Easy Come, Easy Go, Will You Let Him Go? (or: Bohemian Rhapsody, Performed a capella in the Back Seat of a Cop Car)

Of all the things you could do while in the back seat of a police car as you’re being arrested for DUI, singing a heartfelt a capella rendition of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody is one of the better options. That’s what Robert Wilkinson (pictured on the right), who was picked up by the RCMP in Edson, Alberta (for my non-Canadian readers, Alberta is Canada’s Texas, with bits of Florida thrown in for good measure) did, and his performance was caught on video, which appears above. Not only does he sing the vocal parts Queen’s classic rock anthem, he also does the instrumental parts and even does a teensy bit of lyrical improvisation at the end. At the very least, he was probably more entertaining than the last set of infamous drunk Canadian travellers, the two RIM execs who caused that Air Canada flight to Beijing to make an emergency landing.

For more about Robert Wilkinson and what happened, see this writeup in The Smoking Gun.

Bonus: Queen Hits in Japanese!

Robert Wilkinson — no surprise here — loves to sing karaoke. So in his honour, I present the video above, featuring a megamix of Queen hits as performed by people from the land of karaoke. They’re Queen songs, translated into nihongo, and they do a hell of a job fitting all those extra syllables in.