The underappreciated Beatles song that inspired Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'

25 September 2025, 13:42 | Updated: 25 September 2025, 14:23

The Beatles in 1969 and Queen. Picture: Alamy/Queen Official

By Mayer Nissim

'Bohemian Rhapsody' was a unique masterpiece, but if you listen close you can hear its brilliant influences.

Loading audio...

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Queen's monster hit 'Bohemian Rhapsody' fell to earth from outer space, fully formed.

But for all its uniqueness, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was inspired by a number of other pieces of music, some more obvious than others.

In its structure, narrative, bombast and Freddie Merury's delivery, there's a strong nod at opera in there (not for nothing was its parent album called A Night at the Opera).

There's also the influence of the prog rock scene that Queen had long been part of with shades Yes, ELP, early Genesis and the like in the sound of the song, as well as the earlier loudness of The Who.

At one moment towards the end, they were specifically trying to out-do Led Zeppelin at their own overblown game.

Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody (Official Video Remastered)

"I remember Led Zeppelin had a gong," Roger Taylor recently told Rolling Stone. "So we had a much bigger gong. Pathetic one-upmanship, really."

But a bigger influence on the song came from a slightly surprising source: The Beatles' relatively underappreciated 'Because'.

"We were transfixed," May said in the same interview. "I can feel the shivers going up my spine.

Because (Remastered 2009)

"We thought, 'Oh, my God, that has to be the most daring piece of pure harmony we've ever heard'."

Sandwiched between George Harrison's 'Here Comes The Sun' and the 16-minute medley that closes off the album is John Lennon's 'Because', which sometimes feels unloved thanks to the grandeur on either side of it on Abbey Road.

"I was lying on the sofa in our house, listening to Yoko play Beethoven’s 'Moonlight Sonata' on the piano," John told Playboy in 1980.

Yoko Ono and John Lennon in 1969. Picture: Alamy

"Suddenly, I said, 'Can you play those chords backward?.' She did, and I wrote 'Because' around them.

The song sounds like 'Moonlight Sonata', too. The lyrics are clear, no bulls**t, no imagery, no obscure references."

'Because' was recorded over three days at the start of August 1969, with a further day of mixing.

It featured John Lennon on guitar, Paul McCartney on bass, and George Harrison on Moog synthesiser.

Because (Vocals Mix)

Ringo Starr doesn't feature on the track, but he still very much contributed, playing a regular hi-hat beat through headphones so that George Martin could duplicate Lennon's guitar riff on a Baldwin electric harpsichord with absolutely perfect timing.

But the main selling point of the song is the layered vocals, with Paul tackling the high notes, George Harrison doing the low bits and John tackling the middle register.

Rather than a straight three-part harmony though, each member recorded three vocal lines, making it a NINE voices.

Because

Queen were paying attention, and mimicked the layered three-part harmony... but with a lot more layers. It's estimated that there are over A HUNDRED vocal overdubs making a full-on Queen choir.

While 'Because' has sometimes felt forgotten, The Beatles' themselves have done their bit to give it their due, and to especially highlight the beauty of that layered harmony.

It was remixed as a purely a cappella vocals mix for Anthology 3 in 1996, and actually opened the remarkable remix soundtrack Love ten years later in 2006.

The Beatles - Now And Then (Official Music Video)

And their affection for the song hasn't diminished since, with elements of those backing vocals also making their way into the final mix of the last ever Beatles song 'Now and Then' in 2023.

"It was everything the Beatles did," said May of the musical and technological influence of the Fab Four. "We were able to sort of take up where The Beatles left off."

And on 'Bohemian Rhapsody', that's just what they did.