Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody is one of the most well recognized songs from Queen, and it contains a well recognized story as well.  However, the way that Queen presents the song eludes to exactly what BaileyShea discusses in his article "From Me To You: Dynamic Discourse in Popular Music", especially the use of pronouns when changing which character in the story was speaking.  

The story in the song opens with a young man confessing to his mother that he has killed a man, and that he has to leave in order to avoid going to jail.  The introduction of the young boy as the singer is established with the opening line being "I'm just a poor boy".  In this section of the song, the persona of the singer and the persona of the audience are both clearly understandable.  However throughout the course of the song, the persona of the audience becomes the young man's friends, and even later the audience changes into the individuals that will be responsible for punishing him.  

The personas of a mother and her child combine to make the listener feel involved in a very intimate conversation.  This directly relates to BaileyShea's article and the discussion of how "the first person narrative adds a degree of intimacy" while the relation of the individuals who are involved in the opening exchange also brings the conversation to an intimate level (BaileyShea 2).  This "Direct Address" as BaileyShea describes it, is something that "provides a clear sense of intimate expression from one person to another".  

The intimacy stays close to the song even while the listener is distanced from the conversation when the young man sings to both his friends and the individuals in charge of what will happen to him.  The line "goodbye everybody, I've got to go" distances the listener, but the intimacy with the story has stayed because of the intro allowing the listener to be so close to the singer and intended audience.  The message of the next few interactions between singer and audience is that the young man wishes to be forgiven for what he has done because he has so much left to do in his life.  

While the message of Bohemian Rhapsody is relatively clear to the listener, the devices that the artists implore in order to draw their listeners into the song are not so clear.  The ability to make the listener feel connected to the song on a personal level is one that allows the song to function as one that will allow listeners to remember it.  The listener feels forced to pick a side throughout the song, which only deepens their wish to see what happens in the end, and is excited to continue until the end.