| Mercuryworks 27.12.2004 21:05 |
i know this must have been asked a thousand times but what do you think it is about i think the song is about death. Because The beginning is about someone one seeing someone else's death and the operatic part is about someone experiencing death and the after life. and the last rock part is about someone surviving death Your Thoughts |
| Gunpowder Gelatine 27.12.2004 21:18 |
Honestly, we'll probably never know the true meaning of the song, but I don't think it's about death. The rock section doesn't seem to be about surviving death, but more about standing strong against something, be it his (Freddie's) sexuality or even his religion. And in the beginning, I think it's more of a symbolic death, not literally witnessing a death. I wish we knew what was going on in Freddie's head when he was writing Bohemian Rhapsody, but I think anybody who knows plans on taking it to the grave. |
| Melancholy Blues 28.12.2004 01:26 |
i think that if we knew what it was about we wouldn't love it as much. the whole idea of a good song is that we apply our own meaning to it and it becomes something different to every person. |
| Leech 28.12.2004 06:35 |
Modern art must not be interpreted but experienced (Susan Sontag dixit). |
| The Mir@cle 28.12.2004 07:04 |
the_hero wrote: Some say it's a song about death (maybe aids) could be a "I'm stoned let's write down what comes in my head) <---- then again that might be march of the black queen... But we all know it was meant to be 3 songs but sounded good enough for a single song. So it's very difficult to say what it was about, cause while writing a song you have to be in a certain mood. Ah well, enough rambling.It isn't about AIDS... can't be, because the disease wasn't discoved yet in the seventees. I don't know what's te meaning of Bo Rhap. I think the songs doesn't have a message. |
| deleted user 28.12.2004 08:01 |
I don't think you can find a meaning when there isn't one. Freddie always said he was fed up of people asking him this question, because he didn't know himself... |
| rachael mae. 28.12.2004 08:06 |
I agree that knowing the meaning might spoil the magic and beauty of the song. Personally, I think it's about Freddie struggling to come to terms with his sexuality. I think Roger himself said that the operatic bit was just a load of nonsense. |
| brENsKi 28.12.2004 10:21 |
and knowing what a song is about doesn't make it any "less great" fairy fellers masterstroke - being a case to point |
| The Fairy King 28.12.2004 10:54 |
Watch "Freddie's Loves" documentary! Phoebe explains it all! :) |
| deleted user 28.12.2004 11:09 |
Watch "Freddie's Loves" documentary! Does anyone have a copy of that for download because when it was on i was on holiday and missed it. I would love to see that. I don't really think Bohemain Rhapsody is really about anything. |
| The Fairy King 28.12.2004 11:10 |
It's on the hub! |
| deleted user 28.12.2004 11:11 |
What do you do on the hub. How do you become a member and download stuff etc. I'm not sure how to do it. |
| The Fairy King 28.12.2004 11:17 |
link |
| deleted user 28.12.2004 11:26 |
I've just joined. I'm awaiting an email back from them. Thanks Fairy King. |
| The Fairy King 28.12.2004 11:27 |
You're welcome :) See u on the hub! |
| englishyob 28.12.2004 14:56 |
I’m sure it started off life as three separate songs which Freddie didn’t finish so he stuck them together and hey presto Bohemian Rhapsody or something like that |
| Daburcor? 28.12.2004 18:43 |
Mercuryworks wrote: Meaning Of Bohemian RhapsodyEntertainment. |
| The Fairy King 28.12.2004 20:15 |
Dan "The Host" Corson wrote:You're sooo old ;)Mercuryworks wrote: Meaning Of Bohemian RhapsodyEntertainment. |
| Awesome-O _4000 28.12.2004 23:10 |
The song has clearly a deep & hidden meaning, but I believe it's SO |
| Awesome-O _4000 28.12.2004 23:11 |
(oops, sorry, where was I?) The meaning is SO |
| Awesome-O _4000 28.12.2004 23:13 |
damn, keep accidentally pushing enter. This TOTALLY distracts from what I'm trying to say. It's so deep that Freddie didn't understand it's himself. It's more an emotion than a message. Or a meaning that has no words so we do the best we can. Make sense??? |
| LadyMoonshineDown 28.12.2004 23:23 |
If you have to ask..... You'll never know. Freddie never asked even himself. So do you think he would know? Cheers p.s. Or maybe it is about something that will only keep us queenzoners guessing, eh? heh |
| Zander05 29.12.2004 00:53 |
I think this song just calls for people to take whatever message from it. Be it 'a drug trip' or 'paternal issues' 'struggling with his orientation' - whatever. Maybe this is the song where it's just best NOT to know. Who knows? |
| LadyMoonshineDown 29.12.2004 01:02 |
Good point Zander. I agree with thee. ;) Cheers |
| deleted user 29.12.2004 02:08 |
I really don't think it's important to know Freddie's meaning for BoRhap. I think, and Freddie apparently thought, that people should find their own meaning of song; find out what it means to them personally, not what the writer meant. I've seen many possible meanings of the song and really none of them are wrong, they just may not be Freddie's meaning of the song. I saw a quote from Freddie once where he lamented people asking him for the meaning of songs. He said something about them being lazy and needing to find their own meaning of it. *Just my 2 cents* |
| Lord Blackadder 29.12.2004 09:37 |
OMG |
| The Fairy King 29.12.2004 09:47 |
I think he got tired of the questions and i'm positive it was a very personal song for him. The Story Of Bohemian Rhapsody this Friday on BBC2 i think 10:40PM?? |
| vince73 29.12.2004 12:17 |
I think it´s some kind of "paternal issue" dialogue betwen a mother and his son. A son that´s fighting with the mother´s idea about his son. A son that kills that imaginary mom´s point of view and then the mother replies with anger" ... so you think you can love and leave to die..." Montserrat Caballe and Bruce Dickinson were close to this idea as they recorded the song as a duet. |
| Darling39 29.12.2004 12:47 |
Well, the meaning of the Rhapsody is in the emotion it conveys. The words won't tell you the meaning conclusively. You'll think you understand, then you'll hear another part that seems to conflict with the meaning you thought you found. The lyrics sometimes seem nonsensical, possibly they meant something to Freddie alone, possibly they have no meaning, they just "filled the empty spaces" Instead of directly communicating meaning in his lyrics, Freddie wrote out his emotions in the melodies and the harmonies. The lyrics sometimes give clues... like wishing he'd "never been born at all", and "I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me", but I don't think Mercury was comfortable with just directly saying, concretely, what he was thinking at the time. Like I said, it's in the music. Anyone knows that the first time they hear those Bb7 chords in the beginning... "Is this the real life?" Rock on! |
| Darling39 29.12.2004 13:01 |
Sorry. I just remembered. They were Bb6 chords. My god, what was I thinking? WHOLE different meaning there. :) |
| BlingCookie 29.12.2004 13:05 |
Maybe Freddie told Jim "Leech" Hutton about the meaning of the song, and what he is waiting for is just a briefcase with some million notes in it. Just Joking, Well, I think what the song is about a man who is rejected by society after killing someone else, or maybe that he is not rejected by society but also by himself, hence the operatic part which would be the voice of that man's conscience.Well, I know this sounds like shit but it's the only thing I can come up with. Cheers Peeps |
| LadyMoonshineDown 29.12.2004 15:14 |
I know what the meaning behind bohemian rhapsody is. But that doesnt nessicarily mean it is the universal meaning. Just what I had picked out on my own. Cheers |
| Spiderleg Synthia 30.12.2004 06:13 |
Something I noticed a while ago is that the lyrics correspond to the stages of the emotional trauma cycle: shock, denial, bargaining, anger and acceptance. VERY unusually for me, I don't even want to know the exact meaning, if Freddie didn't want to say (and he obviously didn't) It means more to me than if there were some archived interview somewhere with the answer. |
| markaw 30.12.2004 06:57 |
S'cuse me for butting in here, isn't a Bohemian someone who doesn't conform and lives a somewhat abstract and avant garde life? Embraces all possibilities and looks for different experiences? In my humble opinion fits Freddie and the life (even then) he chose. Having said all that phiosophical type stuff-probably agree with the : its what YOU intepret it to mean crowd. Ah well another Stella please..... |
| Little_Queenie 30.12.2004 08:09 |
Not again....... |
| QueenNewcastle 30.12.2004 10:20 |
who gives a f**k. that wot makes the song so gd, cos u dont know wot its on about |
| fred_is_my_name 30.12.2004 14:29 |
well freddies songs didnt really have a meaning, apparantly, (im reading his biography), he said that basically he just writes what gets into his head. maybe there was some war going on at that time or something, dunno, but its true, i guess we enjoy the song more if we dont kno exactly its true meaning |
| LakeSide 31.12.2004 05:59 |
Not saying BoRap is based on Albert Camus's "The Stranger" but a friend convinced me to read the book in 1976 after discussing this matter. Your mileage may vary. You may also want to read Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet" to find inspiration into some of Brian's songs. |
| gbostany 18.08.2009 13:54 |
The song seems to be about his finding out that he has AIDS and does not have much longer on this earth. "My mother pulled MY trigger" . Also demonstrates his fight between good and evil. He is scared to "say goodbye", but knows "its time to go" and is accepting of it! |
| Holly2003 18.08.2009 14:04 |
LakeSide wrote: Not saying BoRap is based on Albert Camus's "The Stranger" but a friend convinced me to read the book in 1976 after discussing this matter. Your mileage may vary. You may also want to read Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet" to find inspiration into some of Brian's songs. Never thought about that before. Good spot. |
| Holly2003 18.08.2009 14:08 |
gbostany wrote: The song seems to be about his finding out that he has AIDS Errrr.... no. gbostany wrote: "My mother pulled MY trigger" Errrr.... no. Carry on... |
| rhyeking 18.08.2009 14:55 |
It's just a song. Everyone loves to reading deep meaning into it because it's so serious-sounding and heavy. Freddie's gone on record saying he doesn't know what it's about. Lace a song with cryptic lyrics and implied wrong-doings, then add to that the songwriter's tragic death and you have a recipe for everyone saying "I know what it means! He's singing about [insert personal theory here]!" The song has whatever meaning you want to apply to it. That's why it remains popular nearly 35 years later. What amuses me the most is how people only select the lyrics that support their theory and disregard the lyrics which don't. My theory is that Freddie used lyrics that sound good together, not giving much or any thought to deeper meaning. The sounds of the words and the music were more important to him. Songs evolve and lyrics change in the songwriting. You rarely get songs appearing fully formed out of nothing. Sometimes, the writer has a definate message, but I really believe this isn't one of those times. |
| MmP 20.08.2009 01:21 |
fred_is_my_name wrote: well freddies songs didnt really have a meaning, apparantly, (im reading his biography), he said that basically he just writes what gets into his head. maybe there was some war going on at that time or something, dunno, but its true, i guess we enjoy the song more if we dont kno exactly its true meaning I agree, and especially with what Brian recently wrote in his box a few weeks ago. A musician not always writes about himself, but instead about a story that he likes. The writer just happens to put himself into the character. Besides that, I think BR has both. It has personal things of Freddie's life at that moment and also he just kept writting about it to go along with the song. I think the parts (espcially the first part before the opera) it's really about him finding out that he was homosexual. And how he felt a little bad about it. Or guilty. After that first part, in the opera section and the rock part he just kept playing along with that character he formed before, to complete the lyrics in the song. But it's just what I think maybe Im wrong. We should ask Roger who told on an interview that Freddie told him a little bit about it. |
| mike hunt 20.08.2009 17:37 |
we'll never know what this song is about, but in my view the song is about freddie coming out of the closet "mama Just killed a man" telling his mother to carry on as if nothing really matters. I think the ballad part of the song is deep. the middle part is Just for fun. |
| i-Fred 20.08.2009 19:26 |
The Fairy King wrote: Watch "Freddie's Loves" documentary! Phoebe explains it all! :) Fuck Pheobe, they are all cashing in in poor old Fred. |
| Sheer Brass Neck 20.08.2009 20:23 |
I think it's obviously about something, what I don't know. I never knew what Lily of the Valley was about until last year and would never have guessed the subject matter unless Brian revealed it. Upon listening it's medieveal mumbo jumbo about kings and horse and the mythical Seven Seas of Rhye. |
| Through the eons... 20.08.2009 21:40 |
Perhaps Freddie had his first homosexual encounter in boarding school. "just killed a man, put a gun against his head, pulled the trigger now he's dead": participated in the unthinkable sexual act, killing the heterosexual he was expected to be. Gun, head, trigger.....all symbols of the bad deed. "life had just begun": means he was very young dealing with this perplexing experience. "if I'm not back again this time tomorrow": confused about the fact that he enjoyed gay sex and had doubts he could abstain from it in the future. "gotta leave you all behind and face the truth": Freddie feared how his family, friends, and fans would react if they found out. "a little silhoueto of a man, will you do the fandango? Thunderbolt and lightning": an adult with whom he had his first gay relation, frightening and confusing. "Galileo" : under the night sky. You can fill in the blanks with the rest. Mostly Freddie was coming to terms with the fact that he had chosen to live as a gay man and he wasn't going to let anyone worry about him, judge him, nor try to change him. |
| Paulos 21.08.2009 04:51 |
Freddie once told Kenny Everrett what the song was about and Kenny later let on that Freddie told him it was just a bunch of random gobbledegook put together. I think this sounds the monst plausable explanation, looking at most of Freddies work he didnt exactly add much depth to his songs, and i always laught at people trying to analyse and debate each line of Bohemian Rhapsody. |
| Holly2003 21.08.2009 05:54 |
Paulos wrote: Freddie once told Kenny Everrett what the song was about and Kenny later let on that Freddie told him it was just a bunch of random gobbledegook put together. I think this sounds the monst plausable explanation, looking at most of Freddies work he didnt exactly add much depth to his songs, and i always laught at people trying to analyse and debate each line of Bohemian Rhapsody. You "laught" at them? What does that involve? Anyway, clearly the message of BoRap is "Be Yourself"... |
| catqueen 21.08.2009 08:02 |
Brian normally says he doesnt know what its about, and would never ask, etc, etc, but once he mentioned very briefly something about knowing at least something of what its about, but never said what it was. I think the meaning is possibly found more in the emotion of the song, rather then in analysing the lyrics alone. Maybe it started out with a meaning and as the song progressed the meaning became more obscured. If you look at Its a Hard Life the music sounds so happy, the video is obscure and dificult to interpret at times, but if you take the whole together it has a deeper emotional meaning. The ornamentation on it lessened the serious heavy and sometimes sad lyrics, and made it an emotional song without being explicitly miserable. Freddie was a private person, he probably wouldn't have wanted everyone knowing his deepest feelings and thoughts, esp if they were difficult. One Vision is another example of a song that had a meaning originally, but got changed almost beyond recognition. Breakthrough also has a serious meaning hidden in a love story. I've wondered if the person killed in BoRhap could possibly be Mary Austin, or a symbol of everyone he feared upsetting, hurting or losing either by coming out or by following his rock dream which would distance him from general society to a point. The fear that people wouldn't understand, the anger about rejection and anger at himself for letting some family and friends down. But i think it refers to more then simply being gay, it must have been several etremely difficult and painful things in his life that were closing in on him. Just my opinion, anyway. |