DM's Beatles forums
Beatles forums => Polls => Topic started by: DaveRam on June 25, 2009, 01:15:16 PM
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At the weekend a friend and myself got into a bit of a heated debate over which was the better song .
I fought for Hey Jude , but he fought just as hard for Bohemian Rhapsody and as their are a number of Queen fans on the forum i thought it would be interesting to see what others think about these two great songs .
So which of the two do you prefer and why or can't you stand either ? (teeth1)
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Hey Jude gets my vote , my argument with my mate was Hey Jude as got more to say and as a universal theme , where Bohemian Rhapsody is just rollicking good fun with nothing much to say ?
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Bohemian Rhapsody! In spite of the fact that I love the Beatles more than Queen. But BR is a masterpiece, is unique, and was the first song of such kind. It is I believe 7 minutes long and the radio refused to broadcast it at first and suggested it should be shortened. But Freddie insisted it shouldn`t and won. It is composed of absolutely different kinds of music, pop, rock snd opera, which was unusual. It has fantastic tinges and modulations (if I can say so), it is never monotonous (like Hey Jude is at times), it casts a spell on the listeners.
It is no silly lyrics and just fun. It is a song about a guy who has just done somethibg wrong and is about to die, cause there`s no escaping reality. He appeals to his mother, he understands that life has just begun and he is already out: "Mama, life has just begun, But now I`ve gone and thrown it all away...Too late, my time has come...Good-bye everybody - I`ve got to go - Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth...Tears come to one`s eyes.
I love everything there: the beginning, it is slow, a chorus: Is this real life, Is this just fantasy?..
The middle, scaryand helpless: Mama, I`ve just killed a man...Mama, ooo, Didn`t mean to make you cry...
Very hard near-end with great vocals: So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye, So you think you can love me and leave me to die...
And the incredible end: Nothing really matters, Anyone can see, Nothing really matters to me...
And a awesome after-end: Anyway the wind blows...
i am crazy about the song, I know it by heart, certainly. It is the best song ever. Unsurpassed by any other. IMO.
I love it! 8)
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DaveRam, please, listen to it again!
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DaveRam, please, listen to it again!
I've been listening to it for 30 odd years Jane so i am familiar with the song , and i also own a copy of it .
I can also see their is a narrative of sorts , but it's thin compared to Hey Jude which as much better lyrics in my opinion .
Hey Jude as a much better ending it's much more uplifting than Bohemian Rhapsody which peter's out towards the end .
The video to BR was ground breaking at the time and the use of opera was newish , i say newish as classical elements have appeared in records before , the use of strings in many recordings for instance .
And The Rolling Stones used a choral element in "You Can't Always Get What You Want " in 1969 i think ?
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If i'm not wrong Jane i think it was DJ Kenny Everett who won the battle on Freddie's behalf to get the song played in full ?
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And The Rolling Stones used a choral element in "You Can't Always Get What You Want " in 1969 i think ?
Right, Dave. And it might have been the first time a choir was used in a rock song. That was my impression when I heard You Can't Always Get What You Want upon its release.
Hey Jude got my vote too. I guess it's a matter of taste. I've never cared much for Queen.
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Concerning the name of the DJ, I don`t know, DaveRam. But you are an expert, why did you hide the fact?
BR can`t be thin. It is dramatic, it is theatre, it is expressive! It is tragic like most operas are. Somebody dies in the end. It is true art. That is what it is for me. 8)
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I love both of the songs, Hey Jude a little more though. I think that they are more than just songs, they're pieces of art, each in their own right. Hey Jude broke boundaries of what was considered "radio friendly" music and Bohemian Rhapsody didn't really measure up (in terms of tack length (according to my WMP) - Hey Jude at 7:04 and Bohemian Rhapsody at 5:55). In terms of the songs themselves - BR takes you on pretty much a musical journey, imo it's written a lot like an symphony in the "movements" of the song), HJ - I find it's more of an all around uplifting tune. Lets be honest with a user name being Hey Jude, why would I vote against it? lol
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Hey Jude as a much better ending it's much more uplifting than Bohemian Rhapsody which peter's out towards the end .
I like Hey Jude's ending too. It was especially fun to watch it in the video. I still remember that moment when the video first aired.
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On the occasion of Paul McCartney`s birthday Rolling Stone conducted a poll, asking the readers to choose "the best silly love song" by Macca.
Hey Jude - 1 place
Penny Lane - 2 place
Maybe I`m Amazed - 3 place
So according to music-lovers Hey Jude doesn`t have much to say. :X
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Concerning the name of the DJ, I don`t know, DaveRam. But you are an expert, why did you hide the fact?
BR can`t be thin. It is dramatic, it is theatre, it is expressive! It is tragic like most operas are. Somebody dies in the end. It is true art. That is what it is for me. 8)
I'm no expert Jane , just seem to remember it was Kenny who was a DJ on Radio One at the time who played BR in full , he and Freddie were friends .
Agree it's dramatic Jane thats what i like about BR , it's the songs strong point , that and Freddie's vocal .
But i can't see it's lyrically better than Hey Jude or as uplifting .
I understand it's all about personal taste , but i prefer "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie , that to me as a better lyric and that killer base line .
My favourite Queen song is "These Are The Days Of Our Lives " which i think as real sadness and a more thoughtful lyric ?
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On the occasion of Paul McCartney`s birthday Rolling Stone conducted a poll, asking the readers to choose "the best silly love song" by Macca.
Hey Jude - 1 place
Penny Lane - 2 place
Maybe I`m Amazed - 3 place
So according to music-lovers Hey Jude doesn`t have much to say. :X
Well Rolling Stone magazine does'nt have much to say these days Jane , Silly Love Songs should have one that vote , it can't hold a candle to the likes of the three songs mentioned .
Not sure Penny Lane is a love song , it's more about reminiscing about an actual place than love ?
And Maybe I'm Amazed is about Linda and is in no way silly , it's heartfelt and one of the great songs written by a man about how he feels about his love .
I can see why i stopped reading Rolling Stone years ago if it's coming up with stupid polls like this .
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Love BR Musically but i get sick of it a lot faster than i do of Hey Jude, Hey Jude still sounds fresh now where as BR sounds a little dated
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I like both, but BR suffers from what most Queen songs suffer from - it's bombastic, overly clever and lyrically impersonal. It's an exercise in clever songwriting but has no soul.
I prefer HJ because of it's simplicity. Again a George Martin masterpiece. The orchestration is so subtle, when a lesser talent would have lain those violins on thick.
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^^^^ Bombastic thats a good word to describe a lot of Queen songs Kevin , it's maybe why i did'nt get into them that much , that and Brian May's guitar style which i find to ornate and stylized ?
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^ agreed. Can't abide May's guitar. I'll grant he has a distinctive sound, but so does my Peugeot when I put it in 1st instead of 3rd.
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And Queen in the 80's was just horrible. That Barcelona thing is unlistenable to me.
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I knew I would be alone in my choice.
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I say Bohemian Rhapsody. I don't like Hey Jude much, to be honest, and Bohemian Rhapsody is a particularly good song to me. :P
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Wow! It makes me wonder, Wonderland!
When I listen to BR, I almost feel it, every word. Freddie put so much soul into it, his passion, his emotions, he sings it and he acts it.
HJ is very good, but I don`t like it too much partly because of its end, which is too prolonged and I always want to cut it, to turn it off.
My taste.
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Hey Jude is a better song, but only by a hair. Bohemian Rhapsody is awesome. Whenever it comes on at my uni, everyone goes crazy acting it out like that scene in Wayne's World!
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Hehe, I'm probably one of the only Beatles fans on earth who doesn't like Hey Jude. :P
Bohemian Rhapsody is so filled with emotion, I think, and one of the amazing things about it is how cryptic the meaning is. I think that people have been trying to find its meaning since it was released.
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hey jude Controls!!!!!!!!!
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Hey Jude. But because I'm a Paul fan I'm prolly Biased. ha2ha But Bohemian Rhapsody is a awesome song too.
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I LOVE Hey Jude!!!! But I also really like Bohemian Rhapsody...still Hey Jude by a mile
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Hey Jude has universal appeal. Bohemian Rhapsody...not so much. It's a bit quirky that one.
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booga...
hey jude- This song is very long but very beautiful.
Bohemian Rhapsody- Amazing song. So amazing!
But Hey Jude more ...
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I love Bohemian Rhapsody, the lyrics flow nicely and I like how the music changes throughout the song. But when I first listened to Hey Jude, I felt sort of emotional. I noted the whole story behind it, which was Paul writing about Julian's grief over his parent's divorce. I was 4 when mine divorced, so when I first listened to it, I finally understood how I really felt about it since I always thought nothing of it. Besides, HJ has truly heartwarming lyrics and the 'nahhh na na' part is very exhilarating.
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Musically speaking, Bohemian Rhapsody is undoubtedly much more complex and groundbreaking than Hey Jude. Hey Jude is a beautifully constructed hymn of sorts, and one of my own favourites : I can’t vote between two great songs that have different purposes of sorts.
But I think that this debate is like comparing apples (no play of words intended here) with oranges. Why not comparing Bohemian Rhapsody with… Revolution Number 9, or say, Here Comes the Sun?!?
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I must say both are musical titans, without mattering the times of each band. I like them both, but of course, I love the Beatles the most. And Hey Jude is such a meaningful song in my life...impossible not to give my vote for it.
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Man, this question is hard.
Well, I voted for BR. *ducks from tomatoes*
In all honesty, HJ and BR are BOTH awesome songs that I wouldn't want to do without. However, BR wins for me because I love its strangeness and because it's so well-executed. It's like one mini-opera wrapped up in a crazy pop song and it works amazingly well. But I love HJ, it's a beautiful song and so meaningful and uplifting. Definitely one of my favorite Beatles songs.