October 11, 1987

“Bohemian Rhapsody” is a song that broke all the rules, but it also broke all the records.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” is a song by a British rock band named Queen. The song’s plot is about a

man who accidentally kills someone and sells his soul to the devil. Freddie Mercury --the writer

of “Bohemian Rhapsody” -- left the listener to interpret the message of the song, which led to

many people believing that there is a hidden message in it. I believe the hidden message to be

this: it’s actually a coming out song for Mercury. He emphasizes his sexuality through imagery

and allusions.

Mercury used the song to let audiences know he was bisexual. This theme is presented

when “Bohemian Rhapsody” begins with Mercury using antithesis and anaphora, asking, “is

this the real life or is this just fantasy.” He feels confused and he’s in denial about the situation

he is in; it feels surreal to him. Mercury then uses imagery when discussing how he

metaphorically is destroying his former image: “Mama I just killed a man.” Then, Mercury goes

more into detail about how he killed this persona: “Put a gun against his head / pulled my trigger

now he’s dead.” Mercury rhymes and paints an image inside the listeners’ minds to show them

what he experienced. Now, Mercury is dead. He killed the heterosexual person he was before,

and also destroys the man that he was trying to be. Now he’s living like the person he was meant

to be. And, according to the movie, Freddie Mercury: The Ultimate Showman, Freddie

“reinvented himself” by literally killing his former image and changing his name from Farrokh

Bulsara to Freddie Mercury. But, even though Mercury killed his former self, he still sees “a

little silhouette of a man.” And the silhouette of a man is him -- his former self that is still
haunting him, according to gold1043.com, a website hosted by an Australian radio station.

Mercury then apologizes to his mother because he didn’t want to disappoint his mother by being

his true bisexual self:. “Mama, ooh, didn’t mean to make you cry.” This song came out in the

1970s, an era for women’s rights, gay rights, and environmental movements. During this time --

and still now -- it was a crime to even be an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community. This era could

have inspired Mercury to safely come out in this song.

The second verse begins with assonance, “too late, my time has come.” During this

verse, he emphasizes how’s he going to ruin his relationship with his partner at the time, Mary --

and possibly also his career -- because he’s coming out as bisexual. The verse shows how

ashamed Mercury was about his sexuality, especially with growing up in a religious family,

according to genius.com. In the third verse, Mercury uses a metaphor, which represents him as

the monster and pleads to neither “spare him” from a destructive life or the shame of being

perceived as a “monstrosity” -- which again is how members of the LGBTQ+ community were

perceived in the 1970’s. Furthermore, Mercury uses repetition and allusion when asking to be

released by Bismillah, which is the Arabic phase meaning “in the name of God.” He sings,

“Bismillah! No, we’ll not let you go / (Let him go!) / Bismillah! We will not let him go'. In

addition, Mercury uses allusion when he talks about Beelzebub, the prince of demons or the

devil in belief of the Zoroastrian religion. Mercury empathizes that, “Beelzebub has a devil put

aside for” him because he believes he committed such a bad sin by coming out as bisexual he

needs his own personal devil. This greatly impacts him because he grew up practicing the

Zoroastrian religion. Lastly, in the fourth verse Mercury expresses anger, and the tone of

Mercury’s voice becomes more hostile. To some, Mercury uses a hyperbole when he sings this
rhetorical question: “So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?” But, in my opinion he

did not. In the 1970’s and still now, people get harassed and even killed for their sexuality. This

line creates an idea and an image of the challenges someone could face if they came out in the

1970s and today.

Also, in Freddie Mercury: The Ultimate Showman they go on to talk about how Freddie

also expressed his sexuality in other songs like “Killer Queen” which he wrote about Eric Hall.

And, about whether or not the people close to Mercury think about the theory that he was coming

out. Their answer was “it’s a good theory, but I never had the chance to ask him.” But

regardless, Freddie Mercury’s hidden message spoke to many who knew that Mercury was

being sly and ironic when he famously sang, “nothing really matters.”

P.S. Google the title of this essay if you do not know this date!