“Bohemian Rhapsody,” one of Queen’s most famous songs (and unfortunately the one that shares a name with the horrible movie), was recorded over the course of a week, around this time in 1975. The band recalls it being a time of goofing around and leaning into the madness in the studio, and recording it in the equivalent of three acts for the three musical moods. And of course yielding some indelible imagery:

There is, of course, a Reddit thread about why this song actually sucks, and I’m sure there are plenty of people who scratch their heads at it; for me, that’s part of why it’s fun. It’s expansive, it changes its mind about itself over and over, and it’s totally gutsy — a perfect hallmark of a perfectly bold band, which refused to be pigeonholed. It’d be hard to pick my favorite Queen song, and if I’m being honest, it probably isn’t this one. But that’s only because there is so much competition. I do have a soft spot for it, though. I bought the piano music when I was pregnant, and was working on it for about an hour and a half before I had to go pick up Kevin at the airport one night in June 2009… and six hours later I was in early labor. So we joke that Dylan, the one who was determined to get out, was delivering an early review of how badly I butchered it. Now, though? They love it, though that’s in no small part due to this delightful little cover:

If THAT doesn’t sell you, I don’t know what will.