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A Comedian Coughed — And Came Up With 'Coronavirus Rhapsody'

Comedian Dana Jay Bein's parody, "Coronavirus Rhapsody," began with a cough on a couch.
Courtesy of Dana Jay Bein
Comedian Dana Jay Bein's parody, "Coronavirus Rhapsody," began with a cough on a couch.

never thought a little ditty that popped into his head after a cough and a throat tickle would catch on.

Bein, a native of western Massachusetts and longtime stand-up comedy instructor at ImprovBoston, says he was sitting on his sofa when he thought up the lyrics to what became "Coronavirus Rhapsody," a riff off the Queen hit, "Bohemian Rhapsody."

"I was feeling some cold and allergy symptoms and I had a scratch in my throat, and just like everybody else right now, that makes you super anxious," he explains. "In that anxiety I sang out loud the first two lines, which became the impetus for the parody."

Is this a sore throat? Is this just allergies?

Bein wrote the rest of the song — noting that a lot of the song's original lyrics fit perfectly as-is — and, because he had a sore throat and wasn't able to sing it, posted it on Twitter to let the masses have at it.

And, of course, the Internet .

One of the more popular versions shared around the web is the one above, featuring vocals from Adrian Grimes. Comedian Whoopi Goldberg even a version on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Bein is at home, feeling better, and enjoying that in this time of uncertainty he put a thing out into the world that made people smile for a little bit. "Laughter connects you to people — it's hard to forget a belly laugh," he says.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tanya Ballard Brown is an editor for NPR. She joined the organization in 2008.

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