GREATEST FUCKING SONG OF ALL TIME

We're learning about this song in my english class, actually. Anybody ever try thinking about it in terms Albert Camus's, "The Stranger"?
Also, people if he says it has no meaning, then it doesn't. Yes, there is a story throughout the song but does that story have any true meaning behind it? Is it made up? A story doesn't constitute a great deeper meaning.
pkjun, I wouldn't call this pretentious. When an artist has a a vision of something they have the desire to create it to its full potential. That doesn't make it pretentious

FREDDIE WAS STRAIGHT! NOT GAY! NOT BISEXUAL!

Anyway, this is the best song ever written!

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I think this is about Freddie Mercury's battle with his homosexuality. This song was written shortly after he left his wife, Mary Austin, for a man. "Mama" could be Mary, and a lot of the lyrics would fit.

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
This could refer to his initial astonishment at the fact that it was actually happening - that he was actually with another man.

Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
This is pretty much self-evident. He got caught up in his affair, and couldn't escape from his feelings.

Any way the wind blows
Doesn't really matter to me
Again, pretty obvious. I guess he was technically bisexual (?) since he was married to a woman, so he didn't have a preference.

Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger now he's dead
The man he's killing could be interpreted to mean many different things. I like to think that the man is Freddie's denial and refusal to accept his homosexuality, the unspoken barrier that always existed for him. When he entered his first gay relationship, though, that barrier was destroyed.

Mama, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
If "Mama" is Mary, this could be talking about their life together as a happy, straight, "normal" couple.

Mama
Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on
I think this is Freddie saying that he never meant to hurt Mary, and if he sticks with gay relationships, not to be upset and continue living happily.

Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine
Body's aching all the time
I think this is referring to the feelings Freddie was having for other men, and the physical urges that led him to admitting his homosexuality.

Goodbye, everybody
I've got to go
This is him addressing the straight community, or the community of those who expect him to be straight.

Got to leave you all behind and face the truth
Obvious.

Mama
I don't want to die
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all
Not exactly sure here. I think it's just him feeling ashamed of his homosexuality, while also playing on the theme of death linked with homosexuality.

As for the next part, I think it's all just a big theatrical production of it all.

No, we will not let you go
(Let him/me go!)
The first line are deep, masculine sounding voices, which I think represent society pressuring him to be straight. The second line, a higher, softer voice, is him trying to be who he really is.

The "Bismallah" part and all the devil references are I think the implications that it's a bad thing to be homosexual. Many religions believe that homosexuals will go to Hell or whatever version of Hell that religion has. But on an even smaller scale, homosexuality has a negative connotation in society. There's an underlying understanding that homosexuals are looked down upon, and even though most people know this is ridiculous, there are still a ton of homophobics out there and a lot of homosexuals still feel ashamed for it.

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?
So you think you can love me and leave me to die?
I think this is Freddie responding to that notion. Him saying "you can't make me feel like I'm wrong for being who I am."

Just got to get out
Just got to get right out of here
Freddie feeling exasperated with feeling like everyone around him is telling him he's bad for being gay, and wanting to get away.

Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me
I think this is just him reflecting on life. Thinking about how it doesn't ultimately matter if you're gay or straight or bi, and it doesn't matter to him what anyone thinks.

Any way the wind blows
Here, I think this is referring not only to Freddie's confusion over his sexuality, but meaning that whatever you are - gay, lesbian, straight, bi - it's okay. Especially coming after all the "nothing really matters" it's reinforces the idea that sexual orientation doesn't matter, and doesn't make you a good or bad person.

I wasn't actually planning to go line-by-line like that, but it's such an amazing song, and it completely deserves it. But anyway, that's just my take.

as we all know, this song is probably about freddie's battle with AIDS.

"Pulled my trigger now he's dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away"

he was so young, and his life was flipped when he got AIDS. it was like a death sentence to him.


"If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on
As if nothing really matters"

he's saying he's most likely going to die, only he doesn't want people to cry everyday over it.

"Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine
Body's aching all the time
Goodbye, everybody
I've got to go
Got to leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama
I don't want to die
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all"

he knows he's dying. he's scared too, and his body hurts all the time. it's his swan song. he's just scared, and who can blame him?

"Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me
Any way the wind blows"

he's saying that it's going to happen, and he's just going to go along with it. he's not going to fight. nothing really matters to him anymore.

this song is really sad, and the very last part gives me shivers everytime i hear it.

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If that was in anyway directed towards me...first off, its my opinion. secondly, i am in no way against homosexuals. I myself am hetero, however whatever makes you happy, do it. Isn't that what life is about?

go away

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In the mid 70s when the song was written. Mercury began a relationship with a male record executive. And thus ended his relationship with Mary Austin. And in the 70s gay relationships was far beyond acceptable. This made him, in my mind write Bohemian Rhapsody.

Mama, just killed a man - Most people say that only a man loves a woman, once you go gay, you are no longer considered a man.

Got to leave you all behind and face the truth - apparently face the fact that he's now offically gay.

The judge scence, everyone in the world, whom criticized his new found lifestyle.

And the references to the devil, which is what gay was considered, sacreligious.
Though regardless the meaning behind the song, it's forever a Rock classic, and one of my all time favorites.

Wow, to start with, this song introduced me to rock and roll. I remember hearing this for the first time around the mid 70's being played out of a jukebox in my neighborhood in the Philippines. I was about 8 or so! I came to the US at 11.

It's so great! It's epic. I always identify Queen with this song, how truly worldly and smart they are. Freddie really knows his shit. His Islam references are just amazing! The story is so well told that it's quite vividly visual! I used to think that it was Mama who killed a man, then when I read the lyrics somewhere, I realized and understood the "tragic" essence of a man telling his story from childhood. It's a bohemian rhapsody, or a "gypsy story"...epic and tragic.

I've read some of the comments here and to those who think that Freddie was writing about his "gayness" in this song, that's just crazy. I don't think his sexuality had anything to do with this particular song. This was more about a tragic life in the bigger sense.

It's probably the greatest rock song ever written!

Look at all the comments!!!

My view is, that this is about Freddie Mercury's new sexuality. For several reasons i believe this:
1. On a timeline the writing of the song does collide with his first realationship with a man.
2. Freddie has never revealed the meaning of the song, because it was very personal for him.
3. Freddie wrote it all by himself, exept for the guitarsolo (by May)

And as I see it the first part is, an introduction. He is doubting whether it is real or just fantasy, but later concludes that there is "no escape from reality". Freddie can't believe what he has done and loses respect for himself (I'm just a poor boy) and think that, whatever the future brings, it can't be worse than this (anyway the wind blows...).
In the second part he has shot a man and griefs at his mother about his life ending. I just think it's metaphors. He has fooled around with a man and griefs at his girlfriend, Mary Austin, about their realationship ending. He is very sad of being bisexual and disheartened tells the other goodbye as he faces the truth (him being gay). Freddie just wanna get away with it as less painful as possible (carry on as if nothing really matters). And then "I don't wanna die, I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all" can be translated into "I don't wanna end our realationship, I sometimes wish we'd never met".
then the opera section is a fight as Freddie imagines it between him and his girlfriend. Freddie don't want to hurt her, so he wants to slip away from her smootly or "spare him his life from this monstrosity", and asks for her permission to let him go. And the spokesmen argues in this crazy fantasy world. That is Freddies way as a composer to mask the more gloomy aspect the arguing would have had. He asks to her permission to let him go, but she won't.
Scaramouche is a clown that appears in the Harlekin-Columbine-stories. Somebody wants it to dance a fandango as a way of saying "do what I want" or "dance for me". The thunderbolts and frightning lightning is Mary Austin getting mad at Freddie. He's doing whatever he can to slip away, saying "I'm just a poor boy" and "easy come, easy go". Mama Mia can theoreticly be translated into Mama Mary. Mama who in the first verses was his girlfriend Mary. Beelzebub is a sort of devil, and that he has a devil sat beside for him, means that he as done something bad.
Then in the hard rock part, it is Mary Austins view we look through. She is upset because he leaves her and says stuff like "so you think you can love me and leave me to die". And then she says: "Just gotta get right outa here" and she leaves, and the song turns back into this sad theme we hear trough Freddies view. He doesn't care about anything, because he feels like loosing her would be the biggest disaster. He just hope that the wind can blow him anywere.
Now, I'm not saying, any of this happened. I rather mean, that Freddie wrote this, because he was sorry, and fearing Mary's anger at him, and wanted to comfort himself by writing a song, and then what a song to write.

greatest accomplishment in rock music.