Last Verse of Mother Love

Obviously on the surface and with Freddie close to death; we want to associate its meaning with his death, but I see this song from a different perspective.

To me, the song is written from the point of view of a guy in conversation with his lover (his "Mother Love") after a huge argument. He's spent some time on his own to reflect on what's going wrong within the relationship. He's come to the conclusion that he's tired of all the fighting and he wants it to stop. He doesn't want her to leave him. He wants her to be there by his side forever. He's begging her to stay. He's telling her how lonely he is and how much he's aching for her. By the end of the conversation, he feels like he's made his case to her and that she's going to stay with him. (He's going home to his sweet Mother Love)

The line, "...I long for peace before I die.", just means the guy wants to settle all the problems within his life before he's too old and get back with his lover. With that in mind, I don't think Freddie would have had a problem singing that line.


All I know is that it sounds really personal. Kinda says a lot about what Brian was going through during that period. Could be a conversation he had with Anita... Who knows?

^ i was totally, "what the hell is he talking about?" untill the last sentence.
In some places i can also see the Brian/Anita concept.

But i think the "farewell my dears, i can't go on anymore" surpases the romantic overtones that Brian indeed gives to the song.

I'm really not quite sure that Freddie was so much of a "positive" person as some of you are making him out to be.

For every positive lyric he wrote, there is a negative one. Bohemian Rhapsody is a case in point - "I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all".

How can you be positive when you have a disease which has reduced you to a barely walking skeleton, which has no cure, and which killed many of your friends? Freddie was intelligent - he was a realist. And I think he was also a cynist. All this bullshit about him having no regrets is just macho crap. Come on, how could he have had no regrets, knowing his foolish fucking around cost him his life, when he could have had just as much fun but exercised due caution (he kept on risking his life even after 1981, when AIDS became known - granted by then he was already infected, so anything he did was too late anyway)? He missed out on 40 years of life, for what? For a few thousand forgettable fucks.

Positive people tend to be bloody stupid. The stupidest people are the happiest people. Freddie was a big achiever, and he always wanted to be on the move. He didn't have time for sulking and throwing pity parties. But that doesn't make him "positive".

I agree that the baby crying in the end of the song is out of place. It is obviously one of Brian May's "special touches", which end up not really making much of an improvement to the overall song.

I like the sections from "Goin' Back" and the "dee deh doh" from the live shows, but the baby part I hate.

[QUOTE]

[b]Costa86 wrote: [/b] I'm really not quite sure that Freddie was so much of a "positive" person as some of you are making him out to be.

For every positive lyric he wrote, there is a negative one. Bohemian Rhapsody is a case in point - "I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all".

How can you be positive when you have a disease which has reduced you to a barely walking skeleton, which has no cure, and which killed many of your friends? Freddie was intelligent - he was a realist. And I think he was also a cynist. All this bullshit about him having no regrets is just macho crap. Come on, how could he have had no regrets, knowing his foolish fucking around cost him his life, when he could have had just as much fun but exercised due caution (he kept on risking his life even after 1981, when AIDS became known - granted by then he was already infected, so anything he did was too late anyway)? He missed out on 40 years of life, for what? For a few thousand forgettable fucks.

Positive people tend to be bloody stupid. The stupidest people are the happiest people. Freddie was a big achiever, and he always wanted to be on the move. He didn't have time for sulking and throwing pity parties. But that doesn't make him "positive".[/QUOTE]

Perhaps 'positive' wasn't exactly what I meant. Yeah, you could say he was a realist.

I think the fact that Freddie carried on making music, and especially songs like The Miracle (Brian's quote below), shows that he was a strong person who didn't fall into despair, depression, drugs, alcohol or whatever. I picked the wrong word to describe this as him being positive. Though, in my defence, I don't think a lot of people in such stage of life could write a song like The Miracle and A Winter's Tale (genuine happiness about the world) without having some positivism in them about life. I don't think I could if I was in Freddie's place.

"I've always loved this track, The Miracle. I think it's one of Freddie's most magical compositions. A very brave concept 'cos you gotta admit you're talking about a man who knows he's got a death sentence hanging over him now. He's writing this song about a miracle, this very light, very joyful..."

Good refreshingly honest post and discussion. Yes, the baby crying with vid showing Freddie's baby pic is the pits. The concept is Brian's concept that Freddie wants to go back and relive his life. That part may have smacked Freddie's feelings.

[QUOTE]

[b]Costa86 wrote: [/b]
 He didn't have time for sulking and throwing pity parties. But that doesn't make him "positive".

Generally i agree with your post. However he left a bit of space for pitty party but always melt it down with cynicism.
Like "i dont have any friends but i have a lot of mirrors to talk to".
Or answering the question -dont you want live with somebody? , "yes, but nobody wants to live with me", (also the hole concept of living on my own which is perhaps the most autobiographical until that point at least),  
Plus his continous remarks about dying young, not going to make old bones..stuff like that.

Its not exactly pity party.Actually the way he expressed those things turned to the opposite. Like " i am brave enough to face my own misfortune".
But there is melodrama in there and repressed negativism even if he chose to use "tongue in cheek" ways to articulate it.[/QUOTE]

^^^^^ Very well put! Yes, Freddie was melodramatic, but realistic, and he knew what was coming, and had accepted it to quite a degree. His attitude was kind of 'C'est la vie'!
But, Mother Love reeks of over sentimentality and self pity, and that just does not sound like Freddie.
Freddie had this one very endearing quality - he was able to laugh at himself.

i find it quite difficult to accept the notion that Freddie's sensitivities would be somehow impinged upon.

Fact is he was dying...there NO lyric anywhere that can make that situation worse...
It's not a case of adding insult to injury - that would imply that saying/doing the wrong thing in his presence could exacerbate things - which was impossible.

My two pennies? I think if the lyrics had gone "I've been a wreckless tw*t, with only myself to blame"
he'd have still sung them

[QUOTE] [b]FreddieCat wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]noorie wrote:[/b]

You know, I had never thought of that? Great discussion.
Freddie was always a totally positive man. It just occurred to me how terrible he must have felt reading the lyrics when Brian first presented them to him. How do you give a dying man a song like that to sing? [/QUOTE]

Like a bad pup dog, Brian rubbing Freddie's nose in the piddle as punishment for what he had done to himself (and possibly the band, .i.e. 'look what you destroyed.'). The very last of the song with the baby crying and Freddie's baby picture is OTT for me. According to Peter Freestone, Freddie held no regrets (although I am sure he had a few).

[/QUOTE]

Why are you being so mean to Brian?
Do you really believe that Brian or anyone who saw Freddie in that condition would want Freddie to feel worst than he already was feeling ?
Only Brian knows how hard it was to witness those last studio sessions, and if he gave Freddie those lines - and this was a colaboration between the two - he probably had Freddie´s blessings. Freddie wasn´t obligated to sing anything he didn´t want to, so i really don´t know where you are coming from

The song is genius and the baby crying makes it even more special to me. I don´t have a theory regarding this song, but Freddie sang the line "I want some peace before i die", wich tells me that Freddie was well aware of the song theme. Brian came up with words at Freddie´s request "write me anything, i´ll sing it" and we don´t know what kind of brainstorming happened between the two of them that led to the end result.

Nice speculations, so far I always believed Freddie didnt recorded the last verse because of the circumstances.
I remember I read in Jim Hutton's book that Freddie had to return to London because of The Sun or any other newspaper claiming that Freddie's condition "was official" and he had in fact AIDS. Jim's book match Brian's claims that he never returned to finish the last lines.
I havent read Phoebie's book so it could be a good idea to read what happened in those days.

Still:
It doesnt matter how positive, realistic, etc etc Freddie was...
In the end the poor guy was dying and the lyrics reflect that fact, he was, in the end, a human being doing what all people do when they know they are about to die because their sickness doesnt have cure.
Being afraid, insecure, etc are feelings no one can control in situations like this. It doesnt change the fact that Freddie showed a huge strength in his final days.

This turned very interesting. I agree with a lot beeing said here. I like to focus to the ''out of Freddie's character" aspect of Mother Love.
This is a tricky one and it had caught my attention too.
My guess is that in order for Freddie to leave Queen,(his job,creativity and escapism) and actually let go of life itself he might had to explore that last aspect of things.
In which case they did actually involve depression,pity and stipped-down mortality.
Remember that until Mother Love there were always twists and turns in Queen's art that made him look/feel like a hero.Like he was above of things.

But letting go means letting go of your bravery too. In those situations it can't actually take you nowhere .Just prololg your agony perhaps, trying to keep a straight face.
With Mother Love, Freddie finally looses that quality. He is just a human with all the flaws and fears of our nature. He can let go.

Once that was documented in his art he never returned. He needed to never return in order to face the inevitable.
With the help of Brian, Mercury became a little more of the Bulsara again(mama please,let me back inside) because Mercury was a second skin afterall. The way things turned it could have even felt like a burden. He had to loose it.And perhaps Mother Love heplded him do that.

maybe, maybe. but we will NEVER know for sure.

it's just as likely that there's no analysis-worthy content and the words are as they are...and nothing more
it's just as likely that it's just a f*cking song.

I think if Freddie could have recorded the last verse he would have. He simply didn't feel strong enough on the day and unfortunately his condition only got worse.

We've all heard the stories about him urging his band mates to write him music. He said he'd sing whatever they brought him.

As an aside, I seem to remember reading/hearing that the recording of the baby crying was actually made one day back in 70s (or 80s?) when John Deacon brought one of his babies into the studio.

Does anyone else remember that information or did I imagine it?

I doubt there was anything sinister on Brian's part writing this song, given that he had to check himself into a clinic in Arizona shortly after his father's and Freddie's death, both of whom he was close to, to cope with the stress of the situation, if I recall correctly. Given the situation, Freddie's certain death, Brian wrote a song that maybe spoke about things Brian transposed onto himself: witness to Freddie's suffering and the experienced of a sad mood within the band. Freddie was putting a brave face, but if you look at the pictures from the last few years of the band Brian and Roger often look as if someone just died, while Freddie looks stone faced neutral. I'm sure they took it in hard. "mama please,let me back inside" may refer to a womb, getting back into the womb, where one is protected from the cruel exterior and much loved, which would explain cry of a baby at song's end.