THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

3-Queen-Bohemian Rhapsody.

1975-Number 1 single. When it was re-issued in 1991, it once again made Number 1.

Best Bit-At 3.03. Can you imagine what it must be like to be born into a family, and a religion, that consider that being gay is a terrible sin, with the punishment being that you will go to hell for eternity. That is what this song is about.

Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on September 5th, 1946, in Stone Town, Sultanate of Zanzibar, he died on November 24th, 1991, of Bronchopneumonia, as a complication of AIDS, at the age of 45. Both of his parents were deeply involved in ‘Zoroastrianism,’ which is an ancient Persian religion believed to have originated around 4,000 years ago. Mercury had been diagnosed with AIDS in 1987, but he didn’t make it publicly known until the day before his death.

The discography of Queen (see also best songs 918-615-208-126 and 47) includes 15 studio Albums released between 1973-1995, and 73 singles issued between 1973-2022. In the UK, 54 of those singles made the top 40, with six of them making Number 1, if you include the 1991 re-issue of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart they have had 12 top 40 hits, with two of those making Number 1, although ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ only reached a peak of Number 2 on it’s re-issue. For the solo discography of Freddie Mercury see best songs 918.

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was written by Freddie Mercury, with the production being by Roy Thomas Baker, and Queen. The song was the first of two singles released from Queen’s fourth studio Album ‘A Night at the Opera’ from November 1975. Roy Thomas Baker was a long term producer for Queen, and worked on five of their studio Albums, he also worked with many other world famous artists between 1970-2014.

It is true that the lyrics of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ (bohemian meaning, ‘socially unconventional’) and (rhapsody meaning, ‘an enthusiastic expression of feeling’, or (in ancient Greek) ‘an epic poem’) can be interpreted in many ways, with all the remaining members of Queen respecting Freddie Mercury’s wishes in not revealing (if they know themselves) what the song is really about, but on reading many articles about the song, I am convinced that the evidence is overwhelming. According to Lesley-Ann Jones, the author of the biography ‘Mercury,’ she thinks that the song is about Freddie Mercury coming out as gay. After his death she spoke with Mercury’s partner Jim Hutton (1949-2010) who told her that the song was in fact Mercury’s confession that he was gay. Mercury’s good friend Tim Rice backs this up and he also offered some lyrical analysis. He said, the line,’Mama I just killed a man,’- means, he’s killed the old Freddie he was trying to be,’ and the line,’Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger now he’s dead,’-means, he’s dead, the straight person he was originally, he’s destroyed the man he was trying to be, and now this is him, trying to live with the new Freddie.’

Freddie Mercury had began writing some of the songs lyrics as far back as the late 1960’s, notably ‘Mama…just killed a man, Mercury called this early song ‘The Cowboy Song.’ In fact when Queen went in to the studio in 1975, it was ideas from three different songs that Mercury had been working on that became ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ The songs co-producer Roy Thomas Baker has said,’Bohemian Rhapsody’ was totally insane, but we enjoyed every minute of it. It was basically a joke, but a successful joke. (laughs) We had to record it in three separate units. We did the whole beginning bit, then the whole middle bit, and then the whole end. It was complete madness. The middle part (the Operatic part) started off being just a couple of seconds, but Freddie kept coming in with more ‘Galileos’ and we kept on adding to the opera section, and it just got bigger and bigger. We never stopped laughing. It started off as a ballad, but the end was heavy.’

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ parodies elements of opera, which Mercury called a ‘mock opera.’ ‘Scaramouche’ relates to a cowardly boastful character from 16th Century Italian comedy. ‘Fandango’ is a dance that originated in Spain and Portugal, ‘Galileo’ (1564-1642) was an Italian astronomer who had been condemned by the Catholic Church for his astronomical findings, while ‘Figaro’ is a French play. ‘Beelzebub’ is one of many names given to the Devil, and ‘Bismillah’ when translated from the Arabic literally means ‘In the name of Allah’ (God.)

On a lighter note ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ has spent a total of 14 weeks at Number 1 in the UK. It spent nine weeks at Number 1 in 1975, and a further five weeks in 1991 following the death of Freddie Mercury, on both occasions it was that years Christmas Number 1 single. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is the third best selling single of all time in the UK, and it can also boast sales in excess of six million copies worldwide. In 1976 the group which finally toppled ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ from the Number 1 spot was ABBA, and coincidentally because of that we can say, ‘Mama Mia, Mama Mia.’

‘Mama, just killed a man, put a gun against his head pulled my trigger, now he’s dead. Mama, life had just begun, but now I’ve gone and thrown it all away.’