Rolling Stone is marking the 50th anniversary of Queen’s iconic song “Bohemian Rhapsody” with a special interview with the band’s Brian May and Roger Taylor. The duo talk about the beginnings of the song, and even touch on what, if anything, Freddie Mercury is singing about.
Regarding their first impressions of the song, Taylor notes, “We thought, ‘Well, this is kind of ridiculous, so let’s go.’ We really enjoyed the silliness of it.” He adds that Mercury wrote “a fairly intense, ruminative song. And then we put all these amazingly daft bits in the middle.”
“So many people have been wondering, ‘What’s the secret meaning?'” he shares. “I’m not sure there is one.”
But the band’s manager, John Reid, doesn’t agree and seems to think Mercury was singing about his sexuality.
“I think that’s the key to it,” Reid says, “and a little bit of self-doubt, and the fact that he could never be that open to his parents.”
Elsewhere in the article, May and Taylor discuss Queen’s future, revealing they’ve tried to make music with current frontman Adam Lambert.
“Nothing really materialized so far,” May tells Rolling Stone. “Some things are meant to be and some things are not.”
But even without new music, Taylor says, “I don’t think we’re done.” He insists they won’t do a farewell tour “’cause it never is, is it?”
And it sounds like Queen’s future may include a Las Vegas residency some day.
“ I’m very keen on the Sphere. It’s got my mind working,” May says. “I sat there watching the Eagles, thinking, ‘We should do this. The stuff that we could bring to this would be stupendous.’ So, yeah, I would like to do it. We’re having conversations.”
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