I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride my bike I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride my. If we want a fairer comparison-a Queen song with a chorus-we could use 'Bicycle Race.' But it's not a stretch to imagine it being a collaborative effort, given the way the band worked on things and the knowledge that Mercury's instrumental prowess was limited to piano and guitar. Now, for Queen-the songwriter is listed as Freddie Mercury. So that leaves two-Beyoncé Knowles, and Terius Nash-as credited writers outside of the sample. Who did the vocals for 'Pon de Floor?' Adidja Palmer (also known as Vybz Kartel). And who are the credited writers for 'Pon de Floor?' Thomas Pentz, David Taylor, and Nick van de Wall. What it doesn't include, for context, is that 'Run the World (Girls)' samples 'Pon de Floor' by Major Lazer. Who all contributed to that, to make up those six writers? Beyoncé Knowles, Terius 'The-Dream' Nash, David Taylor, Wesley Pentz, Adidja Palmer, and Nick van de Wall. What of the other stuff in the meme, though? It implies that, today, it takes '6 writers, 4 producers' to make such a simple, banal song (given that the only quoted lyrics were a repetitive chorus). They're overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly male, and overwhelmingly devoted to 'when music was music, man' regardless of whether or not they were alive and listening to things in that arbitrary time period. Let's face it-by and large, the folks who share memes like this have some things in common, in my anecdotal experience. It's hot up in here, DJ, don't be scared to run this, run this back I'm repping for the girls who taking over the world Help me raise a glass for the college grads 41' Rollie to let you know what time it is, check You can't hold me (you can't hold me) I work my nine to five, better cut my check This goes out to all the women getting it in, you on your grind To all the men that respect what I do, please accept my shine Boy, you know you love it How we smart enough to make these millions Strong enough to bear the children (children) Then get back to business See, you better not play me (me) Oh, come here, baby Hope you still like me F you, pay me More lyrics from 'Run the World (Girls'): But, with Beyoncé, they've grabbed the trunk and declared it a snake-that's the chorus. And that works! Particularly if your goal is to set 'Bohemian Rhapsody' as the high art, forgotten brilliance against modern claptrap. Stripping as much subjectivity as possible and not debating the merits of either song, this is very much the parable of the blind men and the elephant-grabbing a part and making an assumption. Well, let's address this off the bat-this a poor comparison. It's spectacularly useful when fighting pedantic fire with pedantic fire, which is helpful when dealing with the absolute worst music meme that gets recreated and recycled ad nauseum:

I felt seen and attacked in equal measure with Ted's pronunciation of 'renaissance.' Anyone who has ever gone to a ren faire with me has suffered through my diatribes on the letter þ, which became y through expansion of printing presses and the efforts to standardize printing and spelling over time, and how there was never said a 'ye olde' anything, but how it should be read as 'the olde' and oh god, I've now done it to you, too.

In his most egregious, pedantic instances. less problematic Barney Stinson than I am any of the other characters. If you were a fan of How I Met Your Mother, I'm much more like a. It may not be surprising, if you know me and/or listen to the podcast, that I have often been accused of being a pedant-and it's a fair accusation.

Working listening to music meme