The meaning behind the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody.

I believe that for too long everyone assumed that the boy in the song was Freddie, thus making it almost impossible to explain the lyrics from A to Z with any satisfactory result. I will be as concise as possible so as not to bore anyone therefore let's assume that the boy is not Freddie but somebody else. I first analyzed the text as you would any literary text then I tried to connect the dots. The key remaining the duality of reality versus fantasy, one aspect of the person and his other self.
After hours of comparing notes and detective work, I came to the conclusion that the boy is no other than Sihran Sihran, Robert Kennedy's murderer. I know but just bear with me for a few more words. First some interesting facts, he was very young, 24 when he killed that man and lived with his mother ('mama'). He worked as a stable 'boy'. He was a muslim from Jordan ('Bismillah'). But what brought my attention was the fact that in 1966 he joined the Rosecrucians Cult, which has a few things to do with worshipping Beelzebub and the all seeing eye ('spit in my eye' and not 'spit me in the eye'), and where? A place called Bohemian Grove. And actually what is described here in the song is pretty much a scary ceremony. Oh yes, one more thing, Galileo was a tutor for the Medicis family, founders of the foresaid cult...
But what really convinced me was Sihran himself during his trial where he could have faced the death penalty. He explained his duality and the fact that he was not himself when he killed Robert because he was mind controlled. In the song, when he describes it, there no I, or HE or SHE. And many other murderers around that time claimed the same thing, they were triggered into action by a reference to the same book 'The Catcher in th Rye', also often connected by people to this song. ('pulled MY trigger' and not 'pulled THE trigger'). They all claimed to suffer from physical pain from that mind control experience ('body'aching all the time'). I am not suggesting Freddie believed in that, he just translated it into that song. And the duality is everywhere : scaramouche and his double personnality, Fandango which is a dance for couples, etc.
And one last thing. If you look up for titles of rhasodies, it is always 'rhapsody in blue' etc or a place 'Danube rhasody'. So Bohemian is a place as we have seen it, or we should have had 'Rhapsody in bohemian tone' or whatever. It is inverted. Then invert the title and it becomes 'Bohemian Soddy Rapt', just what is reported to happen during these ceremonies...
There are many more things you can connect as well, just 'open your eyes, look up to the skies and see...' :)

I believe that for too long everyone assumed that the boy in the song was Freddie, thus making it almost impossible to explain the lyrics from A to Z with any satisfactory result. I will be as concise as possible so as not to bore anyone therefore let's assume that the boy is not Freddie but somebody else. I first analyzed the text as you would any literary text then I tried to connect the dots. The key remaining the duality of reality versus fantasy, one aspect of the person and his other self.
After hours of comparing notes and detective work, I came to the conclusion that the boy is no other than Sihran Sihran, Robert Kennedy's murderer. I know but just bear with me for a few more words. First some interesting facts, he was very young, 24 when he killed that man and lived with his mother ('mama'). He worked as a stable 'boy'. He was a muslim from Jordan ('Bismillah'). But what brought my attention was the fact that in 1966 he joined the Rosecrucians Cult, which has a few things to do with worshipping Beelzebub and the all seeing eye ('spit in my eye' and not 'spit me in the eye'), and where? A place called Bohemian Grove. And actually what is described here in the song is pretty much a scary ceremony. Oh yes, one more thing, Galileo was a tutor for the Medicis family, founders of the foresaid cult...
But what really convinced me was Sihran himself during his trial where he could have faced the death penalty. He explained his duality and the fact that he was not himself when he killed Robert because he was mind controlled. In the song, when he describes it, there no I, or HE or SHE. And many other murderers around that time claimed the same thing, they were triggered into action by a reference to the same book 'The Catcher in th Rye', also often connected by people to this song. ('pulled MY trigger' and not 'pulled THE trigger'). They all claimed to suffer from physical pain from that mind control experience ('body'aching all the time'). I am not suggesting Freddie believed in that, he just translated it into that song. And the duality is everywhere : scaramouche and his double personnality, Fandango which is a dance for couples, etc.
And one last thing. If you look up for titles of rhasodies, it is always 'rhapsody in blue' etc or a place 'Danube rhasody'. So Bohemian is a place as we have seen it, or we should have had 'Rhapsody in bohemian tone' or whatever. It is inverted. Then invert the title and it becomes 'Bohemian Soddy Rapt', just what is reported to happen during these ceremonies...
There are many more things you can connect as well, just 'open your eyes, look up to the skies and see...' :)

Shrekbrad are you high? You first have to understand why if you are right did Freddie write a song about Sirhan Sirhan the Robert Kennedy's assassination was not a major event in Britain as JFK's death. So your assumption makes no sense . The song is more likely about something that happened in Freddie's life . So please don't make statements on this thread that have no bearing

[QUOTE] [b]matt z wrote:[/b]

Hah.


It's about Freddie coming to terms with his lifestyle and the anticipated falling out with his family if they rejected him for being gay.

The middle section is an interpretation of "the fates" and his parents and their religious damnation of him. (Let me go).... the fear of God takes voice as "thunder bolt and lightning very very frightening me"

Galileo very strangely but succinctly represents reason. Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me represents "Jesus, just let me live! " I can't change anything... angry rationalization against religious dogma.

The end is reconciliation that it doesn't really matter anyways. In dealing with an operatic theme about a "wanderer" (Bohemian) it's all very simple to see.

The song is seen as camp because of the hysterics but it's an open apology and coming to terms of things in a stylistically large way


As for posters who claim it's in fact about nothing or Freddie didn't know what it was about. ... that's hardly believable, I'm sure even if he TRIED to Be evasive it wouldn't work.


That reminds me of a Brian Wilson quote I can't attribute at the time. He stated that one of his biographers/friends knew more about himself than he did his own damn self. As such, interpretations of songs from the golden era and through comparison with periods in his life.

In Brian's case it's simply because of his drug and alcohol abuse. ... Alice Cooper claims he doesn't remember recording the album special forces. (Not a big deal cause it mostly sucks)[/QUOTE]

I pretty much agree with this... it has always sounded like a stream-of-consciousness about guilt and acceptance of fate to me, and I always assumed that while not necessarily 'about' his sexuality as such, it was heavily influenced by his coming to terms with it ('mama, I just killed a man...' '...pulled my trigger, now he's dead' etc. aren't exactly difficult metaphors to unravel, if you look at it like that).

Didn't it more or less coincide with the end of his relationship with Mary Austin, etc.?

He also said at some point, 'If you can see it, it's there' about his lyrics (or something tot that effect), so I think the point is that the meaning is supposed to be obscure.

You are so right. I apologize. As Robert Kennedy's assassination was a minor event, and the ensuing trial of Sihran of no interest to the general public worldwide at the time, please do not give any credit to my theory. Writing a song on such a trivial subject would of course be ludicrous and preposterous as it did not happened in Britain. Why on earth would an artist talk about it? Let us stick to your idea of the song being something that happened in Freddie's life or to his sexuality, it makes so much more sense. Though we are not sure what that something is, these statements are of course well-founded and are to be taken as facts in an official viewpoint. Please, once again, accept my apologies and be assured that I will refrain from making any further statements that have no bearing.

Rewriting Sympathy for the Devil in the following days of Robert's death, the Rolling Stones of course contradict the very notion of little impact on the minds of Europeans at the time, but again you must be right. That assumption makes no sense. After all they're only British, what do they know. And again who cares if in Bohemian Rhapsody, the boy doesn't need no sympathy, not for him nor for the devil beside him. It has no bearing, no connection. Let's stick to the idea that Freddie talks about his childhood. :)

^^^ You gave an interesting interpretation, Shrekbrad, it's just a little out of 'left field' compared to the usual suggestions. I'm sure that no offence was intended by anyone.

No offense taken. ;) Thanks for your comment. You are right, it's a little bit 'left field'. But I believe that Freddie Mercury's genius deserves more than a down to earth explanation of his poetry. It is too easy and does not credit to what he tried to convey. I am not saying I am right, not at all, it is just a theory. But still, not everything should be deciphered through a Freudian lens. We can also try to connect other plausible dots. They may be just coincidences, yes, but there is nothing wrong with trying to find out what is said between the lines. Just debating...or not. :)

Shrekbrad forgive me for being harsh but your explanation was confusing to me a bit. But you are right Freddie's songwriting should not be viewed simply . But we most likely will never know the songs meaning but we still can look into it. Sorry if I offended you have a nice day

I may be wrong but I am sure I have almost everything right

As a song writer myself, I was able to understand the meaning of the song Bohemian Rhapsody. The song is about his life as a gay man coming out into the world. Here is how I know this

Bohemian means "out of the ordinary". Knowing that Mercury is gay, and the ordinary is to be straight, it shows that Mercury is bohemian.

Anyway the wind blows means "whatever happens". So "Anyway the wind blows doesn't even matter to me" becomes "whatever happens doesn't even matter to me". This is Mercury saying that he is not ashamed to be gay. Being gay or straight doesn't matter to him.

When Mercury sings "mama, just killed a man", that man is him. He was hidding his sexual orientation from his parents knowing they wouldn't approve because of their religion. What I believe he means when he uses "killed" is that it kills him so much not to be able to tell them about his secret.

He continues as if he did tell his mom his secret by singing "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". Mercury probably believed that his mother would have cried if he told her he was gay. He then sings in the song that if he's not back tomorrow she should carry on. Realizing he was gay was like if the old version of him is gone. If he can't go back (which he can't) all they can do is "carry on as if nothing really matters". It continues keeping the topic of him being gone/dead until the guitar solo.

The part after the guitar solo, where it seems like there are a few random words, actually makes sense.
"I see a little silhouetto of a man,
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?"
The silhouetto is of Scaramouche, a boastful and cowardly character in a well known book. I don't know much about Mercury's personality but I believe he is trying to relate Scaramouche to him.
Doing the Fandango can be dancing or doing a foolish act.
The Galileo Figaro part is a little odd to me, but Figaro was a famous writer, which is close to what Mercury does as a composer
"I'm just a poor boy..."
Mercury is saying he has to be saved. I'm not sure from what because he's been saying very often throughout the song "nothing really matters"
Bismillah and mama mia are just giving expression.
Beelzebub is another name for the devil?

At the more exciting part of the song, Mercury is saying that you can't hurt him in any way, and then Mercury mentions that his parents that might want to abandon him because he was gay.

To finish off they sing "nothing really maters..." the lastly "anyway the wind blows

I hope this helped you understand more.

I accidentally put a question mark beside "beelzebub is another name for the devil"
To add to this, isn't being gay a sin? Therefore you'd go to hell

Funny reading all these pages. I was a Queen fan from the mid 70's. My own take on theis particular song had great meaning to me. It was in 1977, that I finally "realised" the lyrics were not about killing another person, but about one realising that they are now an adult, and childhood is behind them. There is no going back. You are responsible for your actions from now on.."Put a gun against his head".... "I don't want to die"...

I was 18 yrs old at the time, and did not know Freedie was gay. But for my personal experiences at the time, the song was an epiphany to me. I had realised that I can no longer go back. I had just "killed myself" myself prior being a child.

Great to finally know there was no intentionally deep meaning behind the song but frightfully ironic how his life turned out with regard to the lyrics. Thank you for answering these questions for us.

I just realized as I checked back on the responses that I didn't say anything about the part where it goes "let me go, Bismilah we will not let you go". I also learned why Galileo is mentioned in the song.

Galileo, as you all know, was an astronomer. He also said that the world is round and we revolve around the sun, not the other way around. Because of that, he was thrown out of church. Freddy probably believed that, just like Galileo, he'd get thrown out of church and descriminated by his very catholic parents by admitting to being gay.

The "let me go" part is meant to be Freddy battling over himself, trying to let go of who he thought he was, a straight man who would not be descriminated for his sexuality.

I've written songs before, and the best are done while crying, and I bet, realizing all the pain he must have gone through knowing that he would never be treated the same way again, that he must have been crying, and that's how it became a great song.

I am partially glad that there was a slight discrimination against gays back then, because if there wasn't, there would not be a Bohemian Rhapsody. But at the same time, I hate that discrimination.

RockonQueen, you're sick. Please, stop smoking that shit.