A brief story of personal gullibility and skepticism.
We have recently introduced The Little Astronomer to Queen, one of the best rock bands of all time (and not just because guitarist Brian May has a PhD in astronomy). We were listening to Bohemian Rhapsody, and when we got to the operatic part, Mrs. BA asked out loud, "What does bismillach mean?"
The song was a hit when I was in junior high, and everyone was talking about it. My memory of all this is dim, but I do remember talking about what bismillach meant, and someone told me it meant, um, "BS".
Fast forward 32 years (holy Haleakala!), and I relate this story to my wife and TLA. I hadn’t thought about it in years, and after saying it out loud it sounded fishy to me (plus, it didn’t quite fit with the lyrics). One thing we have now that we didn’t in 1975 is teh intertoobs. I fired up Firefox, put in the word, and found out that bismillach (spelling varies) means, "In the name of Allah".
Well, whaddya know. A little skepticism overturned a childhood falsehood I’ve carried with me for decades. Huh. And I’m not even sad about it… in fact, now I understand that passage of the song far better.
And I can imagine what PZ would say about what I thought the word meant versus its actual meaning.
Thus endeth our tale. Party on.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Thunderbolt and lightning. Very very frightening.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Yeah, but who was Scaramouche and why would he want to dance the fandango?
December 19th, 2007 at 11:01 am
Actually, its pronounced: “Bism-mel-Laah”; it is a combination of “Bism Allah” (= in the name of God). Muslims recite the phrase:
??? ???? ?????? ??????
= “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” in prayers and everyday deeds and chores.
December 19th, 2007 at 11:02 am
ooh, I got to see Queen do this one live (waaaay back when). Of course, the band left the stage during the whole operatic part, but then they leaped back onstage for the final bit amid lasers and explosions. Thunderbolt and lightning indeed! it was amazing.
December 19th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Can I change the subject here a bit? I just found out that Fermilab may have to close down for around a month and Dick Durbin is using “support the troops” as an excuse. Needless to say, I’m furious. They misplaced a heck of a lot more money in Iraq than Fermilab needs to stay open. [grumph]
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-fermi_19dec19,1,2424810.story
December 19th, 2007 at 11:13 am
I still have the Star Wars Original Trilogy version memorized. In its entirety. I can’t do the Yoda impersonation bit, but I can do everything else. (And I think there was a LOTR version too, but I can’t remember it now.)
December 19th, 2007 at 11:37 am
Aw, you just liked it so much because they say “Galileo” a bazillion times…!
December 19th, 2007 at 11:42 am
HA! Thanks for clearing that up BA. I always thought they were singing, “Galileo, Galileo”. I will now retreat back under the rock from whence I came. I bow to the almighty BA.
December 19th, 2007 at 11:48 am
Ummmm, hi. I’m back. Hehehehe. I, ummm, apparently know nothing. Seems that “Galileo, Galileo” is part of the song. I bow in reverence to the almighty Wikipedia. Ummmm, I’m going back under the rock now. Maybe it will fall on me so I don’t embarrass myself again. *Queen was a stupid band anyway*
December 19th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Magnifico-o-o-o-o.
@Rowsdower: Wikipedia says: “Scaramuccia, also known as Scaramouche, is a roguish commedia dell’arte character who wears a black velvet mask and black trousers, shirt and hat. He is usually portrayed as a buffoon or boastful coward. [...] The name was that of a stock character in 17th-century Italian farce, Scaramuccia (i.e. literally “skirmish”), who, attired usually in a black Spanish dress, burlesquing a don, was beaten by Harlequin for his boasting and cowardice.”
BTW, someone (no, not me) used to be hearing “Caught a moose, caught a moose” instead of “Scaramouche, Scaramouche”.
December 19th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
There’s a nice, succinct yet thorough podcast analysis of Bohemian Rhapsody over at “Lyrics Undercover.” This is the podcast by Brian Ibbott, the same guy who does “Coverville.”
http://www.lyricsundercover.com/?p=60
He does a pretty good job of deciphering wierd lyrics for lots of songs.
December 19th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Freddy Mercury was Iranian-British. I think you can buy Queen in Iran because of that…
December 19th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Hmm. I always thought it was just a nonsense word. I learned something today.
(Now I know what I’ll be singing for the rest of the day. “Be-EL-zebub has a devil put aside for me… for me… FOR ME!”)
December 19th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Noo, it’s: ‘ The devil has a sideboard for me!’
December 19th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
No, it’s Billy Bob has a hobbit put aside for me.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Queen was great, but, sorry, Zeppelin pwned.
Anyone disagreeing will have to deal with uber Zep fan Brock Sampson.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a7/BrockSamson.jpeg
December 19th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Bobryuu –
If I recall, Freddie Mercury (nee Bulsara) was of Parsi ancestry (Iranian Zoroastrians who fled from Muslim oppresion to Bombay). If I recall, he was even given a Zoroastrian funeral after he died.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
I have to say, Bad Religion is a good band to increase your vocabulary…
http://members.shaw.ca/brlexicon/lexframe.htm
December 19th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
This was my nieces’ favorite song when Wayne’s World was out. We used to get the family together and sing it around the piano (along with all The Beatles songs).
My sister bought me a Queen music book years ago and so I decided to do my own version. There’s about 40 vocal parts in this song. So I played all the instruments and sang all the vocals. My kids thought I was a little weird belting out the high notes. They couldn’t hear the other parts while I was doing the recording. Here’s a link to it: http://members.cox.net/jamesortner/BohemianRhapsody.mp3
Jim
December 19th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
And here I’ve been wondering who this “Miss Miller” was…
December 19th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
What would Hoagland think? I bet he doesn’t believe Queen actually existed.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
“And I can imagine what PZ would say about what I thought the word meant versus its actual meaning.”
Eh, for the sake of polite discourse let’s leave PZ’s thoughts on the matter out of it.
My friends and I in high school would go driving about the town much too fast with the windows rolled down and us yelling/screaming along to the lyrics of “Bohemian Rhapsody” turned up much too loud. Good times.
Now I know what I have to listen to sometime today… and now I’m also wishing I had the [i]Venture Bros.[/i] DVDs. Thanks a lot, Quiet_Desperation. *has a thought*
Then again, hanging on in Quiet_Desperation is the English way, neh?
December 19th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
No, Jeff, Queen existed, it’s just that they were a NASA conspiracy – witness the PhD Brian May was recently awarded.
Thus sayeth Hoagland
December 19th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Uh oh, Floyd reference! (@Centipede)
December 19th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Jim Ortner, that’s you in that mp3?
Wow.
Nice stereo work, BTW.
December 19th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Yep, that’s totally me. I need surgery on my vocal chords after recording that one!
Jim
December 19th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
No, actually Jeff, Queen DID indeed exist. But this will ABSOLUTELY ASTOUND you. I predicted Queen with my HYPERDIMENSIONAL physics model. Now if you are to lace the Album that Bohemian Rhapsody is on, directly in front of you, but 19.5 degrees to the left or right of center, what do we find? A clear correlation between this Album and the Face on Mars. This CLEARLY indicates to me that the Face is actually a statue of Freddie Mercury, thus proving, that Queen are from Mars.
December 19th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Brian May wrote “’39″, one of the very few rock songs about interstellar travel and time dilation. Lovely little song, too.
December 20th, 2007 at 2:04 am
’39 is my favorite Queen song!
As far as I can remember, Mercury had claimed the Bismillah was a nonsense word. Considering how well it fits and how those guys were all pretty smart for rockers, I’ve never been convinced that it was not intentional.
December 20th, 2007 at 7:36 am
Cheers!
Thanks for that BA.
My previous idea was that Bismallah, like Beelzebub, was the name of a medieval demon …
…Of course to past (& still some modern?) Christians I guess it might as well be .. Sigh.
Great song. One of my personal faves.
Plus I learnt what /who Scaramouche was here too – Excellent!
December 20th, 2007 at 7:44 am
@Jim Ortner, man, that clip is awesome. I second Phil’s comment!
JC
December 20th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Jack,
Thanks!
Jim
December 26th, 2007 at 5:47 am
jim: hawsome rendition. thanks.
ba: we introduced our 6 year old to queen this year and he loves them as well. bohemian rhapsody, not so much. but we will rock you can be listened to over and over and over.
of course, nothing matches rush. rush rocks so hard we had to take the short person to see rush live in concert last summer (with proper hearing protection).