Queen classic was almost named Mongolian Rhapsody

Since Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody entered the charts in 1975, many have wondered what Freddie Mercury was on about. New clues have now been found.

Freddie Mercury with the other members of Queen.

Since Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody entered the charts in 1975, critics have wondered what Freddie Mercury was on about. Now new clues to the meaning of a rock classic have been found in a newly unearthed draft.

This shows that Mercury toyed with calling the song Mongolian Rhapsody.

The handwritten draft is among 1500 Mercury items being auctioned in September by Sotheby’s on behalf of his friend and heir Mary Austin, 72. The collection has been kept in Mercury’s west London home since his death in 1991.

Among the 15 pages of early drafts for Bohemian Rhapsody, on one page Mercury wrote the words Mongolian Rhapsody near the top but crossed the first word out and added Bohemian above it.

In the final version of the song, a verse begins with the lines: Mama/Just killed a man/Put a gun against his head/Pulled my trigger, now he’s dead. However, in an earlier draft, Mercury wrote: There’s a war began/I’ve got to leave tonight (Thursday)/I’ve got to stand and fight.

The word Mongolian appears nowhere else in the drafts, which are estimated to be worth £1.2m ($2.3m).

Ms Austin will donate part of the proceeds of the sale to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, a charity founded by the surviving members of Queen to fund global HIV/Aids initiatives, and the Elton John Aids Foundation.

THE TIMES