"Bohemian Rhapsody" Through The Ears of a Child

Rolf Harris is kind of the UK version of Bob Ross, a TV presenter who teaches people how to paint. More than a little eccentric, Harris also carved out a bizarre student-baiting musical career as a singer of ballads and player of the wobbleboard and didgeridoo. Of course, he is in fact Australian. His version is... well, I'm not sure. Judge for yourself.

Lewis thought that Rolf's version was not only "Texas style" but insincere. "It didn't feel like he meant it, he was just singing. That's definitely not the original." It might have been the wobbleboard solo that gave it away.

Distraction techniques aside, could Lewis tell the real McCoy?

He was extremely unsure. He thought, musically, they sounded exactly the same. There was much soul-searching. He spent some time on the floor in deep concentration. I have never seen anyone think so hard and so long about "Bohemian Rhapsody." But, concentrating on just the voices, he reckoned he could pick out the, as it turns out, pop-culturally all-encompassing voice of Freddie Mercury in the last one, and eventually that swung it his decision. So, a 13 year-old who has never heard most of Bohemian Rhapsody CAN tell the difference between the Queen and Puscifer versions. Which is pretty impressive on the parts of both Lewis and Puscifer, because at certain points I wouldn't be sure, and I grew up with a family that enjoyed the odd Queen singalong.

As a bonus, I asked Lewis what he thought the storyline of Bohemian Rhapsody was. Here is his answer.

"A poor child starting to grow up and his family is in a bad condition and he goes to try and help his family but he gets mixed up with the people he shouldn't. Then he does something that he's ashamed of -- kills someone, and his mother's really upset with what he's done. Then I'm not sure if he kills himself, but his life does end somehow. Is the Galileo bit about paintings?"

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