LYNN NEARY, HOST:
We're hitting the road again on this week's Wingin' It with the next song on our road trip playlist. This week, author, singer and musical journalist Sylvie Simmons tells us her go-to driving tune.
SYLVIE SIMMONS: And the song that I've chosen is "Bohemian Rhapsody."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
QUEEN: (Singing) Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality.
SIMMONS: I was living in London, and I had to drive down to the south of France. And when I went up to leave my car radio and cassette recorder that was in there, back in the old days, had been stolen, which was a standard practice in London. So I was left with no music for a 10-hours' drive. And I just knew by heart "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
QUEEN: (Singing) Easy come, easy go, little high. Anyway the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me.
SIMMONS: It's one of those songs that somehow there's a glory in it. There's almost like a Bruce Springsteen-ian (ph) glory in it, and Lord knows what it has to do with really other than somebody killing a man.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
QUEEN: (Singing) Put a gun against his head. Pulled my trigger, now he's dead.
SIMMONS: You can, like, take your arms off the steering wheel and wave them, and yell it at the top of your voice, and there's even solos that you can sing.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
QUEEN: (Singing) Got to leave you all behind and face the truth. Momma, oh, wind blows. I don't want to die.
SIMMONS: I think, in a way, that, though, there are great songs, and car trips are really good place if you're on your own to take those kind of guilty pleasure albums with you. So I'm sticking with my "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.
(SOUNDBITE OF QUEEN SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
NEARY: That was music journalist Sylvie Simmons. She was talking about her favorite road trip song. We still want to know what songs you like to drive to. Let us know by going to the WEEKEND EDITION Facebook page.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
QUEEN: (Singing) I see a little silhouette of a man. Scaramouch, Scaramouch, will you do the fandango? Thunderbolts of lightning, very, very frightening. Galileo. Galileo. Galileo. Galileo. Galileo Figaro. Magnifico... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.