Brian May ‘doesn’t know’ if Bohemian Rhapsody was Freddie Mercury coming out
Brian May. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Clear Channel)
Queen guitarist Brian May has responded to claims that Freddie Mercury included references to his sexuality in hit track Bohemian Rhapsody.
Biographer Lesley-Ann Jones had made the claim about the song last month – backed up by songwriter Tim Rice.
Rice claimed that the line “mama I just killed a man” refers to Mercury killing off his old self, while “Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he’s dead”, refers to the shedding of his former self for an out gay image.
However, Queen guitarist Brian May isn’t so sure.
He told the BBC: “What’s it about? None of us know.
“Freddie never talked about it to my knowledge and didn’t want to and that’s the way it should be.
“He had something in his mind and he loved to spin these little pieces of magic. A little bit of reality and little bit of fantasy.”
He added: “If anyone tries to unravel it, they’ll never manage it because they’ll never know what went into those lyrics.”
Mercury’s sexuality was the subject of speculation for some time, with some claiming that he kept it a secret, and others saying he spoke openly about it.
He died at his home in Kensington on 24 November 1991 from AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia.
Queen topped the UK singles chart for nine weeks with Bohemian Rhapsody in 1975. More than 2.5million copies of the single have been sold since it was first released.
