

 

 

Both songs are paragons of song-craft. Here are two bands that assembled amazing works of writing, imagination, chops, atmosphere and chills. I suspect that more hours were logged in the studio for Bohemian Rhapsody, but mostly for the vocals. Mercury's achievement, there - being a rock musician, generally a blues-based form at heart, but creating a mini opera that sort of manages to be respectful of the form but also a bit of campy humor - and not only imagining it, but pulling it off. I will always respect the song - even though I think The Prophet's Song is an even huger masterpiece.

 

If I were presented the choice, though, I think I would still go with Xanadu. There's something about the sound of this song and the cohesiveness - at the end of the doubled bass and guitar riff, where it descends and you have Peart basically playing an extended fill. It kind of makes me feel like a little kid with the coolest toy ever. It's kind of weird that a song about a man doomed to live alone for eternity in an ice kingdom makes me feel youthful. The Queen song, about a guy whose life will probably be cut short, makes me feel older and sort of ponderous.

 

Or, you know, whatever I feel like on the given day.

 

I don't think that I have ever listened to Xanadu and not started shaking my head and wondering how in the heck they even wrote such a song. I think most bands have one super-creation - Xanadu is Rush's.

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Disk98

Disk98

Posted
Posted

Isn't Bohemian Rhapsody the song that has the line "no time for losers 'cause we are the champions of the world"?

No. Bohemian Rhapsody goes "Mama, just killed a man…"

 

And it's f****** awesome. Step aside, Xanadu.

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toymaker

toymaker

Posted
Posted

"Bohemian Rhapsody"

 

Is this the real life?

Is this just fantasy?

Caught in a landslide,

No escape from reality.

 

Open your eyes,

Look up to the skies and see,

I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,

Because I'm easy come, easy go,

Little high, little low,

Anyway the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me.

 

Mama, just killed a man,

Put a gun against his head,

Pulled my trigger, now he's dead.

Mama, life had just begun,

But now I've gone and thrown it all away.

 

Mama, ooh,

Didn't mean to make you cry,

If I'm not back again this time tomorrow,

Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters.

 

Too late, my time has come,

Sent shivers down my spine,

Body's aching all the time.

Goodbye, everybody, I've got to go,

Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth.

 

Mama, ooh (anyway the wind blows),

I don't wanna die,

I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all.

 

I see a little silhouetto of a man,

Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?

Thunderbolt and lightning,

Very, very frightening me.

(Galileo) Galileo.

(Galileo) Galileo,

Galileo Figaro

Magnifico.

 

I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me.

He's just a poor boy from a poor family,

Spare him his life from this monstrosity.

 

Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?

Bismillah! No, we will not let you go. (Let him go!)

Bismillah! We will not let you go. (Let him go!)

Bismillah! We will not let you go. (Let me go!)

Will not let you go. (Let me go!)

Never, never let you go

Never let me go, oh.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Oh, mama mia, mama mia (Mama mia, let me go.)

Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me.

 

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?

So you think you can love me and leave me to die?

Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby,

Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here.

 

(Oh, yeah, oh yeah)

 

Nothing really matters,

Anyone can see,

Nothing really matters,

Nothing really matters to me.

 

Anyway the wind blows.

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Lorraine

Lorraine

Posted
Posted (edited)

Isn't Bohemian Rhapsody the song that has the line "no time for losers 'cause we are the champions of the world"?

 

Oh, Lorraine :facepalm: - :LOL:

 

What a difference a year makes.

 

Even though I've come a long way with Queen, still no way Bohemian Rhapsody is better than Xanadu.

 

Freddie said it was four (or did he say three??) songs combined. I'm sure it's a more complex arrangement than Xanadu, but Xanadu is still more pleasing to my ear.

Edited by Lorraine
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EagleMoon

EagleMoon

Posted
Posted

Isn't Bohemian Rhapsody the song that has the line "no time for losers 'cause we are the champions of the world"?

 

Oh, Lorraine - :LOL:

 

What a difference a year makes.

 

Even though I've come a long way with Queen, still no way Bohemian Rhapsody is better than Xanadu.

 

Freddie said it was four (or did he say three??) songs combined. I'm sure it's a more complex arrangement than Xanadu, but Xanadu is still more pleasing to my ear.

 

Those lyrics are from We Are The Champions...or was that a joke? And I agree. :LOL:

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Lorraine

Lorraine

Posted
Posted (edited)

Isn't Bohemian Rhapsody the song that has the line "no time for losers 'cause we are the champions of the world"?

 

Oh, Lorraine - :LOL:

 

What a difference a year makes.

 

Even though I've come a long way with Queen, still no way Bohemian Rhapsody is better than Xanadu.

 

Freddie said it was four (or did he say three??) songs combined. I'm sure it's a more complex arrangement than Xanadu, but Xanadu is still more pleasing to my ear.

 

Those lyrics are from We Are The Champions...or was that a joke? And I agree. :LOL:

 

It wasn't a joke. I was serious. :LOL: That's why I wrote what I did today. I couldn't remember how Bohemian Rhapsody went, and I still had dial-up so I couldn't google and listen. That was the only Queen song I could remember aside from Another One Bites The Dust.

Edited by Lorraine
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toymaker

toymaker

Posted
Posted (edited)

Just wondering if Queen's use of the n-word in "March of the Black Queen" bothers anyone (it doesn't refer to a person but to raw cane sugar, according to one source I've seen). Since a lot of Queen tunes are mini-dramas, is it forgivable because it comes from a "character"?

 

Supertramp used the word in their song "Potter," where it doesn't seem to have any real point.

 

Maybe this has been discussed before, but I'm just curious. Not trying to steer too much attention away from the purpose of the thread.

Edited by toymaker
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EagleMoon

EagleMoon

Posted
Posted

Isn't Bohemian Rhapsody the song that has the line "no time for losers 'cause we are the champions of the world"?

 

Oh, Lorraine - :LOL:

 

What a difference a year makes.

 

Even though I've come a long way with Queen, still no way Bohemian Rhapsody is better than Xanadu.

 

Freddie said it was four (or did he say three??) songs combined. I'm sure it's a more complex arrangement than Xanadu, but Xanadu is still more pleasing to my ear.

 

Those lyrics are from We Are The Champions...or was that a joke? And I agree. :LOL:

 

It wasn't a joke. I was serious. :LOL: That's why I wrote what I did today. I couldn't remember how Bohemian Rhapsody went, and I still had dial-up so I couldn't google and listen. That was the only Queen song I could remember aside from Another One Bites The Dust.

 

OH okay. :LOL:

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Lucas

Lucas

Posted
Posted (edited)

Just wondering if Queen's use of the n-word in "March of the Black Queen" bothers anyone (it doesn't refer to a person but to raw cane sugar, according to one source I've seen). Since a lot of Queen tunes are mini-dramas, is it forgivable because it comes from a "character"?

 

Supertramp used the word in their song "Potter," where it doesn't seem to have any real point.

 

Maybe this has been discussed before, but I'm just curious. Not trying to steer too much attention away from the purpose of the thread.

 

In Sweet Black Angel, the Mick and the Stones had:

 

Ten little n!ggers

Sittin' on de wall

Her brothers been a fallin'

Fallin' one by one

For a judge they murdered

And a judge they stole

Now de judge he gonna judge her

For all dat he's a worth

 

but the song was anything but anti-black, as it was in support of Angela Davis ..

 

None of this bothers me one bit - life is not sanitary, so why should music be ?? .. In fact, when words, terms or subjects are intentionally avoided in fear of being mistaken as racist, that is when we've got a problem ..

 

And IMHO, this fear is one of the reasons why music, films and culture in general is so ******* tedious and bland now

Edited by Lucas
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tot

tot

Posted
Posted
although queen is a great band, my favorite rush song gets my vote!
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