Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody Meaning

Song Released: 1975

Covered By: Panic! At The Disco (2016), Pentatonix (2017)

Bohemian Rhapsody Lyrics

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go
Little high, little low
Any way...

1. anonymous

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   Apr 30th 2011 !⃝

   its so easy to interpret a song in many different and justifiable ways. you can try to interpret a song line by line or word for word. me i just want to "discover" why the song was written, i think thats the most interesting part.
   this song seems like a political song to me. basically i get the sense that it is about the death penalty in bohemia. from the title itself, Bohemian Rhapsody. I mean if this was just a random rhyming words according to freddie - why the title?
   Bohemia is quite a historical place. It was only in the 1990's that the Death penalty was abolished over there.
   The lyrics are pretty much straightforward. feels like they mean exactly what they say.. at the operatic part of the song, i actually feel like freddie was painting a picture of a courtroom where this italian guy awaits judgement after commiting murder and the jury is torn in the middle: "we will not let you go! Let him go!)
2. anonymous

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   Apr 29th 2011 !⃝

   This is about the confronting fears of a young man succumbing to homosexuality.
3. anonymous

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   Apr 28th 2011 !⃝

   I think that the song has many meanings and to everyone it means something different. The whole point of the song is to sound good and mysterious. It may be about suicide, murder, God's judgement, AIDS (though I doubt it), death, victims, or have no real meaning at all. It's an amazing song, so just appreciate it and all it's glory. No one's analysis is wrong completely.
   
   But, despite all that I just wrote, I have my own analysis on Bohemian Rhapsody.
   
   Beginning: somber, alone, most likely in his jail cell with thoughts running through his head.
   
   Beginning/middle: maybe he is allowed to speak to his mother and he does so, telling her that he is sorry for everything.
   
   Middle: all these thoughts, the murdered person's friends and family against the boy's friends and family, trying to convince the guards to let him go. Meanwhile, a much bigger argument is taking place between God and Devil.
   
   Middle/end: I imagine this as a fight to get free against HHS guards, and him renewed with energy.
   
   End: returns to somber sadness and alone feeling.
   
   Queen forever!
4. anonymous

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   Apr 24th 2011 !⃝

   Wow.I could be wrong, but I always thought this song was written about a murder (that may not have even really happened) through the eyes of a schizophrenic. Let me explain:
   
   Part 1
   
   "Is this the real life-
   Is this just fantasy" etc.
   
   Schizophrenics often have difficulty determining between reality and fantasy, hence the above.
   
   Part 2
   
   "Mama, just killed a man," etc.
   
   He is telling his mother what he thinks happened. He could be right, or simply delusional.
   
   Part 3
   
   "I see a little silhouette of a man," etc.
   
   These are the voices in his head. They are arguing about him, if he is worthy or not, etc.
   
   
   Maybe I'm wrong, but that is the interpretation I got. Perhaps the voices told him to kill someone. Maybe he didn't kill anyone at all, and the whole thing is imagined. I don't know. I didn't write the song. I hope this helped somebody. Thanks.
5. anonymous

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   Apr 22nd 2011 !⃝

   The song is just about a man who has commited murder and he's going to jail. He says mama I JUST killed a man, so he is not going for death row.
6. anonymous

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   Apr 22nd 2011 !⃝

   well, im rather young and have just recently discovered this song and i love it :) and i agree with majority of the people who stated that the meaning could be...a poor man that has killed someone, confessed it to his mother and now stand trial. he is sorry for what he did and expressed his remorse, but the outcome is the same, he stands trial and is set for execution. but im still wondering..why did he kill that "man"? with the verse where he's all mad and says something about spitting in his eye...it was directed towards someone. maybe the very person who asked him to commit the murder. he was very poor right, so maybe someone hired him to kill the man in exchange for money. so, he did it, was caught, had to go on trial, and the guy who put him up to it in the first place ratted him out.this would explain why the fact that he was poor is emphasized in the song so many time. i'm not sure though, just wanted to take a chance at discovering what it could mean because when i first heard it (a few weeks ago) i knew it had to mean something. it's a beautiful piece of art.
7. anonymous

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   Apr 17th 2011 !⃝

   Song's about when he first found out he had contracted the HIV/AIDS virus. No one really knows when that was.
8. anonymous

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   Apr 6th 2011 !⃝

   Freddie Mercury was actually an Indian and in the process of becoming a rockstar he killed that part of himself, the attribute of himself(the man talked about, who is being killed).We also know that Freddie died due to AIDS and he kept that thing hidden. So here he is addressing his mother and talking about how he is gonna die.Then follows this discourse with the world (will you let me go ?).The song is about Freddie Mercury knowing that death is coming towards him, and that nothing can change that.But the little time he had, he could make the best of it. That's the way it is
9. Michael Dawson

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   Apr 5th 2011 !⃝

   "Scaramuche Scaramuche, will you do the fandango"
   
   Scaramuche is a clown. Fandango is a dance
   
   It is probably the executors saying to him to entertain the clown to calm them down over the hustling and fussling.
10. anonymous

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    Apr 1st 2011 !⃝

    he didn't die from execution, first of all, he died from aids. and second of all, the song is about coming out to his parents that he is gay.
11. anonymous

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    Mar 29th 2011 !⃝

    Bohemian Rhapsody is the story of a boy committing murder, and him going through different phases of mind. Sure, IT MAY JUST BE A METAPHOR FOR SOMETHING BIGGER, you never know. Freddy Mercury said that it was all just gibberish, but I think that he just said that to capture people's attention. It has at least SOME real life feeling, don't you think?
    
    I think at the part where it goes "Scaramouch, Scaramouch, will you do the fandango" it means that his jailers are making fun of him, laughing at him, and teasing him.
    Now some people had a way better analysis for this song, which in my view is the best song of all time, but I just thought that I'd put my ideas out there.
12. anonymous

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    Mar 27th 2011 !⃝

    AIDS, in 1975 not a single damn person knew about AIDS. Only a person with two brain cells that hate each other are saying that he was talking about AIDS.
13. anonymous

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    Mar 24th 2011 !⃝

    You're wrong. I think its about aids.. think about it.. queen being an all gay band "any way the wind blows" he has apparently given aids to someoneso he has " put a gun against his head pulled my trigger now he's dead." Causght in a landslide, aids is a landslide there is no way out. Body's acheing all the time, cause slowly being killed by aids. THINK about it.. listen to the song and think about it.
14. anonymous

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    Mar 23rd 2011 !⃝

    i once read it was about AIDS and unprotected sex... he is confessing that he had sex while knowing he had AIDS and "put a gun against his head,
    pulled my trigger,now he’s dead,
    mama,life had just begun,
    but now i’ve gone and thrown it all away-" they are all still alive..but also dead...
    and "gun" etc. is a reference to..well you get the picture ;)
15. anonymous

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    Mar 21st 2011 !⃝

    This song is definetly not about AIDS. This song is about a man who kills another one, and then realizes what he did and the lessons in life.
    
    He is experiencing grief, and confusion after the crime. He isn't sure what to do after murderring a person. He becomes insecure, sad, shocked, and angry. His mother is shunning him, and he doesn't know where to go, or what to do.
    
    He considers suicide, because he feels that he doesn't have a place. He then decides against it because God and the devil won't accept him. He finally hits rock-bottom, but picks himself back up, and realizes what's done is done, and he can't control his fate. He realizes that there is a plan for him, and he just has to go with it. This song is brilliant.

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