The Prophet's song

There's a theory regularly expressed on the excellent Word podcast that you develop your taste in music by the time that you're in your late teens. These last two entries in my Desert Island Disc series confirm that that was indeed the case for me.

The penultimate entry comes from Queen's 1975 magnum opus, "A Night at the Opera". On the back of a career defining single, Bohemian Rhapsody, ANATO (as it is known by Queen fans) lifted the band several levels in rocks hierarchy and for me this was the stand out track on it.

Before, however, I talk about this song, I feel that I should explain exactly how important Queen were to me as I navigated my way through my mid-teens.

I first really became aware of them, when they performed Seven Seas of Rhye on Top of the Pops. I think my mate Gray bought that single and then Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack were bought by school mates, sorry I can't remember who had what and as one did, we hung out and played them to death. Very soon Queen were my favourite band and any edition of Sounds, Melody Maker or NME (1970's music papers that had any article or interview was purchased and read and re-read. Similarly any appearance on Top of the Pops was to be watched and the sheer joy of the bands live performance, even in the TOTP studio, kept me going for weeks. My best mate Gray and I would discuss them for hours, what songs meant, what they were wearing and why Freddie wearing black nail polish didn't mean that he was gay!

Then one Sunday afternoon while writing an essay for my homework and listening to Annie Nightingale (I think), she played the new Queen single. Didn't catch the title and wasn't listening properly so actually thought that she had messed up and played two album tracks! That was of course "Bo Rhap" and when the album came out, my friend Ian bought it and we listened to it over and over while playing Risk and Colditz.

I distinctly remember their 1975 Christmas concert being broadcast live on BBC2 and a bank of cassette players being set up in front of Gray's parents TV while we tried to record it for prosperity. Even now any clip of that great concert brings that night in his lounge back to me like it was yesterday!

The Prophet's Song opens side 2 of the album and you can listen to it here if you have Spotify. At 8 minutes 21 seconds it is the longest studio song that the band recorded and to me it sums up why I love Queen. Firstly it has a great guitar work, it has great lyrics (biblical references always a good thing), Freddie sings his heart out, the choral bit is exactly right for the song and the end is a stunning climax, including a stereo effect that bounced across the speakers. Very lame in these days of 5.1 surround sound, but at the time, to my teenage ears, it was the very cutting edge of audio technology. It is probably the closest to prog rock that the band came, which also explains my love for this song!

The first 5 Queen albums are faultless in my view and I will never tire of hearing any of them, but this track is, to me, the high water mark.