“Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen is one of the strangest, most inspired and least-understood songs in the history of rock music. It manages to sound like a serious work of art, a moving lament and a moment of extreme silliness at the same time. Like all the best and most iconic song titles, “Bohemian Rhapsody” has generated its fair share of puns and references over the years.
There’s the drink Bohemian Raspberry, by the Jones Soda Company; the song “Rap, Soda and Bohemias” by the Mexican group Molotov and, in Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s book Good Omens, the devilish character Crowley plays it in his car constantly, even quoting the lyrics in times of trouble, most specifically “Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me…”
The actual meaning of the song as a whole remains opaque, on purpose.
Freddie claimed to have researched it quite thoroughly, saying: “Bohemian Rhapsody didn’t just come out of thin air.
“I did a bit of research, although it was tongue-in-cheek and it was a mock opera.
“Why not? I think people should just listen to it, think about it, and then make up their own minds as to what it says to them.”
In 2018 Amazon Prime documentary “Freddie Mercury: The King of Queen”, an interview with the band members takes place which led to a very revealing theory about one of their most iconic songs.
The interviewer revealed a fan sent a letter to Queen, questioning a particular lyric from their hit song Bohemian Rhapsody; “A kid writes me a letter about that and it said, ‘I study demonology and Satanic things, why do they use Beelzebub?’”
Freddie Mercury responds: “Why do we use it? it’s just a… I mean why do we use anything?
“It doesn’t necessarily mean I study demonology things.
“I just love… the word Beelzebub. Great word, isn’t it?”
The lyric from the song reads: “Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me!”
Beelzebub is one of the seven princes of Hell in Christian demonology.
The name derives from the ancient Hebrew word, Ba’al Zvuv, meaning “lord of the flies,” and is an alternate name for Satan.
