Do you remember this song?

It was a part of my Playlist in my Ipod and always hear this song during my running workouts and road races. And I really liked it and it brought some strength and power in me in my road races. This song really drives me to exert some more effort because of its music composition, style and some understanding of the lyrics.

But two years ago, I just simply dropped using the “wires” during my workouts and road runs and completely forgotten the song in my mind. However, lately, while recovering from my injury, the thing to do was to browse the Internet and watch/listen to “live” concerts of famous singers on You Tube. Actually, I am fond of watching Shirley Bassey’s Concerts on her younger days, watching her sing the song, Never, Never, Never and her rendition of the songs from the James Bond 007 movies in the past. You can watch her sing the rest of her songs here and here!

Well, that shows how old I am and I am pretty sure that my contemporaries (my age group) will be happy to watch and listen to these old songs which bring back good memories in the past. Guys, you know who you are!

One thing led to another until I thought of the song, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.

I first heard of this song during my first R & R (Rest & Recreation) as a Platoon Leader from the combat areas of Maguindanao in December 1975 (barely 10 months after graduating from the Academy). It was the same time when Disco Music was so popular on the radios then. But the song, Bohemian Rhapsody, stands out then as a Rock Song which is totally different from the standard rock songs of other bands, like the Beatles, Dave Clark 5, Herman’s Hermits, Rolling Stones, Procul Harum, Deep Purple and others. From then on, this song was one of my favorites where the CD copy is still in my collection of music.

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I’m just a poor boy (poor boy), I need no sympathy
Because I’m easy come, easy go
little high, little low
Anyway the wind blows, doesn’t really matter to me, to me

Well, just forget the lyrics but the music composition/arrangements, tune and the imagination on how the lead singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury, sings his solo act and the rest of the band blend their voices, give something out in me whenever I hear this song. It is so powerful that you are inspired to force yourself to do something harder, faster, and stronger! There is mystery in that song that drives me something to excel some more!

Listening to the song is like doing a tempo run or staying with your strategy during a road or trail running race! It is said that the song has three (3) distinct parts, some says there are six or four. But I would consider it in 3 distinct parts. The first part would consist of the introduction with the 4 blending voices of the members and the solo act of Freddie Mercury; the second part starts with the solo guitar rendition up to the end of the opera act singing; and the third part goes back to the slow solo performance of Freddie Mercury until the end of the song.

If you relate the song to running a race or tempo run, a runner starts with a slow pace for about 2 kilometers and then steadily progressing to a faster pace and maintaining such race pace before the last 2 kilometers of the distance and later, finishing the run with a steady slower pace before ending the run. The result is a good 10K tempo run!

In road and trail races, your performance and strategycould relate also the arrangements of the song. A runner starts the race in a easy and slower pace then picking up his pace on the middle part and sustaining his race pace while his body could sustain it. Sometimes on the middle of the race, a runner encounters some “issues” and change in pace or for some adjustments but basically, the runner would stay on to keep up his intended race pace. And at the end, the runner slows down once he/she crosses the finish line and it’s time to rest and recover.

If you are a “newbie” runner, this is a song that could gauge your workout while listening to it. Start with walking on the first part of the song, then slowly picking up a pace to jog on the middle part, and then slowly going back to walk on the last part. You can repeat the song so many times as the whole song covers an elapsed time of 6 minutes plus a few seconds. If you can repeat this song for five times, then you have a solid 30+ minutes of a good workout for the day. Why don’t you try it!

For sure, this song brings back good memories. By the way, I’ve added a Solo Ukelele rendition of the same song by Jake Shimabukuro. I hope you will like it, too!

Enjoy the show and keep on running!

(Sources: You Tube & Wikipedia)