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Freddie Mercury wrote the lyrics, and there has been a lot of speculation as to their meaning. Many of the words appear in the Qu'ran. "Bismillah" is one of these and it literally means "In the name of Allah." The word "Scaramouch" means "A stock character that appears as a boastful coward." "Beelzebub" is one of the many names given to The Devil.
Mercury's parents were deeply involved in Zoroastrianism, and these Arabic words do have a meaning in that religion. His family grew up in Zanzibar, but was forced out by government upheaval in 1964 and they moved to England. Some of the lyrics could be about leaving his homeland behind. Mercury claimed the lyrics were nothing more than "Random rhyming nonsense" when asked about it by his friend Kenny Everett, who was a London DJ. (thanks, Jonathon - Clermont, FL and Jonathan Horgan - Cork, Ireland)
Mercury may have written "Galileo" into the lyrics for the benefit of Brian May, who is an astronomy buff. Galileo is a famous astronomer known for being the first to use a refracting telescope.
The backing track came together quickly, but Queen spent days overdubbing the vocals in the studio using a 24 track tape machine. By the time they were done, about 120 vocal tracks were layered together. According to Rolling Stone magazine in their list of the top 500 songs, Brian May said that everyone in the band was bewildered when Mercury brought them a draft of this four-part suite - even before he told them, "That's where the operatic bits come in!" The analog recording technology was taxed by the song's multitracked scaramouches and fandangos. (thanks, James - Vancouver, Canada)
Queen made a video for this to air on Top Of The Pops, a popular British music show, because the song was too complex to perform live. This turned out to be a masterstroke, and the show ran the video for months, helping keep it atop the charts. It started a trend in the UK of making videos for songs to air in place of live performances. When MTV launched in 1981, most of their videos came from British artists for this reason. In the December 12, 2004 issue of The Observer newspaper, Roger Taylor explained: "We did everything we possibly could to avoid appearing in Top Of The Pops. It was one, the most boring day known to man, and two, it's all about not actually playing - pretending to sing, pretending to play. We came up with the video concept to avoid playing on Top Of The Pops."
The video was very innovative. It was the first where the visual images took precedence over the song. It was based on their
Queen II album cover, with the four band members looking up into the shadows. Directed by Bruce Gowers, it was shot in 3 hours for £3,500 at the band's rehearsal space.
Gowers got the gig because he was one of the few people who had experience working on music videos - he ran a camera on a few Beatles promotional clips, including the one for "
Paperback Writer." The two big effects used in the video were the multiple images that appear in the "thunderbolts and lightening section," which were created by putting a prism in front of the camera lens, and the feedback effect where the image of the singer travels to infinity, which was done by pointing a camera at a monitor (like audio feedback, this is something you usually tried to avoid, but when harnessed for artistic purposes, was innovative). At the time, the video looked high-tech and futuristic. It was also the first music "video" in the sense that it was shot on video instead of film.
This was Queen's first Top 10 hit in the US. In the UK, where Queen was already established, it was #1 for 9 weeks, a record at the time.
This got a whole new audience when it was used in the 1992 movie Wayne's World, starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey. In the film, Wayne and his friends lip-synch to it in his car (the Mirth Mobile), spasmodically head-bobbing at the guitar solo. As a result of the movie, it was re-released as a single in the US and charted at #2. "Jump" by Kris Kross kept it out of #1.
At 5:55, this was a very long song for radio consumption. It got a big bump when Mercury's friend Kenny Everett played it on his Capital Radio broadcast before the song was released (courtesy of a copy Mercury gave him). This helped the single jump to #1 in the UK shortly after it was released.
There was a single version released only in France on a 7", cut down to 3:18, edited by John Deacon, but beyond the initial pressing of this French single, the only version recognized is the album version, at 5:55 - allegedly, this French single started right at the piano intro, and edited out the operetta part. Brian May admitted that there may have been additional parts for the song on Freddie's notes, but they were apparently never recorded. (thanks, Ryan - Eaton, IN)
Brian May recalled recording "Bohemian Rhapsody" in Q Magazine March 2008: "That was a great moment, but the biggest thrill for us was actually creating the music in the first place. I remember Freddie coming in with loads of bits of paper from his dad's work, like Post-it notes, and pounding on the piano. He played the piano like most people play the drums. And this song he had was full of gaps where he explained that something operatic would happen here and so on. He'd worked out the harmonies in his head."
In 1991, this was re-released in the UK shortly after Freddie Mercury's death. It again went to #1, with proceeds going to the Terrence Higgins Trust, which Mercury supported.
Elton John performed this with Axl Rose at the 1992 "Concert For Life," held in London at Wembley Stadium. It was a tribute to Freddie Mercury, who died of AIDS the year before. In 2001, Elton John got together with Eminem, who like Axl Rose, was often accused of being intolerant and homophobic. They performed Eminem's "
Stan" at the Grammys.
When this was re-released in the US, proceeds from the single went to the Magic Johnson AIDS Foundation. Johnson and Freddie Mercury were two of the first celebrities to get AIDS. Rock Hudson, who succumed to the disease on October 2, 1985, was another.
Thanks to this track, A Night At The Opera was the most expensive album ever made at the time. They used 6 different studios to record it. Queen did not use any synthesizers on the album, which is something they were very proud of.
In an interview with Brian May and Roger Taylor on the Queen Videos Greatest Hits DVD, Brian said: "What is Bohemian Rhapsody about, well I don't think we'll ever know and if I knew I probably wouldn't want to tell you anyway, because I certainly don't tell people what my songs are about. I find that it destroys them in a way because the great thing about about a great song is that you relate it to your own personal experiences in your own life. I think that Freddie was certainly battling with problems in his personal life, which he might have decided to put into the song himself. He was certainly looking at re-creating himself. But I don't think at that point in time it was the best thing to do so he actually decided to do it later. I think it's best to leave it with a question mark in the air." (thanks, Callum - Bendigo, Australia)
A Night At The Opera was re-released as an audio DVD in 2002 with the original video included on the disc. Commentary from the DVD reveals that this song had started taking shape in the song "My Fairy King" on Queen's debut album. (thanks, nathan - l-burg, KY)
In 2002, this came in #1 in a poll by Guinness World Records as Britain's favorite single of all time. John Lennon's "Imagine" was #2, followed by The Beatles' "Hey Jude."
The name "Bohemian" in the song title seems to refer not to the region in the Czech republic, but to a group of artists and musicians living roughly 100 years ago, known for defying convention and living with disregard for standards. A "Rhapsody" is a piece of Classical music with distinct sections that is played as one movement. Rhapsodies often have themes. (thanks, George - Dusseldorf, Germany)
Roger Taylor (from
1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh): "Record companies both sides of the Atlantic tried to cut the song, they said it was too long and wouldn't work. We thought, 'Well we could cut it, but it wouldn't make any sense,' it doesn't make much sense now and it would make even less sense then: you would miss all the different moods of the song. So we said no. It'll either fly or it won't. Freddie had the bare bones of the song, even the composite harmonies, written on telephone books and bits of paper, so it was quite hard to keep track of what was going on." Kutner and Leigh's book also states that, the recording included 180 overdubs, the operatic parts took over 70 hours to complete and the piano Freddie played was the same one used by Paul McCartney on "Hey Jude." (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England)
Ironically, the song that knocked this off the #1 chart position in the UK was "Mama Mia" by Abba. The words "Mama mia" are repeated in this in the line "Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go." (thanks, James - St Albans, England)
Weird Al Yankovic took the entire song and sung it to a Polka tune, called simply "Bohemian Polka," which is on his 1993 album Alapalooza. (thanks, Steph - SoCal, CA)
The story told in this song is remarkably similar to that in Albert Camus' book The Stranger. Both tell of a young man who kills, and not only can he not explain why he did it, he can't even articulate any feelings about it. (thanks, Bob - Santa Barbara, CA)
You can make the case that the song title is actually a parody, and a clever one at that. There is a rhapsody by Franz List called "Hungarian Rhapsody," and "Bohemia" is a kingdom that is near Hungary and was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Furthermore, "Bohemian" is an adjective for something unusual or against convention, and the song is just that. So "Bohemian Rhapsody" could be a clever title that not only parodies a famous work but describes the song. (thanks, Con - Melbourne, Australia)
This song was covered by Constantine M. (featuring the cast of We Will Rock You) and also by The Flaming Lips for the 2005 Queen Tribute album Killer Queen. Another popular cover is by Grey DeLisle, who did it as an acoustic ballad for her album Iron Flowers.
Queen fans, and also Brian May, often colloquially refer to the song as "Bo Rhap" (or "Bo Rap").
The name "Bohemian Rhapsody" makes many appearances in popular culture:
Session 14 of the popular anime series Cowboy Bebop is named "Bohemian Rhapsody."
The Jones Soda Company has a drink named "Bohemian Raspberry" in honor of this song.
In one of the episodes of the TV miniseries Dinotopia, a character cheats on a poem project by using the first part of the song as his entire project. The inhabitants, having never heard the song before, are amazed at the sound of it. (thanks, Jonathon - Clermont, FL, for above 2)
Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett used some of the lyrics in their book
Good Omens. The main character (Crowley) plays it in his car all the time. They also refer to other Queen songs, but mostly "Bohemian Rhapsody." (thanks, Bella - Pretoria, South Africa)
The Spanish group Molotov sampled the chorus for their Spanish-language Rap version of this song called "Rap, Soda and Bohemias." It appears on their 1998 album Molomix. (thanks, Juan - Brownsville, TX)
In 2009, The Muppets Studio released a video featuring the Muppets performing this song. It was first web video for The Muppets, and it was extremely popular: the video was viewed over 7 million times the first week it was up. The furry ones changed the song a bit, omitting the lyrics that begin, "Mama, just killed a man" with Animal screaming "Mama!"
In an interview with Q magazine March 2011, Roger Taylor was asked if this seemed like a peculiar song when Mercury first suggested it? He replied: "No, I loved it. The first bit that he played to me was the verse. 'Mama, just killed a man, dah-dah-la-dah-daah, gun against his…' All that. I thought, 'That's great, that's a hit.' It was, in my head, a simpler entity then; I didn't know it was going to have a wall of mock Gilbert and Sullivan stuff, you know, some of which was written on the fly. Freddie would write these huge blocks of mass harmonies in the backs of phone books."
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Alright- if you have the patience, let's get on with it. So, it's 1975. Freddie was about 29. He had been dating Mary Austin for give or take 6 years. And they had either just broke up, or were about to. Obviously we now know that Freddie was gay, or bisexual. But at this time- as far as we know, he hadn't been in any male relationships. This already gives us so much insight into how he had been feeling. He was dating women- but on the inside, was most likely not content with his love life. As much as he loved Mary, he was gay- he couldn't deny it. There have also been claims that Freddie had an affair with a man (or men) while dating Mary. Mary and him had moved in together, and she loved him. But according to this claim, Freddie just wasn't happy. If you think about this story, and you then listen to Bo Rap's lyrics- they may tie in together. Think about it.
The "man" that is killed could represent Freddie's old, straight, innocent self who was in love with Mary. The new, gay, guilty Freddie is the one who "killed" the old him.And maybe "mama" could be Mary. So the guilty Freddie is speaking to Mary. Shall we do some line by line interpretations as examples of what I mean? Well if your still here, then here goes nothing..
"Is this the real life, is this just fantasy?"
He can't believe that he really cheated on Mary- he's questioning if the whole confusing situation is just a dream.
"Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality"
He's stuck and he can't run away from his sexual preference, or the fact that he had an affair.
"Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see- I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy"
Here he's just saying that he isn't special- he did a bad thing and no one should care about him or feel bad for him.
"Because I'm easy come, easy go. Little high, little low. Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me- to me."
He states that he is careless and full of emotions. He once stated in an interview that there's no "half measures" with him- he's either very strong or very soft. The "little high, little low" part can come into play with that quote. The "anyway the wind blows" line can also mean that he's careless, but if you look deeper into it, it may even be code for the whole gay/straight thing. "anyway the wind blows", meaning if it's men or women- it doesn't matter to him.
"mama, just killed a man. Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger- now he's dead"
Here he can be telling Mary about the affair- but obviously very much in code. He's saying how he "killed" his old innocent self.
"Mama, life had just begun- but now i've gone and thrown it all away"
Still talking to Mary, he says how the old him was still young and he feels like he only just started dating people like Mary- but now he just threw that person away.
"Mama, ooh- didn't mean to make you cry.."
Here he's more emotional and he's trying to apologize to Mary- saying that he really didn't want to hurt her.
"..If i'm not back again this time tomorrow- carry on, carry on- as if nothing really matters"
By "i'm", he may mean his old self- the one who she loved and the one who loved her. In this case, he's saying if he doesn't come back- for her to go on and date new people and just forget about him like it doesn't even matter. This theme of no one caring about him, is not only a huge theme in the song- but also in Freddie''s real life. He didn't believe he was as special as he really was, which is very sad when you think about it...
"Too late, my time has come. Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time"
Here he's admitting to himself that it's his time- he can no longer deny that he is more attracted to men. He also may mean that it's his time to make seperate ways with Mary, as much as he did love her. He also says how these difficult decisions give him chills and make him tense and scared.
"Goodbye, everybody- I've got to go. Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth."
Possibly the most intense part of the song. Freddie is saying goodbye to all of the old friends and girlfriends (like Mary) that he's had, and he is admitiing to them that he has no choice but to leave them behind and "face the truth". This "truth" of course is that he is gay. And shortly after this song was made- Freddie's lifestyle did change. And so he did "leave them all behind" for a gay lifestyle.
"Mama, ooh. I don't wanna die- I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all."
May be the saddest line in songwriting history- because it was most likely true. Freddie didn't want to be gay, he didn't want to leave Mary. Sometimes he wished that he didn't even exist- sometimes he'd rather be dead than have to live with his difficult life.
K, so after the guitar solo is the opera section. Many people take it as a complete joke and they think it was all just for fun- even Freddie admitted that it didn't make sense and it was just for fun. But I think that's what he wants people to think. On the inside, he probably knew that a brilliant man like him couldn't just write a jumble of non- related, confusing, un-heard of words- even if it was an "opera section". As the top of the page states, many of the words have to do with Freddie's culture and religion- two things he was known to hide. These religious words put into a unique context that only Freddie could understand, probably had to do with the whole gay/bisexual thing. Think about it...
Bismillah means "in the name of Allah"- so at one point he is most likely fighting with his gay self, saying, "In the name of God, let me go!" By "let me go" he probably means, "stop making me be gay, leave me alone, let me be with the one I love". If you think about this line, the whole things may start to make sense. Here let me show you..
"I see a little silhouetto of a man, scaramouche (x2) will you do the fandango?"
This is the gay Freddie speaking. He says that he sees the straight Freddie's silhouetto. He calls him a coward (roughly what scaramouche means) and asks him to do the fandango. The fandango is a dance, and sometimes dances are known to be dangerous or risky if you use it in that context. So he may be asking if he'll agree to a "dance" or fight with the gay him.
"Thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightening me"
This is probably Freddie's thought's inside his head. The thunder and lightning represent a storm, and he is afraid of the storm that the gay him can create (and has already created)
"Galileo (x5) figaro.Magnifico. I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me."
So the "Galileo's" represent the gay Freddie and the straight Freddie fighting with eachother. The "magnifico" is most likely being said by the gay Freddie- because he is happy that the straight Freddie has decided to fight. Just then, straight Freddie once again states how no one loves him or cares about him.
"He's just a poor boy from a poor family, spare him him his life from his monstrosity"
Now straight Freddie's "boys" or "backup men" agree with Freddie and they back him up by adding to his previous statement- "he also comes from a poor family. Just leave him alone from his "ugliness" (another word for monsrosity)
"easy come, easy go- will you let me go?"
This parts kinda funny just cause of the way straight Freddie asks his gay self for the first time to let him go. If you go deeper into it maybe you can infer that his "boys" made him ask, so Freddie does it reluctantly- very shy and quiet.
"Bismillah- no! We will not let you go! (Let him go!)" (etc.etc.etc.)
This whole section represents the battle between straight Freddie's "back up boys" and gay Freddie. Gay Freddie replie's to Freddie's request, "In the name of God- no! We're not gonna let you go!" And then of course the "back up boys" fight back and won't give up, asking to "Let him go!"
"No (x7)!!"
Now gay Freddie has had it with the childish games- and he puts his foot down and technically says, "NO! You ARE gay- that's it!!"
" oh mama mia(x3) let me go. Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me(x3)!!"
Now straight Freddie himself gets the last word. He stops being shy and quiet and he agrees that this is childish. Even though he knows he can't escape- he again begs to be let go. Then he goes back into the "guilty" emotion, as he mentions the devil. He is technically saying that they have a "devil put aside" for him, and he is going to hell for what he did.
Alright, so that was the opera section. After this comes the hard rock section. I feel like no one's reading this anymore, but if you are thanks for listening to what I had to say :D
I would go into the last 8 lines, but I feel like I've typed a novel- so I'll leave that open to further interpretation.
Anyways, thanks again for reading. Hope you understood my view on one of the best songs ever wriiten by the best writer of all time- RIP Freddie
Freddie Mercury you were a Lover of Life and Singer of Songs and we all stand behind you. All my love R.I.P x
.
The lines 'Let him go!' maybe hint that he wants to leave the frontline but the commanders, who are the ones saying 'No we will not let you go' deny permission to.
'Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide,
No escape from reality.....' Also tells us about war, as, for example, in World War 1 soldiers would have to sit in filthy, awefully smelling trenches, with very loud explosions and gunfire right next to their ears, which usually resulted in 'shell shock', a condition that made the soldier go mad. Perhaps Freddie is describing the experience of a soldier in a war who is feeling miserable.
'I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy'- Relates to mass death count of soldiers whom the goverment treated as objects and would send to get killed and not even care about that.
'Too late, my time has come,
Sends shivers down my spine
Body's aching all the time
Goodbye everybody - I've got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth'- Related to dying in war.
But I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me
He's just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity- Pretty much also says the same thing; He doesn't want to fight and etc.
'So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye
So you think you can love me and leave me to die'- He is speaking to the generals; They pretend to be on his side, then send him out onto a machine gun.
'Nothing really matters'- The soldier is accepting his lifestyle, that life is useless and can be wasted, and knows he will die in this place anyway, he is a poor person with no significant role or reason to remain alive unlike someone who, for example, is a banker or a doctor. Or, perhaps, he already got shot, and is lying there, dying. And in that case you can go back to the line 'I see a little silhuetto of a man....' which means he sees an enemy appear who then shoots him. ('Thunderbolt and Lightning, very very frighting!')
All other lines are simply there for the flow.
Whatever meaning it has, and Brian May is right saying that anyone can interpet it in any way, I think it's a beautiful song.
Here's the set-up (all of this is proven later): The narrator has committed murder. He might have done this out of malice, or self-defense, or anything in between; we don't know. The fact is that he killed someone, was caught and sentenced, and is now on Death Row. The man is not an important person, so to speak. He is not famous, nor rich, nor anything of the kind. He has no high-priced lawyers and no "connections" to help him in his plight. The narrator implies that, if he had higher social status, if he had money or fame or whatever, then he would stand a good chance of escaping death. But alas, he is merely a "poor boy" (aka ordinary person), and has no such power. His family and friends are attending the execution (or have otherwise heard about it), and are very distressed. Conversely, the family and friends of the dead man want revenge and they can't wait to see the narrator executed. The song takes place just prior to the execution, and involves the narrator talking to (or perhaps just thinking about) his mother, just before he dies.
If you're still reading, you have my thanks.
Here's the line-by-line analysis:
*We start with the narrator's thoughts:
"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?"
*The narrator is overwhelmed by the idea that he's going to die. He almost wonders whether this is all a nightmare or something.
"Caught in a landslide, No escape from reality"
Again, he feels overwhelmed, but he can't really deny that he's about to be killed.
"Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see,"
Looking up to heaven, wondering about life etc.
"I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go, Little high, little low"
Here he is quoting the common perspective: he's just a poor man ("boy"), and he doesn't deserve sympathy. Much of the song is about how no one seems to care for the narrator, even though he seems mournful and regretful for his actions.
"Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me"
Now that he's going to die, nothing more matters. He has no future, no hopes or dreams or goals. He's going to die within the hour, and there's nothing he can do about it. He feels very hopeless, and from his perspective nothing really matters.
"Mama, just killed a man, Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead"
This part is obvious. He committed murder. I don't he's confessing to his mother here, as surely she would already know by the time of the execution. I think that he's really just sadly reflecting on what he's done, and he mentions this to his mother (or perhaps he's just thinking about her)
"Mama, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away"
He was a young man, in his 20s perhaps. He had the chance to live a meaningful life, but instead he killed a man, thus causing his own death via execution. The narrator laments, noting that he could have saved his own life by choosing not to murder. But now the deed is done, and the narrator will face justice.
"Mama, ooh, Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters"
Again he's sorry for his actions, and regrets that his mother now weeps for him, as he will soon be killed. The execution will take place within the hour, so if he's not back again this time tomorrow, it will mean that the execution happened on schedule, that he failed to escape it via pardon or other means. The narrator tells his mother that, even if he dies, she should carry on living, almost as if his death didn't matter to her.
"Too late, my time has come"
The execution is imminent.
"Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time"
These are symptoms of his intense fear.
"Goodbye, ev'rybody, I've got to go"
He says a final farewell to his family and friends.
"Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth"
The truth is that he killed a man, and now he faces strict justice. He will die.
"Mama, ooh, I don't want to die
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all"
This much is obvious. He doesn't want to be killed, and indeed he wonders if it would have been better never to have been born in the first place.
A new voice starts singing; this voice represents his friends and family who are (or have been previously) protesting his execution.
"I see a little silhouetto of a man"
The narrator seems so poor and pitiful, "a shadow of what he once was", so to speak
"Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango"
Honestly, I don't know what this means
"Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very fright'ning me"
Both he and them are afraid that he'll be killed. The "lighting" part might indicate that he's to be killed with the electric chair, or it might just be symbolic.
"(Galileo.) Galileo. (Galileo.) Galileo, Galileo figaro"
Galileo was unfairly persecuted by the authorities of his time. Granted, Galileo didn't commit murder, but the narrator's advocates still draw a parallel, insisting that he doesn't deserve the punishment he's receiving.
"Magnifico. I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me"
The narrator repeats the common belief.
"He's just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity"
His friends and family argue that, because he's a poor boy, he deserves sympathy and compassion, not death.
"Easy come, easy go, will you let me go"
Here the narrator pleads for his life. He basically says "You don't seem to care about me; I'm 'easy come, easy go'. You don't really care if I live or die. So, if you don't really care whether I live or die, can't you just let me live? Can't you grant me a pardon or something?"
Then the opposite group, the friends and family of the dead man (and/or the execution authorities) respond to these pleas.
"Bismillah! No, we will not let you go"
The other group wants the narrator to be executed.
"(Let him go!) Bismillah! We will not let you go
(Let him go!) Bismillah! We will not let you go
(Let me go.) Will not let you go
(Let me go.) Will not let you go. (Let me go.) Ah
No, no, no, no, no, no, no."
The two groups have a spirited argument.
"(Oh mama mia, mama mia.) Mama mia, let me go"
Here the chorus of friends and family says "let me go", but I really think they mean "let him go. Don't kill the narrator"
"Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me"
Beelzebub means Satan. The narrator feels (or speculates) that Satan is out to torment him by leading him to such a sad fate. After all, it was probably a devil that tempted him to commit murder in the first place. Likewise, his family feels Satan is tormenting them as well, by killing the narrator to make them feel sad. Perhaps even the dead man's family joins in on this chorus; they feel that it was Satan who told the narrator to commit murder in the first place, and now they insist that execution is the only holy response to such a sin.
Throughout this, the narrator has been lethargic and morose. But right before the end, he has a sudden burst of passion.
"So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?
So you think you can love me and leave me to die?
Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here!"
I'm not sure if he's talking to anyone specific here, or if he's just ranting with passion, screaming at everyone and everything involved.
As I imagine it, the narrator throws off his guards and fights to escape from his shackles. In the ensuing musical piece, he struggles with the executioners, knocking the room into disarray. The two families watch closely, but everyone knows it's a useless struggle; there's simply no way for the narrator to escape. And the end of the musical piece, he is beaten down and finally subdued. Once again he become morose and dispirited, and the executioners drag him to his place of death (electric chair, perhaps). In his last few moments before death, the narrator resumes his previous state of mind.
"Nothing really matters, Anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me"
Again, because he's about to die, nothing really matters to him. He has no purpose, no hope, nothing.
"Any way the wind blows..."
This is an allusion to the begining of the song, where this image was used along with "nothing really matters"
So...yeah. I think that's a pretty thorough interpretation. Bohemian Rhapsody is about a remorseful murderer as he's about to be executed.
Bohemian Rhapsody is a masterpiece. The subtleties are what make it complex. The subtleties are what make it art. Between the lines of the lyrics are three pivotal facets which are key to understanding of the true meaning of the song.
The first is the time frame in which the song was written. The second is Scaramouch. The third: Bismilah.
Some will disagree; others will have an “ah ha” moment when I tell you that this song is about The Death Penalty in the United States.
The Time Frame
This song was written in 1975. In 1972, the US Supreme Court effectively outlawed the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment. Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972) was not reversed until 1976. In reaction to the Decision, between 1972 and 1975, 37 states passed new laws to bring back the death penalty and threatened a constructional amendment if it was not reinstated.
There was as much debate about the death penalty then as there is now about SOPA or PIPA. It was the political topic of the day.
Scaramouch.
In the novel, Scaramouch tells the story of a young attorney during the French Revolution who “also becomes a revolutionary, politician, and fencing-master, confounding his enemies with his powerful orations and swordsmanship.” Moreover, he is “forced” to change ideologies several times during the novel – which is politically expedient. (Wikipedia)
In the film(s) version, Scaramouch is buffoon who is challenged to a duel and flees because he has no fencing experience. He joins a theatrical group, takes fencing lessons and challenges his aggressor. At the end of the movie he discovers that he is about to kill his half-brother.
Bismilah
Bismilah is sometimes translated as “In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful." It is the first word of all but one chapter of the Koran. It is the first word on many Muslim gravestones.
The Story Told In The Song.
The story told in the song is about a man who just committed murder. He confesses this to his mother early on. He is remorseful for the deed. The “trial” that occurs in the song is not about whether he is guilty – it’s about the sentence.
He is facing the death penalty. The first clue is when the character says “I don't want to die; I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all.”
The second clue involves Scaramouch: “I see a little silhouetto of a man, Scaramouch! Scaramouch! Will you do the Fandango? “
The “silhouetto of a man” refers to the juxtaposition of Scaramouch as a politician who makes the laws, and Scaramouch the lawyer who make a profit from exploiting the law.
Will you do a fandango refers to the lawyer at trial. If you watched Johnny Cochran’s closing arguments at OJ Simpson’s trial, you saw a fandango. A fandango is traditionally a song and a dance. For a lawyer it includes fencing.
This segment of the song is done in Gilbert and Sullivan style operetta suggesting that the US legal system makes a mockery of itself through its own caprice. “Any way the wind blows” refers to one day State Sanctioned Murder is legal, the next it is not, the next it is …
Bismilah.
A plea for mercy: he confessed. He has remorse for his deed. He asks for his life not to be taken … in the name of the most merciful God.
He testifies at court “ I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me.” His family testify: “ He's just a poor boy from a poor family, Spare him his life from this monstrosity!”
Bismilah! We will not let you go …
Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia, let me go
Bismilah! We will not let you go …
He has been sentenced to death… in the name of Bismilah.
“Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening” has two meanings: it refers to the Supreme Court and refers to the electric chair; the method of execution at the time. The Supreme Court hands down decisions which are published at lighting speed; many fear the effects of its decisions. Thunderbolt and Lighting also refers to the electricity used in the chair and the sounds it makes as 10,000 volts passes through a human body.
Finally, the saddest part of the song is when the character says “So you think you can love me and leave me to die?”
This is among most awesome songs ever written. It is not a political statement: it is a moral judgment. Mercury was exasperated at the hypocrisy of executions because the definition of murder is the intentional taking of human life. Executions are murder, and legally sanctioned murder in the name of justice is not a characteristic of civility.
If you believe that this song has a different meaning … viva art! You are probably right.
either their musi history or world history. The song was made before anybody heard of aids.
I have given this tune a lot of thought, and I shall now explain it as far as I can see, - although, give or take a few details in the operatic section, you can still see what it's about - which I do happen to think is pretty spot on, it's a lot better than any other description of its meaning I've ever seen.
I will leave the words, then after - *explain in these parts*
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
*Freddie questioning the meaning of his life, as by this point, the mid 1970's, he is a well-known star, and in fact - living the rock star life as an art, hence "Is this just fantasy* -
Caught in a landslide,
No escape from reality
*The "l caught in a landslide" is what he refers to as realising he is gay (although he later had a relationship with a woman again later on in the year 1984) – in 1974/5 it would've been much harder to face/deal with than the times we live in now, plus his religious background – hence, "No escape from reality" and how he was brought up.*
Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see,
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,
*A part of him is feeling sad/bad about this – terrible feelings of guilt etc, yet he wants no-one's sorrow over the matter – possibly including God - "Look up to the skies and see"*
Because I'm easy come, easy go, Little high, little
low,
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to
me
*Freddie's nature was also quite dismissive over things – that's how he coped with life, which worked for him – he had to be that way for that matter to deal with it. He was a complex man, and this song deals with various aspects of his nature/character.*
Mama I just killed a man,
Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's
Dead
*The man Freddie is talking about in the line "Put a gun against his head " – is his own head, after his first full on sexual activity with another guy. "now he's dead" is how Freddie feels about it – it's killed his innocence, left him feeling dead - the "he's dead" IS himself, because of his religious upbringing, which is also making him feel all these things – which takes us to the next line….*
Mama, life had just begun,
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
*I think in light of what I previously said, these lines are fairly self-explanatory, he has thrown it all away in the eyes of his upbringing/religion.*
Mama, ooh, Didn't mean to make you cry,
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow,
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters
*He didn't mean to upset his mother (although it was said he never told her directly, she would've found out at some point eventually, and this is how it all plays out in his head at this point) and "If I'm not back again this time tomorrow, carry on…* - this part is about if she sees that her son has departed from her, or died, (not the son she once had, and her not being able to accept how he has turned his back on his religion and given into his sexual desires) - then he is saying she should "Carry on as if nothing really matters"*
Too late, my time has come,
Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time
*His time has come for Freddie to be who he is, (remember after the release of their third album 'Sheer heart attack' (including the international hits Killer Queen, Now I'm here), Queen were hitting the big time, and he was on a rollercoaster rock star ride in life) - and with him being unable to not admit who he is anymore/become part of his art, then life is impossible for him. It wasn't just a gay act which was a fashionable way to be in the early 1970's, which even Brain May thought at first was all it was. As stated by Mary Austin, his lover of seven years , that once he finally admitted to her he was gay, he became at one with himself again, and how he then became happy again, like at the start of their relationship ("after avoiding something/avoiding her") ….. Though, he will be forever judged – and his body aches with guilt at >the point of writing this tune<, which was around the same time he told Mary Austin the truth, and they remained friends ever after. Yet, he is certainly going through the motions at this poing, and possibly always did. After all, Bohemian Rhapsody was his signature tune.*
Goodbye, everybody, I've got to go,
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
*This is all part of the real Farok Bulsara (his real name) becoming Freddie Merucry (His Rock star name) and the giant persona that went with it – he became Freddie Mercury, the star – including, ironically, the star who was famously known as fiercely private. He has to go and become – Freddie Mercury, (but then there's another twist/take on the matter of "leaving" everyone behind at the end of the tune – when the line "Just gotta get right out of here" )*
Mama, ooh, I don't want to die,
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all
*In this part he is still crying out to his mother, he IS still her son , despite everything - and he doesn't want her to see him as departed from her, which takes us to the next part of the tune – the operatic part, in which the battle is more intense…
I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango
Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very fright'ning me
(Galileo.) Galileo. (Galileo.) Galileo, Galileo figaro
Magnifico. I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me
He's just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity
Easy come, easy go, will you let me go *
Bismillah! No, we will not let you go
(Let him go!) Bismillah! We will not let you go
(Let him go!) Bismillah! We will not let you go
(Let me go.) Will not let you go
(Let me go.) Will not let you go. (Let me go.) Ah
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
(Oh mama mia, mama mia.) Mama mia, let me go
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me
*Freddie Mercury wrote the lyrics, and there has been a lot of speculation as to their meaning. Many of the words appear in the Qu'ran. "Bismillah" is one of these and it literally means "In the name of Allah." The word "Scaramouch" means "A stock character that appears as a boastful coward." "Beelzebub" is one of the many names given to The Devil. Mercury's parents were deeply involved in Zoroastrianism, and these Arabic words do have a meaning in that religion. Mercury claimed the lyrics were nothing more than "Random rhyming nonsense" when asked about it, but it appears once again, he was being dismissive. The operatic section, after the battles of his past/the religion and crying out for his mother who is a part of that religion, concludes with him admitting defeat, and that the Beelzebub has a devil put aside for him – no matter which way he turns. Which takes us to the next part… being the heavy rock section… building up to yet another conclusion…*
So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye
So you think you can love me and leave me to die
Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here
*This part is Freddie's anger at the battles and confusion of his inner self, as shown in the operatic sequence, and possibly the reason for Freddie never wanting to disclose the true meaning of the song is because it's pointed at those who loved him for who he was (his family, although "mama"/his mother is the only one named in the song), yet, because he held all those feelings of guilt, concern of not being genuinely accepted, and that they wouldn't be able to love him for who he really was, and even if his parents still loved him, then the religion would disagree with his lifestyle, which would then become their weight to carry, it leaves him angry and frustrated with himself, then angry at his loved ones, finally wanting to escape the whole situation and is irately leaving everyone – "Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here." …. With a "f--k you all," kind of attitude as almost snarled in the line on the recording… (Again, remember the line earlier "Goodbye everybody, I've got to go" - which isn't who he wants to be, or who he really is, as he just wants to be loved for who he is, under all that confusion is Farok Bulsara, not the showman Freddie Mercury, although this entire song is where they merge and become one…. Which brings us to the final part of the song…*
Nothing really matters, Anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me
*Going back to the line just before the confession to his mother that he killed "a man", as if he confesses or not – it's still the same outcome for him, it's still everything that's been said…. Taking us to the final line…*
Any way the wind blows
The Most Perfect song ever made? Yes.
The Best Song of all eternity? Absolutely.
This is God's message to us.
It's very likely that Freddy knew -- indeed intimately knew -- other gay men who had strange flu-like symptoms that "sent shivers down [my] spine, body aching all the time". Those lyrics don't make sense unless Freddy was referring to (what we today call) AIDS. I don't think Freddy was referring to himself in those lyrics.
If those lyrics were removed from the song, than I'd agree 100% that the song was about a man who committed murder and was on death row.
The first half of the song is describing his contracting AIDS from gay sex, and coming to terms with dying etc. Then right in the middle, the song switches to his judgment with god where he's pleading his case, but god won't hear his plight. It's hard to tell, but "thunderbolt and lightning, very very fright'ning me" lyric could either be his judgment with god, or speaking to the devil. Of the two, I always thought it was his judgment. Toward the end of the song, I imagine Freddy swirling in a vortex as he's sliding downward into hell; his judgment from god having been rendered.
why can't i gat any lyrics from this site anymore?! i've checked like twenty different songs and the link that says 'view lyrics' is gone.
I am truly sorry about the sarcasm. It just freaked me out that I was visiting a web page where someone believed they had to explain to me who Galileo was. Am I that far gone? Did we catch it in time?
I heard this song on the radio the other day, and at the very end of the song they cut out the gong hit, i was really mad, because the gong hit is amazing, just like the triangle hit in Killer Queen.
in the fiest few lines of the song
(Is this the real life ,Is this just fantasy)
i think this is him relising that he is gay.
(Mama,just killed a man,Put a gun against his head,Pulled my trigger,now hes dead)
this would be him comming out that he is gay, the man that he is killing is himself by telling people that he is gay.
(Too late,my time has come,Sends shivers down my spine-Bodys aching all the time)
him getting AIDS or him being at the rick of getting it.
(see a little silhouetto of a man)
the man he used to be before he came out.
(ut Im just a poor boy and nobody loves me-Hes just a poor boy from a poor family-Spare him his life from this monstrosity)
people thinking that he didnt know any better because he's poor.
(Will not let you go-let me go Will, not let you go, let me go, No,no,no,no,no,no,no)
people not liking the fact that he is gay saying its just a faze.
(Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me,for me, for me)
he is religeis(?)and know in is his heart that he is going to hell.
(So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye-
So you think you can love me and leave me to die)
people leaving him afer comming out, not accepting it.
(Nothing really matters,Anyone can see)
he doesn't care that thay are leaving him.
( Any way the wind blows....)
he is going to do what ever he likes with his life and go anywhere.
just my thorts xoxo
Doesnt really matter what we beleive this song to mean....... It was and still is an exceptional musical work of a brilliant musician.
It's really interesting reading all the theories about this song: Him being gay, murder, AIDS, being on death row, war, religion, etc. The one that makes the most sense to me would probably be his struggle with being gay. But I particularily really like the theme of the character in his song being on death row. Whatever it is, there's something very haunting about this song. And that's part of its beauty. It is abstract art.
I read somewhere that Freddie actually did some research before coming with this song. It wasn't something he came out with "out of the blue". That article could have been lying who knows. I think it's interesting too how someone pointed out "Liar"'s lyrics and how they're similar. I hadn't thought of that ("Liar" is another one of my favorite Queen songs). Either way, I admire him deeply for his unique approach to songwriting.
Another great song (s) by Queen is "In the Lap of the Gods" (original and revisited). Beautiful songs.
By the way, check this Bohemian Rhapsody Outakes video of Freddie singing if you haven't already. It's hilarious! I Adore Freddie's voice, and this is great to listen to - mistakes and all ;D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nFFqIwnE3w
"Too late,my time has come.......Mama ooo- (any way the wind blows)I dont want to die,I sometimes wish Id never been born at all-" seems shows suicidal intent.
This song isn't quite meant to make sense to us, its done in a completely different style of actually explaining something.
Freddie was a brilliant singer, but it's a pity that many people usually associate AIDS with him first rather than his achievements.
We're not ever going to know what it means, so just enjoy the song instead of arguing about how it absolutely must be Freddie's deep confessions about his sex life, which was nobody's business but his own. Leave it alone.
Honestly, though I know the dates don't line up exactly, for me there is no way this song is not about AIDS.
Is this just fantasy?(I imagine he went to the doc, and was told that his illness, AIDS, was in his head~or could not be identified)
Caught in a landslide,
No escape from reality.
(or perhaps he "knew" intuitively that he was dying)
Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see,
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,
Because I'm easy come, easy go, little high, little low,
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me.(asking you not to mourn for him)
Mama, just killed a man,
Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead.(I think this is a phallic reference about spreading a sexually transmitted disease. Most people who have AIDS also have herpes which was obviously a known disease at the time)
Mama, life had just begun,
But now I've gone and thrown it all away.(obvious..he was lamenting that he will die)
Mama, ooh, didn't mean to make you cry,
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow,
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters.(don't mourn)
Too late, my time has come,
Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time.(shivers/night sweats/aching flu symptoms all aids symptoms, his time has come)
Goodbye, ev'rybody, I've got to go,
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth.(The truth is, he knew he was dying~but not what he was dying from)
Mama, ooh, I don't want to die,
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all.(A normal reaction to grieving your own death)
I see a little silhouetto of a man,(weight loss=AIDS Symptom)
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango.(Freddy wondering if he will be to sick to perform, or to be himself)
Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very fright'ning me.(References to the heavens/or hell/death)
(Galileo.) Galileo. (Galileo.) Galileo, Galileo(The heavens again?) Figaro (an opera. duh)
Magnifico. I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me.
He's just a poor boy from a poor family,
Spare him his life from this monstrosity.(AIDS=monstrosity)
Easy come, easy go, will you let me go.(Bargaining with God, also a grief response.)
Bismillah! No, we will not let you go.(The disease)
(Let him go!) Bismillah! We will not let you go.
(Let him go!) Bismillah! We will not let you go.
(Let me go.) Will not let you go.
(Let me go.) Will not let you go. (Let me go.) Ah.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
(Oh mama mia, mama mia.) Mama mia, let me go.
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me.(Literal=The Devil has a devil put aside for me. Devils also demons. Demons are illnesses/addiction. Freddy knowing he is being killed by this mystery illness that only HE had. Perhaps expressing some unfortunate guilt about his sexuality/lifestyle. The devil invented a horrible disease for him. To me, the saddest lyric.)
So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye.(judgment by the world, not by God so much)
So you think you can love me and leave me to die.(Think of how HIV is spread...at first sexually, and was known as "the gay cancer")
Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby,(Denial, another response to grief)
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here.(Running away from problems, another grief response)
Nothing really matters, anyone can see,
Nothing really matters,
Nothing really matters to me.
Any way the wind blows.
(more AIDS references in "We Are the Champions", where he seams to have come to terms with his own dying process.)
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama, ooh, I don't want to die
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all", was this because he knew of his AIDS virus?? Im so curious as to wat is the REAL meaning of these words! someone help me!
=)
-Jeff, Long Island NY
"Put a gun against his head,
Pulled my trigger,now hes dead,
Mama,life had just begun,
But now Ive gone and thrown it all away"
he is saying he made a life changing decision. meaning he got aids...and he is telling her not to worry about him case its his fault
the he is scared to die and he is slowly getting sicker
the silhouetto of a man, is god
he wnats to except god but he thinks he isnt good enough too and that god wont take him in. Then the evil voices that wont let him go is kinda like the devil. Then he says he has to get out of reality.
then he gives up hope and just goes along with what ever happens...
sorry for the extremely long comment this all just came to me
Perhaps, this verse is refering to his lover that has infected him with AIDS hence he was loved and left to die.
Anna, It's about his MUM who killed a man.
a young guy has killed a man. the boy is probably bohemian and he has to escape but in the end he is arrested and put to jail. his mama come to see him in prison and yell at him and now nothing really matters to him
persian.He's studied in India9The school whre he studied is close to my house
Anyway, my fav track on the album is Seaside and Death on2 legs i don't know why but lately i'm not feeling this song that much. Maybe it had something to do with listening to this song on repeat in my ipod. lol
As much typical is the mistake mama mia.
I think that as Brian May said, the real meaning remain in the mind's writer in his feeling experiences, in his past life, and also fantasy.
Us and Them Pink Floyd 7:51
Stairway to Heaven 8:00
American Pie Don Mclean 8:30
Jesus of Suburbia Green Day 9:08
Homecoming Green Day 9:15
Bat out of Hell Meat Loaf 9:44
Free Bird Lynard Skynard 10:00
The longest song iv'e heard is 61:14
What he is saying is that he has made his decision to come out of the closet and proclaim he is Gay, at least to himself.
The murder he commits is that of killing his self denial and now he is about to face the truth. In the light of fame, all lies are burnt away and his homosexuality will be brilliantly disclosed. The fandango is a portuguese dance in which two male dancers face each other, strutting their stuff; another reference to being Gay. I think Freddie Mercury was afraid of being hated for being Gay. He knew that he couldnt absolutely come out, but he realized that he would eventually have to be outed. the ultimate outing was when he died of AIDS. In that sense he is the partial fullfillment of the complete process of discovering you are Gay, struggling with it, realizing you are talented, fearing the repurcussions, but ultimately making the decision to let the truth be known, both to yourself and to others. Although Freddie in this song doesnt get to the triumphant realization, but rather is somewhat mired in shame and concludes that life is meaningless, he has come as close as he can to comming right out and saying what he is. He went so far and no further in this song. But he paved the way for others to go further, whether it be in self acceptance or otherwise.
Go to "Youtube" and you can see countless interviews with Freddie for yourselves.
When you write about link with classical music, wouldn't you mention that London Symphony Orchestra have recorded a wonderful tribute to Queen, and that they have collaborated with Royal Philharmonic? When you write about polls, would you forget that Guinness World Records claimed just this song as the British favourite of all time? When you write about charts, wouldn't you mention their several records? To say nothing about those who deliberately lie and say - not here - that "all the group's members are gay", others who try to deny their ability as musicians or their creativity as composers.
To all those people, I say: Queen are worldwide considered as one of the greatest rock groups of all time, and your efforts won't hide a single bit of their excellence.
this song is about demonic posseesion, at one point this man with all the demons in his head realizes that he cant get ride of them any how, and the names Freddy claims to be just "Random rhyming nonsense" (see songfacts)are actually demon names, I dont expect you to back me up if youre not a believer. And yes, the song its not about Freddy himself, he was a grat poet and songwriter. One of my favorit artists
Although it's redundant at this point... I love this song.
It's so mindboggling how anyone can tolerate this much less so many like and love it! Or most of Queens songs for that matter! On Acclaimed Music.net which compiles many different rock reviews by all different rock music critics from decades,Queen are justfiably # 113 but The Beatles are rightfully # 1! And The 1992 Rolling Stone Album Guide gives Queen a poor review and rating and says they were tasteless,theatrical,and bombastic schlock rock that could only have happened in the 70's! They only give 3 Queen albums a 5 star review every other album they only give 2 stars! They also say that people should use caution in buying any of their records because even their greatest hits sound dated! The popular online music reviewers Wilson and Alroy and Mark Prindle don't even bother to review Queen at all!
1)Life does not last forever and from the first breath we take we are destined to perish someday.
"Mama, ooh, I don't want to die,
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all."
2)Life is inevitabely made of "Little high, little low"'s.
3)The protagonist of the song seems sad and thinking about dieing, and he sings about his thoughts regarding his life and the consequences of a possible suicide act ("I see a little silhouetto of a man, [...] Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me."
4)Some love issues, regarding the posibility that the one you love can hurt you and heshe may leave you when hard times come: "So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye.
So you think you can love me and leave me to die.
Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby,
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here."
Just some thoughts of mine...nothing very imp. :)GREAT SONG, indeed
Other interesting things about the song:
"Bohemian Rhapsody"
My dad would listen to Queen over and over and over again when I was younger. One day, after listening to it for the upteenth time, I thought the song was about a guy who had just given up...who was caught. So I heard the song like "little high, little low, hit me where the wind blows...doesn't realy matter to me.." I, in my mind, was all, "He's such a depressed, sorry shell of a git, that it doesn't matter to him weather or not he gets b**** slapped!" I am of course a fan of Queen now. ;} "
source: http://www.amiright.com/misheard/stories/story_q.shtml
and also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Rhapsody
section 1: This is the version with the side of Freddy that wants to die.
Section 2: (opera): But a second person (also freddy but his other side) is trying to stop him from doing this (let me go...Don't let you go NONONONO etc.)
Section 3: The inner-fight between these two sides of Freddy is on, he talks to himself as baby.
The ending is a conclusion: in the end Nothing really matters..he goed where the wind blows
You all must agree with this, this is the only logical explanetion of the lyric. Never thought about why Freddy didn't want to explain: ITS TO PERSONAL!
"According to the book Mercury and Me by partner Jim Hutton, Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS in the spring of 1987"
He thinks that Bismillah is Hezobollah because of what went on with Iraq at that time...
I had to explain to him that the song had absolutely nothing to do with that and he still thinks its Hezbollah.
Sent shivers down my spine-- kind of obvious not really important, lets check out what the next one could be interpreted as.
Butt is aching all the time
Mercury was gay so this is not totally impossible
In the third part the charachter has gone to hell. He starts saying that he wants to get out of here and the ones who he is saying the lines " so you think you think you can stop me and spit in my eye" and " so you think you can love me and leave me to die " are obviously his parents and the third part is the move to england because hell represents england.He then grows to dislike it right away and quickly wants to get out of hell.( just gotta get out, just gotta get right out of here. )
The last verse is obviously him excepting everything he has hated in the song itself. he is excepting england his parents and even the reason he is here. that is what makes agreat song song and oh yeah, whatever jack off said freddy was getting a blow job by dude can go screw them selves and freddy wasnt bi until the eariy 80s. plus there was a whole bunch of experementing going on in the 70s and 80s so I bet even Robert Plant( zepplin rules!!! ) had probably tried it once or twice.
By the way, Bohemian Rhapsody is one of the ten most well-known songs in the world..so i don't what the hell those people are talking about when they say 'its crap'
Its THE best.
And by the way, I think you're right Matt(Australia) that Bohemian Rhapsody is the suckiest song ever, but what's with the dancing ballet?
Freddie Mercury's sexuality did not swing until early 1978 during the album "Jazz" you know about his sexuality if you listen to the lyrics of his song don't stop me now the lyrics " I wanna make a supersonic man outta you" still good song
he was straight when writing Bohemian Rhapsody which was on the 1975 album "A Night At The Opera"
Basically a big, pretty mess. I really love this song. <3
anyway, I am 13 and ever since hearing bohemian rhapsody on the radio when i was five i wanted to know who wrote it. about two years ago i finally bought myself queens greatest hits cd to see if all theyre songs were this good.. now im obssessed! i think my favorite song may be white queen.. i love the sitar or any sitar sounds
peace out
Its called taste people. GET SOME!
Scaramouche is a reference to the play (or book, I forget which) in which he kills a man in a crime of passion. When he says that and Galileo (who was imprisoned because of his controversial views), he's trying to make it appear like he's this misunderstood man who killed someone righteously.
The crowds buy it ("let him go!") but the jury/judge does not ("Bismillah, we will not let him go!"). Incidentally, Bismillah means "in the name of Allah". I got most of this from Queen's website.
So apparently he's being led away to be executed, and at first he's furious ("so you think you can stone me and spit in my eye") but in the end he's resigned to his fate ("any way the wind blows..."). Awesome song, though it sucks that it never talks about the guy he KILLED.
And that's all I've got to say. Sorry for the lengthiness.
More Opera elements include fast, non-dramatic singing used to advance the plot, and slower, more dramatic singing to emphasize an emotion.
Yet more opera elements include a sad ending. At the beginning, the boy tells his mother that if he doesn't return tomorrow, she should carry on "like nothing really matters." At the end of the song, the singer says "nothing really matters, no nothing really matters, to me."
"Too late, my time has come,
Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time.
Goodbye, ev'rybody, I've got to go,
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth.
Mama, ooh, I don't want to die,
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all." i think he is talkin about dying from AIDS
If anyone has read Paradise Lost by John Milton, they would recognize Beezlebub as one of the fallen angels sent to hell eternally. Beezlebub acts as the Devil's second in command.
I think by "Bohemian" Freddie just means the laid-back and casual "Bohemian" lifestyle, not the region in the Czech Republic, hence the "nothing really matters to me" line.
And also a lot of people think that the lyrics are said like there should be an 'I' between "Mama" and "just killed a man," as if whoever the song is about is confessing to his mother. So "pulled my trigger" I think just refers to the trigger on his gun. Nothing more. There's a user at songmeanings.net called pkjun who wrote a really detailed interpretation of this song... it's on like the 2nd or 3rd page of comments.
I wonder if anyone has 'backmasked' this song, like they did with Another One Bites the Dust.
I'll be blowing out candles in his place!
Im excited, Fred is grumpy cuase hes turning into such a geeser.
lol, just kidding.
We love and miss you Freddie, with all our hearts!!!!!!!
HEY FREDDIE, Olando, FL, Your birthday is this monday! Happy BIRTHDAY in advance!!! I'll be sure to wish Freddie M. happy birthday aswell... Can you believe he would be 59? I seriously can't imagine him that old....lol
plus in Nov. he'll be gone for 14yrs.... can't believe its been that long. But like it has been said, he lives on though his music and as long as we keep listening to it, it would be as if he never left us.....
As for his last name, Mercury is also Freddie's ruling planet, as Brian once noted. And I kindof already knew that, because by some twist of fate he and I were born on the same day: September 5.
And who was it that said he looked scary in the video? I dont think Ive ever seen him more beautiful. This song and this man are closer to my heart than i could ever say.
~Nikki
Bismillah is an Islamic verse: By the name of God [Bi-ismi-Allah] [Freddy Mercury is said to be a muslim, i dunno if this is true]
BUT it might be used by arab christians too because the word Allah means God in arab, NOT the name of the Muslim god.
and too much love killed him, unfortunately.
Freddie is so very close to my heart now, I feel like Ive known him a very long time and that in funny ways, hes always been there for me. I love his fire, his spirit, his heart. I truely believe he had such a good heart inside of him. He had such a personality, but he also put on this little show to cover up a lot of scars and a very sensitive shy person. And I love that person and I miss him.
He WAS beautiful. When I look at him, when I listen to him, something inside me shifts, something just profoundly impacts me. I love him so much for so much.
- Freddie Mercury
Perhaps this means you're all correct?
BTW greatest song ever.
"Too late. my time has come." ...yeah, self explanitory... "goodbye everybody, I've got to go... gotta leave you all behind and face the truth!" hes... look at it! hes saying his goodbyes, its his time. Its like hes floating in this sad farwell right after hes died... hes scared-- "Momma! I don't wanna die! Sometimes... I wish I'd never been born at all!" wouldnt it have been easier that way? but then comes the fire-- the trial. Heaven and Hell fighting over his soul. he pleads- "I'm just a poor boy... nobody loves me..." and heaven replies like, "Yes! hes just a poor boy! Please, spare him his life from this monstrosity!" (the higher operatic bit) so Freddie turns to the hellish said as id hes saying, "well, is that ok? will you let me go?" and they reply, "Bissmillah! (which is the equivalent of 'In the name of GOD!')
NO! we will not let you go....." heaven says: "Let him go!!!" "In the name of God...." "let him go!" "WE WILL NOT LET YOU GO!" never, never never let you go..... and it becomes clear hell is winning. the conculsion is made. Beeulzibub, (satanic soemthing or someone) has been set aside for him by the devil, and his sould is damned. Now, thats a lot to think about but it really makes sence. AND even more so if you consider other lyrics that Freddie wrote which were simliar but clearer-- take for example "Liar". He begins with a heart full of Guilt: "I have sinned you father, father I have sinned. Try and help me father, won't you let me in?" and hes met with the harsh accusation-- LAIR! no matter how much he apologizes and begs, "father please forgive me" or "please will you diretct me in the right way" it turns out that hes conndemed. very simlair to the "never let you go" hell bit was the taunting "Liar, Lair, never ever let you. Liar, liar, everything you do is sin-- Liar. Nobody believes you." Its like he was overwhelmingly troubled by guilt and felt the way he lived his life was unforgivable by God or any higher power he might have been speaking to. His heart was broken and he was scared, petrified it seemed. and that..... breaks my heart, really.
The song is from 1975, Freddie died in 1991. NOBODY has AIDS or any noticeable symptoms due to AIDS and lives on for almost three decades. Get yourselves together.
Having heard the rest of the album I agree with those who say it's part of Queen's very own opera.
All of you who are planning to ask/tell who Beelzebub is, please don't. Take the effort to scroll down. Also, we now all know what Bismillah means, so cut that out too.
I myself like the song even though I never saw Wayne's World, but surely I should. Ever.
I have heard several times this song was the great pride of Freddie Mercury, and possibly their biggest hit written by him but I'm not sure about that.
One question that remains, though, is the following:
Who can tell me which band member is the one singing so incredibly cosmically near-to-impossibly high?
I know it's not Freddie, I suspect it's not Brian. Who is it?
Here's some more info from my immunology and epidemiology classes which should explain why Bohemian Rhapsody can't be about Freddy having HIV (if anyone doesn't want to deal w/ medical mumbo jumbo, you can ignore my post. If anyone has better info, please correct me):
HIV infection is symptomless (except during the first 3 weeks when u might have flu-like symptoms that aren't that bad and are prolly missed by pretty much everyone. This is referred to as seroconversion illness). Afterwards, until your CD4 T cells hit low enough levels, u do not get sick with greater than normal frequency. When you actually get to the point where you have AIDS, you will be getting illnesses that most people do not get when they are healthy. I'm not talking an increase in the number of colds or flus you get. I'm talking rarer diseases you would end up going to hospitals for: shingles, Kapposi's sarcoma (hope I got spelling right), and PCP, a type of fungal pneumonia. It would be blatantly obvious if Freddy Mercury had these illness in the 70s, because they are not common at all (with the exception of shingles, which normally wouldn't strike someone young).
Furthermore, AIDS cases were not evident until 1981, when small clusters of PCP and Karposi's sarcoma cropped up in communities SF and NYC. It only took 5 cases of PCP in an entire city to get it first reported to the CDC. (before they even knew what AIDs was).
So it is safe to say that this song isn't about HIV or AIDS.
As for surviving 26 years, maybe with today's treatments, which have almost made HIV a chronic and not terminal illness. But the general timetable of the disease that I've learned would have a 10 year asymptomatic phase followed by 2-3 years of AIDS.
Still, I don't think any of us can help but wonder about the song. It Truely was Freddie's baby-- and it wrote it in a time of his life where he was reportedly going through a lot of hard things in his own life. Dispite the way he would often push aside the thought that his songs where anything more than what was seen on the surface, Freddie did care about his music, and what he gave us was incredible. He was bursting with life and color and talent-- and Bohemian Rapsody seems to be timeless, each hearing of it taking us on a soul shaking journy from his own.
We may never know what it was all about. Freddie had an odd writing style and could be a bit crazy but keep the passion intact for us. He was amazing. And its songs like this... that make sure we'll never forget him.
CORY in Boonville - just because someone is saying the song is abuot AIDS, why have you said thats a sexual thought? Sex is only one of the ways people contract HIV, which leads to AIDS, but that doesnt mean AIDS is a sexual thought. Hopefully this was justa bad choice of words. But then again it would not be surprising if the song was about AIDS. Freddie Mercury died from AIDS after all - so why would that be so strange.
Thomas in Rochester who seems to think he is setting people straight - why couldnt Freddie Mercury have had AIDS or HIV in the 1970's?? I am not saying this song is abuot AIDS, but you claim that if he had it in the 1970's people would have noticed, and also tht he couldnt have survived 26 years. Let me put you straight: Even without todays complex combination therapies, Freddie Mercury could still have survuived 26 years. People first get HIV, which does not always lead onto AIDS, or if it does it can happen many years later.
Rant over.. for now.
however this is all speculation as i am unsure what the song means, this is just my interpreatation, i don't see how the last section(the headbanging part) realates to the suicide bit though, but some people do say that rock is the music of the devil.
Bismillah
in maltese: B'Isem Alla
which literaly translated means
with the name of God
and in maltese and the one used in the song its almost the same word
and please, dont try to pronounce the word in maltese, you'll butcher it, you must have a certain feel which an arab person understands you
b'eesam aalla
i tried to write it in a way you can pronounce it
say it quickly
if you cant manage its your fault
This baby is extremelly enthusiastic, it's uplifting, fun, touching, powerful.
Freddie singing "BEELZEBUB HAS A DEVIL PUT ASIDE FOR ME" will be stuck in my head forever.
I think the "any way the wind blows" is a referance to freddie being Bisexual. (metaphore, like "you bat for the other team".
I'm with the folks who say that it wasn't about AIDS since the disease wasn't actually discovered until later years.
Ponder for a moment the type of torment that a person goes through prior to coming out of the proverbial closet. I can only imagine the way that a homosexual person feels since I'm heterosexual. I'm sure Freddy worried about being accepted by his family and for all we know, maybe they weren't that accepting of his lifestyle. Sometimes, when families are let in on this type of secret, they'd just as soon cut their "gay" family member off and consider them "dead" to them because they'd rather have a dead child than one that behaved in such a manner.
That type of thinking is horrible and wrong, but, that is just the way things are sometimes. I think that this song was born out of this type of anxiety and inner conflict, but, then, everyone has their own opinion. Queen rocks, regardless.
Secondly, Wayne's World both glorified and ruined this song for me. I can't help but think of that scene when listening to this song, which is good and bad.
Apparently, all the lyrics in the song were pinched at random from various plays and operettas that Freddy Mercury had performed in as an amateur before he was the lead singer in Queen.
And in several interviews when asked Freddy said that he didn't really know what the song was about. Aparently another band member once commented that it was on a past relationship Freddy had
Also Beelzebub is the devil or satan
Lisa, Chicago, Illinois
This selection is about a young man (possibly 18-25) ruining his life. You might say that many have said this before, so here is where it gets interesting. The young man is homosexual, and he has AIDS. He has just givin' aids to another person (Mama, just killed a man...). This song is full of metephors. His reference to Beelzebub shows only that he aknowledges that he will be eternally damned to hell.
Secondly, it might be about a man who actually put a gun against someone's head and pulled the trigger. Depression in the first part, crime and apology in the second, in the third he is caught and is fearing death, the silhouetto of a man is the exocutioner, thunderbolt and lightning is the electric chair, he pleads guilty and throws himself on the mercy of the court, Bismilah is the Judge, the no's are exclaimed by the jury, his references to Beelzebub show that he has been convicted, he is angry, then accepts his fate.
I also have a reason why the previous explanation is incorrect... Lethal Injection was how the death penalty was performed when the song was written.
The third reason, as a friend of mine pointed out, is simply that "Quite frankly, I think he was stoned out of his mind and also didnt know what the h*ll he was writing about".