So according to Wikipedia.com,
they said this song was created (in theory) inside out by Mercury and May.
Now Wikipedia is not a source I trust. As an academic student, that's the first source prof's don't want listed on a research paper.
Is there any truth to their statements?
And...
Who is Bijou?
Here's the source you and your profs may trust: link
"Freddie wrote the chord progression and came up with the title and lyrics. The guitar lines are both Brian and himself - confirmed by Brian in his soapbox -, Fred humbled or sang some of them and then Brian transferred them to guitar. It took about one hour according to David Richards." (c) Sebastian also
And let me introduce you Mr Bijou: link
Wikipedia is pretty reliable when you use it for not very popular subjects like the Lorenz contraction..
When you search on popular subjects like Freddie Mercury or Queen you can be sure that a lot of it is just gossip.
I'm sure you can even find somewhere that Freddie really really really wasn't gay, but bisexual
For the nth time...
Brian explained the song in detail on his website a couple of times, years back: written by him and Freddie, deliberately inside-out (guitar and voice swapping parts), inspired to Jeff Beck's Where Were You.
He specified "Bijou" was the name of a little parrot (a budgie) that his mother kept; it was her only company after her husband died, and she refused to keep another pet after the budgie itself died years later.
But of course a song has - must have - many layers of meaning and interpretations, beneath the obvious face value.
HTH
--
Gnomo
Hope it's OK to quote, otherwise I'll remove this:
BHM wrote**Wed 04 Feb 04**
BIJOU
written by Freddie and I together - it was really inspired (in us both!) by Jeff Beck .... I don't know if you realize already, but the song has an unusual format - we wanted to make it a song "inside out" (with its heart on its sleeve). The main parts of the song are played on guitar instead of being sung, and in the middle, where the guitar solo would normally be, appears the short vocal section. The vocal is a succinct and very precise little verse, a little gem, a "Bijou" - a jewel buried at the heart of the piece: hence the name of the song.....
He talked again about this song for "Guitar Player". It was published on the January'08 issue.
What are some of your favorite Brian May moments after all these years?(...) I also like “Bijou” off Innuendo. I worked very closely with Freddie on that. He had a lot to do with the guitar line and I had a lot to do with the vocal lines. It’s sort of a song turned inside out. Usually the song has a solo in the middle but, in this case, it’s an instrumental guitar song and the voice takes a solo in the middle.
That tune really shows your Jeff Beck influence.Oh yeah. I idolize Jeff.
link
Nothing really new - more of a confirmation of what's been said previously.
Nothing to add to this other than to say its one of my favorite bits of music and I wish they'd done something like that on "Made in Heaven" with an appropriate Freddie vocal snippet from who knows where.