Handwritten notes by Queen frontman Freddie Mercury recommend that the legendary singer toyed with calling the band’s traditional hit “Mongolian Rhapsody” reasonably than “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
The revelation comes as a lot of Mercury’s former possessions are set to go up for public sale. Mary Austin, Freddie’s longtime good friend and companion, has determined to promote a number of of the objects she inherited from the Queen singer. Amongst them are early lyrics to “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
The notes have been hand-scribbled onto a notepad for British Midland Airways, an airline that started in 1964 and lasted till its acquisition by British Airways in 2012. Mercury seems to have been testing out numerous lyrics for his music concept. One web page options an assortment of phrases, together with “fandango,” “Figaro,” “thunderbolts and lighting” and “belladonna.”
Nonetheless, it is the phrase “Mongolian” crossed out and changed by “Bohemian” that has grabbed folks’s consideration. The New York Instances spoke to a number of Queen historians who had by no means earlier than heard of the choice title. Additionally they weren’t shocked.
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Mark Blake, creator of Is This the Actual Life?: The Untold Story of Queen, famous the band typically “had joke titles for issues.” Jim Jenkins, one in every of Queen’s official biographers, admitted he’d by no means heard of “Mongolian Rhapsody” however added that Mercury “by no means favored to elucidate” his lyrics or titles.
Launched in 1975, “Bohemian Rhapsody” would grow to be one in every of Queen’s defining songs, a sprawling operatic observe that is still one of the crucial well-known in rock historical past. Unsurprisingly, Mercury’s early drafts of the music are anticipated to fetch a excessive worth after they come to public sale in September. The notes are estimated to be price $1.5 million.
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A thread runs via all of it: a hard-won sense of individuality. Queen have been a band like no different.
