Perhaps the song's most distinct feature is the fatalistic lyrics: "Mama, just killed a man," "Nothing really matters" and "I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all." Mr. Mercury, who died in 1991, always refused to explain his composition other than saying it was about relationships. (He never officially admitted his bisexuality.) Some interpreted it as a way of dealing with his personal issues. To this day the band is still protective of the song's secret."I have a perfectly clear idea of what was in Freddie's mind," Mr. May said. "But it was unwritten law among us in those days that the real core of a song lyric was a private matter for the composer, whoever that might be. So I still respect that."
Mr. Baker said, with a hearty laugh, "If I tell you, I would have to kill you."
The idea that springs most readily to mind is that he actually did kill a man!
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Oh no, I can see it coming: "The Mercury Code!" Thought backwards lyrics were bad? There's a whole Phillip Marlowe novel in "Bohemian Rhapsody!"
Yikes.
I always figured that the man he "killed" was himself, and the song was about the emergence of his homosexuality.
I've always found it interesting how heavily listeners emotionally invest in lead singers and songwriters. Why is the assumption nearly always that the singer/songwriter is singing about himself? We don't get so presumptious with our favorite authors. Well, sometimes we do, but for the most part we recognize there's a story to be told and different voices to tell it.
Is music so much more personal we expect to hear personal and intimate details whenever we hit play?
additional: I don't know much about American Idol, but "Bohemian Rhapsody" was successfully covered twice on "Rockstar: INXS." Don't know if they'll be able to recreate this show, but for my viewing had much better music and singers than Idol.
I guess for the narrator of "Bohemian Rhapsody", happiness wasn't a warm gun.
I don't know if Freddie Mercury actually killed a man but given Mr. Mercury's cause of death, I think it's safe to say that a man killed him.
I always figured that the man he "killed" was himself, and the song was about the emergence of his homosexuality.
As have I. I'm also sure Great King Rat and the Black Queen aren't meant entirely to be taken literally, either.
Apropos of nothing, I recorded a Freddie tribute podcast last month on the anniversary of his death. It does not include Bohemian Rhapsody.
As a song writer / lyricist, I can tell you that, in my experience, a lot of the lyrics I write are either about fictional characters (if they have a character at all), or if they are about myself, they often project myself into hypothetical sitiations. "Rhapsody" was definitely NOT about his AIDS affliction, as AIDS was not known when the song was written in 1976.
I always thought the story in the lyrics to BR was pretty clear (to the extent that I thought about it, which was not very much).
Before the song: Young man kills someone
Opening section: After the killing he's confronting his mother with what he did
Whacked out vocal part: His trial (the gallileo etc is legal mumbo jumbo)
Rock section: Prison
Final slow section: awaiting his execution (or the whole thing is told as he awaits his execution and the scene with his mother, the trial and intro to prison life are all flashbacks).
I don't think the lyrics bear much analysis, young confused killers weren't so uncommon in British pop of the time. Elton John had a similar song Ticking a couple of years before and I Don't Like Mondays was a very large hit there a few years afterwards and I think there were some others too.
Just had a thought (and also left this at Throwing Things):
Freddie Mercury was a fan of Godfather (1972) and Godfather II (1974), and Bohemian Rhapsody is the story of Michael Corleone.
Factor in artistic license and this makes as much sense as anything else being mentioned.
I don't think the lyrics bear much analysis, young confused killers weren't so uncommon in British pop of the time....I Don't Like Mondays was a very large hit there a few years afterwards...
Hey, I like to blame the British as much as the next guy, but to be fair, I Don't Like Mondays was inspired by a California teenager who shot her principal.
You, Slac, rock beyond all! But, to your most excellent critique, please note:
(chorus cont.) Look up to the sky and see...
(solo) I'm just a poor boy,
I need no sympathy
(chorus re-enters) Because I'm easy come, easy go,
Little high, little low.
Anyway the wind blows
Doesn't really matter to me,
To me.
(solo) Momma, just killed a man,
Put my gun against his head
Pulled my trigger now he's dead.
Note the changes from solo to chorus. One might just as easily say that the (momma's) boy has been killed by the man, who must now make his way by his own lights.
In fact, I think the song thrives on the twin tension between the maturing pressure of young manhood and the reverse (but still rebellious) pressure of homosexuality: on the one hand, the young man is growing apart from mother's control: on the other, he will never grow up to marry a girl (like the one who married dear old dad) like dear old Mom expected. So we've lost the carefree, obedient boy and the mature man for a third party, the narrator.
Wow. I love the Internet. I've never thought about Bohemian Rhapsody this deeply before.
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