Next month will mark half a century since the release of Bohemian Rhapsody and with that in mind, Brian May and Roger Taylor have given a lengthy interview to Rolling Stone in which they talk about the song’s genesis and debate its still contested meaning.
Bohemian Rhapsody was the culmination of a particularly progressive period in rock’s development, when bands were afforded time to experiment and slather overdubs over a single track, and there was still a sense of progression in the medium, and, Roger Taylor adds, “you actually had to be good at your instrument – that doesn’t seen to be a necessary requisite these days.”
The single was at that point the most stunning example yet of the layered harmonies which became a Queen trademark. May explains that was something they took from the Beatles, particularly the Abbey Road track, Because: “We were transfixed,” he says. “I can feel the shivers going up my spine.
"We thought ‘Oh, my God, that has to be the most daring piece of pure harmony we’ve never heard.” But for May and Taylor it was more than just that one track. “It was everything the Beatles did,” he emphasises. “We were able to sort of take up where the Beatles left off.”
And then there was the gong. “I remember Led Zeppelin had a gong,” says Taylor. “So we had a much bigger gong. Pathetic one-upmanship, really.”
But what is Bohemian Rhapsody actually about? The magazine interviewed John Reid, then-manager of both Queen and Elton John (he was Elton’s lover for a while). Reid is convinced it’s about Freddie coming to terms with being gay, especially the line ‘Gotta leave it all behind and face the truth’.
“I think that’s the key to it,” he says, “and a little bit of self-doubt, and the fact that he could never be that open to his parents.”
Roger Taylor, though, is unsure and says he still doesn’t know what the song which created his (and the band’s) career is all about: “So many people have been wondering, ‘What’s the secret meaning?’ I’m not sure there is one.”
