This one always used to puzzle me from early on, cause i always gave a lot of weight in the "But you never had to try
To stand out from the crowd" line .
It always seemed to me that Freddie viewd himshel as one standing from the crowd and apreciated people who had the streght to do it. In a song that is mostly a shot in the arm for someone who could kill himshelf in the process of over-achivement, the hole context in the lyrics :
"One day you'll be a sergeant major
Oh you'll be so proud
Screaming out your bloddy orders
Hey but not too loud
Polish all your shiny buttons
Dressed as lamb instead of mutton
But you never had to try
To stand out from the crowd",
...dosnt make that of a sense.
I think in a weird way Freddie in the middle of the song changes the meaning of in, in the exact opposite of what it was before. I mean come on... Freddie using a sergeant major who Screams out bloddy orders as a positive value or a vehicle for the listener to identify with...its odd. In that case i think he tells the story focusing in the dis-grace that is when people not give their all to something. The evidence are far from enough to guess Freddies value system.
The tricky thing here is that he used to apreciate both sides of the coin given the circumstances. One side embracing the humor, the irony, the relativity in things ( the DEDODEDE aspect of life, if you like), but with the danger of loose-up to the point of not trying enough, The other side embraces the detirmination, the gots to stand out, the grace that comes from someone respincible and focused ina goal but always with the danger of becoming stiff, dry, stupid, narrow minded in the process when all there is ( life) , is just a show that however MUST go on.
Oh my , i just realised that even this one THE SHOW MUST GO ON, sais the same thing in a way. Things are just a show, dont bother pretend its something more, but dont even think that it is not worthwhile. Its like doing something for the shake of it and not becouse you are enlightened and witnessed the real heavy meaning of things.
Sorry for my extremely lousy spelling.
Hmm do you mean a sergeant major in the literal sense? For that part he
switches out of falsetto, trots out the rough, iron-fist style familiar
from his 80s stage/vocal persona. It immediately makes you think of his
quasi-militaristic hold over the audience as his platoon, as though
using his success (based on this universal image of leadership & entire
arc of triumph that runs through a Queen show ending in WATC, typically)
as example (metaphor, whatever) to make his point. What that point is
up to each person...as you explained yours very nicely.
When you say the song turns half-way ironic I just link it to Life is Real, for some reason. Ostensibly an ode (in style) to Lennon but is really about getting caught up in the "trying so hard" of The Lifestyle, and being wryly (self-mocking)
complacent with the un-reality he's embraced - believing that's the only
way a life in music functions. At his level anyway.
TSMGO: I tend to view this as highly specific vehicle for a precise situation FM & entire Queen were in, at the time, using a very trite adage. It's the trite language that makes it relatable, including Celine Dion waffling on about struggling through finish-line of her own shows. What makes it "classic" of course is a difficult situation given an expression, by colleagues who stand together closely enough to make the damn song ("one last anthem for the ages!") happen. As such it wouldn't be as powerful with any other performer, in quite the same way. It's their life/song. (And nevermind how this adage has been easily stretched to, erm, accommodate a variety of business decision straying far from the song's specific context in time and place;P)