List of Bohemian Rhapsody cover versions

The song "Bohemian Rhapsody", written by Freddie Mercury and originally recorded by rock band Queen for their album A Night at the Opera, has been covered by many different artists.

List

Year Artist Notes
1987 Fuzzbox On their 1987 single "What's The Point"
1987 Bad News This spoof rock band (created for the UK Channel 4 TV series The Comic Strip Presents...) also released "Bohemian Rhapsody" as a single. It reached number 44 in the UK Singles Chart. It featured on the album Bad News. The cover version was produced by Brian May.[citation needed] A 12-inch version was released as well ending completely different, when during the last guitar break a false chord is played and the song stops while someone shouts 'fuck bastards, I played the wrong chord'. The 12-inch version then continues with some studio chatter and a 'bad news version' of Pretty Woman.
1988 Paige, Elaine The Queen album
1990 Cud On the anti-poll tax compilation album Alvin Lives (In Leeds).
1992 Queen + Elton John and Axl Rose Elton John and Axl Rose performed "Bohemian Rhapsody" in The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. This version showed John playing the first verse of the ballad section in keyboards, and later singing in the front stage accompanied by Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor (Spike Edney plays the rest of the vamp until the operatic section). After the taped Opera section, Axl Rose appeared using a microphone similar that Mercury used in his live concerts; the Outro section was played in duet showing Rose's appreciation to John.
1993 "Weird Al" Yankovic A polka cover named "Bohemian Polka" on his album, Alapalooza.
1993 Comic Relief A parody of the original video by celebrities from major UK TV networks on the BBC telethon
1995 The Cruel Sea From the album Rock'n Roll Duds.
1995 Dream Theater The album A Change of Seasons features the live track "The Big Medley", a cover song medley that includes a segment of "Bohemian Rhapsody."
1996 Rolf Harris This version reached the British charts for one week at #50
1996 The Braids High School High soundtrack album. See section
1996 Magic Affair Released as a single and as part of the "Queen Dance Traxx I" compilation.
1997 Montserrat Caballé with Bruce Dickinson On album Friends For Life
1998 Molotov As "Rap, Soda y Bohemia", on the album Molomix
1998 Faye Wong Performed the song on her concert - Faye Wong Scenic Tour 1998–99.
2001 Ours Released as a limited edition CD single
2001 Paul de Leeuw Dutch singer and TV personality, performed the song during his live shows in Ahoy Stadium in Rotterdam in 2000, released on single and album (zingen terwijl u wacht). The performance however was rather poor and falsely sung.
2004 Carolina Crown Drum & Bugle Corps performed as the closer for their "Bohemia!" show.
2004 Valensia Released his "Queen Tribute" album with Bohemian Rhapsody on it.
2005 Side A Live album Side A Gig (All Hits Live).
2005 DeLisle, Grey Album Iron Flowers. A shortened rendition, covering only the ballad portion of the song to a much slower melody.
2005 Flaming Lips, The Album Killer Queen. The cover was also performed live.
2005 Constantine Maroulis Album Killer Queen. With the cast of We Will Rock You.
2005 Edgar Cruz DVD Arranging for Solo Guitar / The Queen Titles.
2005 G4 First performed on first series of The X-Factor, released as a single which became #9 in the UK charts. It was included on their self-titled album
2005 McNeil, Suzie On the CBS reality show Rock Star: INXS
2005 Children in Need A selection of BBC News presenters perform the song on the BBC telethon
2007 CollegeHumor A parody entitled, "Brohemian Rhapsody", set in a fraternity house
2007 Moymoy Palaboy A lip-syncing rendition of the song.
2007 Newton Faulkner An acoustic cover of the song. YouTube.
2008 Autumn, Emilie Recorded on the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun & Bohemian Rhapsody Double Feature EP and frequently performed live in concert.
2008 Rajaton Recorded on the Rajaton sings Queen with Lahti Symphony Orchestra and on several occasions performed live in concert.
2009 Muppets, The see section
2009 Pink Funhouse Tour, and subsequent DVD release
2010 Prince Poppycock On America's Got Talent
2010 Jonathan Groff in Glee Featured on the TV show in the episode "Journey", and released on the EP Glee: The Music, Journey to Regionals
2010 Never Shout Never From the album Punk Goes Classic Rock
2010 Hayseed Dixie From the album Killer Grass
2010 Jake Shimabukuro A ukulele instrumental version from the album Peace Love Ukulele
2011 William Shatner From the album Seeking Major Tom
2011 Pato Fu From the album Música de Brinquedo Ao Vivo
2011 Carolina Crown Drum & Bugle Corps reprised their 2004 performance for their "Rach Star" show.
2012 Jessica Sanchez On the American Idol season 11 Top 6 performance show
2012 Dalagita X Factor Indonesia audition
2012 The Protomen From the album Present: A Night of Queen
2012 Between The Buried And Me As part of an encore of their 2012 European tour with Periphery and The Safety Fire; the band played after the tapped operatic section to the end before playing "Mordecai"
2013 Puscifer From the EP "Donkey Punch the Night"
2013 Florent Mothe From the album Rock in Chair
2014 The Forest Rangers feat. The White Buffalo, Billy Valentine & Franky Perez A cover for the premiere episode of Season 7 of Sons of Anarchy, plays when the protagonist, Jax Teller tortures and kills an innocent man whom he believes is the murderer of his wife.
2015 Kanye West and Billy Joel Performed the song at the Glastonbury Festival.
2015 Lake Street Dive Performed the song for their annual Halloween video. They said "Happy HallowQueen!!!! Here's our version of BOOhemian Rhapsody!".
2015-16 Between the Buried and Me Performed the song as an encore at many shows on The Coma Ecliptic Tour and recorded the song for a 7-inch vinyl release which included Queen-inspired artwork on the sleeve.
2016 Billy Watman Sky Arts TV channel released a trailer for the 2nd series of Guitar Star of 14-year-old Billy Watman playing "Bohemian Rhapsody" on classical guitar - the video was an internet sensation with over 9 million views.
2016 Saara Aalto & Adam Lambert Performed as Aalto's celebrity duet choice during the first night of the two-part season finale of The X Factor UK.
2016 Panic! at the Disco see section
2017 Pentatonix Performed a capella for their extended play PTX, Vol. IV - Classics
Date Unknown Mnozil Brass Performed live a mix of playing instruments and a cappella
2017 Eretz Nehederet As summarizing the Hebron shooting incident by the soldier El'or Azaria, the Israeli satire show made a parody cover on "Bohemian Rhapsody" starting with "mamma, I killed a man" in Hebrew. "Politicians" (actors) sing their opinions, as Binyamin Netanyahu, Zehava Gal'on, etc.
2018 Connie Talbot An acoustic cover of the song, also piano accompaniment by the singer. YouTube.
2018 Marc Martel From the Queen covers album, Thunderbolt & Lighting. Martel also uploaded a live one-take piano performance to YouTube. Martel regularly covered "Bohemian Rhapsody" as the lead singer of the Queen Extravaganza from 2012 to 2016, and with The Ultimate Queen Celebration from 2016 to present. Martel's vocals can be heard during the composition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" during the 2018 biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody.
2019 Toshi On his cover album, Im a Singer Vol. 2. Titled "ボヘミアン・ラプソディ".
2019 Adam Lambert & Dimitrius Graham On the American Idol season 17 finale performance.
2020 The Petersens Bluegrass cover
2022 The Wiggles From the album, ReWiggled

The Braids version

"Bohemian Rhapsody"
Single by the Braids
from the album The Braids
Released1 October 1996 (1996-10-01)
GenreR&B
Length4:00
Label
Songwriter(s)Freddie Mercury
Producer(s)
The Braids singles chronology
"Bohemian Rhapsody"
(1996)
"Young Americans"
(1998)

San Francisco Bay Area duo the Braids recorded an R&B version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" for the soundtrack to the Jon Lovitz movie High School High. It was released as their debut single in October 1996 and became a hit in Europe and New Zealand.

Release

The song was produced by Third Eye Blind's lead singer Stephan Jenkins with Eric Valentine and was released as a single in October 1996. It peaked at number 21 in United Kingdom and number 42 on the US Billboard Hot 100, staying on the latter chart for 17 weeks. In New Zealand, the song reached number two for four nonconsecutive weeks and achieved platinum status for sales of over 10,000. In Europe, the song was a top-20 hit in several regions, including Scandinavia, Italy and the Netherlands.

Critical reception

Larry Flick from Billboard described the Braid's version as a "surprisingly potent jeep-funk rendition of the Queen classic", and stated further that "if you let go of everything connected to the original recording and give yourself to this interpretation, you will discover an often poignant street commentary as told from the viewpoint of a young woman." He also added that "the problem is that many may have a difficult time digesting the new concepts tied to this well-worn rocker." Jeremy Helligar from Entertainment Weekly wrote that "stripping ”Bohemian Rhapsody” down to an insistent shuffle beat, assorted piano fills, and soulful vocals, they create a sound so moving that you might want to reach out and hug the speakers." Alan Jones from Music Week deemed it "the most obvious contender" from the High School High soundtrack. He noted that "attacking it from a wholly different angle to Rolf Harris, they give it the kind of makeover that wouldn't disgrace Fugees. Likely to attract a lot of attention." Bönz Malone for Vibe called it a "soaring" remake.

Music video

The music video for "Bohemian Rhapsody" was directed by German director Marcus Nispel.

Track listing

CD single, UK and Europe (1996)
No.TitleLength
1."Bohemian Rhapsody" (Radio Mix)4:00
2."Bohemian Rhapsody" (Stripped-Down Mix)3:57
3."Bohemian Rhapsody" (Instrumental)4:01
4."Bohemian Rhapsody" (A Cappella)3:51
CD single, Japan (1996)
No.TitleLength
1."Bohemian Rhapsody" (Original Version)3:55
2."Bohemian Rhapsody" (Remix Version)3:26
3."Bohemian Rhapsody" (Acoustic Version)3:12
4."Bohemian Rhapsody" (Stripped-Down Mix)3:57
5."Bohemian Rhapsody" (Instrumental)4:01
6."Bohemian Rhapsody" (A Cappella)3:47

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
France (SNEP) Gold 250,000*
New Zealand (RMNZ) Platinum 10,000*
Norway (IFPI Norway) Gold  

* Sales figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref(s).
United States 17 September 1996
1 October 1996
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
United Kingdom 14 October 1996
Japan 21 December 1996 CD

The Muppets version

"Bohemian Rhapsody (Muppets Version)"
Single by Queen and the Muppets
Released23 November 2009
Recorded2009
GenreRock, comedy rock
Length4:46
LabelWalt Disney
Songwriter(s)Freddie Mercury
Producer(s)Roy Thomas Baker, Queen
Queen singles chronology
"Another One Bites the Dust (The Miami Project Remixes)"
(2006)
"Bohemian Rhapsody (Muppets Version)"
(2009)
"Keep Yourself Alive (Long-Lost Retake)"
(2011)
Music video
"Bohemian Rhapsody - Muppet Music Video" on YouTube

The song was covered by the Muppets characters in 2009. A music video was posted on YouTube on 23 November 2009, before the release of the track, and features Muppets characters singing partially modified lyrics of the original song. It garnered over seven million hits within its first week of release. Unlike other cover versions, the Muppets' single features the final master of Queen's original 1975 recording.

The video and song is an official production of The Muppets Studio. After the viral success of the video, Walt Disney Records released the cover as a single on 13 December 2009, where it peaked at #32 on the UK Singles Chart.

Video

The Muppets' version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" was directed by Kirk Thatcher, who has been involved with several other Muppets videos. According to studio manager Lylle Breier, the idea of the Muppets singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" had long been an idea that they wanted to do, but only was able to bring the project together within a short time before the video's release. Thatcher noted they had a long list of possible songs they wanted to do with a large group of Muppets, including Don McLean's "American Pie", but "Bohemian Rhapsody" was their ultimate selection. Filming was completed within a day by 20 staffers; Thatcher considered the task to be "epic in scale" considering they normally only use half a dozen Muppets for a single scene. Breier stated that this and other videos that Disney released to YouTube are part of a promotional push for the Muppets; Breier likened outlets on the Internet like YouTube to the variety shows of the 1970s, and felt that the Muppets easily fit into that culture.

The video is a montage by about 70 different Muppets characters singing their part of the lyrics against a black screen, in the same style used by Queen for portions of their promotion video of the song as well as mimicking the four-person layout used for the cover of Queen's second album. After completing the song, which ends up with mosaic of all the characters singing, it is revealed that this was one side of a computer video conference with Kermit the Frog, who laments his decision for that type of meeting to Scooter.

The video presents an abridged version of Queen's song with some lyric alterations to retain the appropriateness of the characters for a family audience. For example, within the first stanza of the ballad portion of the song, the lyrics where the singer laments to his mother that he "just killed a man" are replaced by Animal calling out repeatedly for "mama". Other aspects of the lyrics are changed for humorous purposes surrounding the Muppets characters. Pepe the King Prawn starts the opera portion of the song stating that he sees "a little silhouetto of a clam". The back-and-forth lyrics, "Bismillah! No! We will not let you go...let him go!", are replaced with Fozzie Bear begging "Let me joke" to Statler and Waldorf, who state "[We] do not like your jokes". The line "Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me" is replaced with the remaining Muppets who have not been in the video singing "Does anyone know if there is a part for me?" The first two lines of the hard rock section, here performed by Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem, have been replaced with "So they tell us this video's going to fly, all I know is we're not getting paid tonight!" The song ends with Miss Piggy, lounging on Rowlf the Dog's piano, singing "Nothing really matters but moi!"

The video premiered on YouTube on 23 November 2009. Within a week, the video had accrued over 7 million views, and has nearly 15 million views within the following five months. The video was nominated and won the "Viral Video" category in the 14th Annual Webby Awards. For New Year's Eve at Disneyland, the video was projected onto the Fantasmic! mist screens in-between performances, and in place of an extra midnight performance. The performance also utilized the show's various laser effects and lighting towers working in tandem with the video.

Queen personnel

Muppet performers

Panic! at the Disco version

"Bohemian Rhapsody"
Song by Panic! at the Disco
from the album Suicide Squad: The Album
Released4 August 2016 (2016-08-04)
StudioAbbey Road Studios
Length6:01
Label
Songwriter(s)Freddie Mercury
Producer(s)Butch Walker
Suicide Squad: The Album track listing
14 tracks
  1. "Purple Lamborghini"
  2. "Sucker for Pain"
  3. "Heathens"
  4. "Standing in the Rain"
  5. "Gangsta"
  6. "Know Better"
  7. "You Don't Own Me"
  8. "Without Me"
  9. "Wreak Havoc"
  10. "Medieval Warfare"
  11. "Bohemian Rhapsody"
  12. "Slippin' into Darkness"
  13. "Fortunate Son"
  14. "I Started a Joke"
Music video
"Bohemian Rhapsody" (live from the Death of a Bachelor Tour) on YouTube

American band Panic! at the Disco covered the song as part of their set list for several concert tours, including The Gospel Tour, Summer Tour 2016, the Death of a Bachelor Tour, and the Pray for the Wicked Tour. The song was officially recorded for Suicide Squad: The Album (2016), the soundtrack album for the 2016 film, and premiered on 4 August 2016 on the Beats 1 radio station. In addition, a recording of the song performed on tour was included on the track listing of the live album All My Friends We're Glorious (2017). The band performed "Bohemian Rhapsody" at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, during the American Music Awards of 2018 in promotion of the 2018 biopic. The cover was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on 12 June 2018.

Weekly charts

Chart (2016–17) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart (ARIA) 64
Canada (Hot Canadian Digital Songs) 47
France (SNEP) 159
UK Singles (OCC) 80
US Billboard Hot 100 64
US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard) 7

Year-end charts

Chart (2016) Position
US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard) 45

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA) Gold 500,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.


This page was last updated at 2023-10-30 16:43 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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