Sartre, Kafka, Queen?
It dawned on me how clever Queen really were... Innuendo was more of an epic than most people suspect.
The entire album deals with existentialism, a theme not usually incorporated in rock music. This mostly had to do with Freddie's health... his life was at feared at stake and the thoughts lingering on about his detriorating health had them wondering... where do we go from here?
The title track is about the battle of understanding the truth about oneself... "you can be anything you want to be...be free with your tempo" and the only way to achieve that is to "surrender your ego". It's the weight of unsanswered questions, making the mind feel helpless... "if there's an answer to the questions we feel bound to ask...show yourself, destroy our fears"... but there never will be, so you have to deal with it, and the only way is to agree that "whatever will be - will be". Brilliant.
We're then brought forward to the mind of a mad man, a man coping with his darkest fears, coping with his death. "I'm Going Slightly Mad" is Freddie's way of dealing with the stress of not knowing what will happen to him as he steps out of reality and into mortality...The only way to deal with it, is to deny it..."I'm going slightly mad" Very tragic state of mind.
Headlong, actually has some credibility, besides it being a heavy rock song. It's about life's contradictions and people not knowing how to face them. Yet we still blindly rush into the unknown..."And you think you're so strong but there ain't no stopping and there's nothing you can do about it"
Then we have "All God's People". What do you do when you can't understand what life is really all about. You feel alone and look for something to protect you... you look to religion. The feeling that there is someone watching out for us, and large group of people to gather with to believe it.
These are the days of our lives. Looking back on life's regrets, what we did, and where to go to next.
And "The Show Must Go On". An incredible masterful work that hold the album and the Queen legacy in all about 4 and half minutes. "Does anybody know what we are looking for" Searching for a meaning to it all, why do we live when we have to do die, and why do we just accept it? Does life after death exist? "Empty spaces, what are we living for-abandoned places, i guess we know the score" But eventually, we have to believe in something "My makeup may be flaking but my smile still stays on" and in that trust in ourselves is what holds us together until the bitter end...because we have a choice...we have the choice to fight, and "find the will to carry on" The greatest thing we can accomplish is to take in our pride, leave the ego behind, and walk into what was once our greatest fear... not knowing where we might end up next... and Freddie showed just that by singing what was initially perceived to be his final vocal... "The Show Must Go On".
I just felt like rambling... had a rough week of exams... this is my take on Innuendo.