Friday, March 16, 2018

Shakespearean Rhapsody

"Shakespearean Rhapsody." Parody of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. Perf. kj et al.

I find myself taking a Shakespearean turn on most things, and one way that manifests itself is in rewriting songs so that they have a Shakespearean turn.

These songs often had their origins on Twitter. An exchange or two would lead to a parody of a line or two from a song.

Later, those might turn into full versions of songs. But they're usually for private consumption, unlike the songs I write for the students in my Shakespeare classes.

Past hits in the latter category include Bob Dylan singing the plot of Measure for Measure (for which, q.v.), "Bottom Dreamed a Dream" from the hit off-Broadway musical Pyramus! (for which, q.v.), and a Musical version of King Lear's madness (for which, q.v.).

Several years ago, I started toying around with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," and I even got so far as to put together a recording. But I lacked the time and the talent to make it truly professional.

Don't get your hopes up—I still don't have time or talent, but I don't imagine I ever will have. I thought the best thing to do would be to put a quick lyric video together and throw it out there, warts and all.

Here, then, is "Shakespearean Rhapsody." Enjoy!


You can also try "Danish Paradise," "Dunsinane Prison Blues," or "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love . . . with Shakespeare)." Or steer toward this musical version of King Lear's madness. Alternately, investigate the big number from the musical Pyramus. Or you could listen to this musical PSA that warns people to stay clear of the Great River Shakespeare Festival.

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Bardfilm is normally written as one word, though it can also be found under a search for "Bard Film Blog." Bardfilm is a Shakespeare blog (admittedly, one of many Shakespeare blogs), and it is dedicated to commentary on films (Shakespeare movies, The Shakespeare Movie, Shakespeare on television, Shakespeare at the cinema), plays, and other matter related to Shakespeare (allusions to Shakespeare in pop culture, quotes from Shakespeare in popular culture, quotations that come from Shakespeare, et cetera).

Unless otherwise indicated, quotations from Shakespeare's works are from the following edition:
Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare. 2nd ed. Gen. ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.
All material original to this blog is copyrighted: Copyright 2008-2039 (and into perpetuity thereafter) by Keith Jones.

The very instant that I saw you did / My heart fly to your service; there resides, / To make me slave to it; and, for your sake, / Am I this patient [b]log-man.

—The Tempest