“Bohemian Rhapsody” is one of rock’s most complex and celebrated masterpieces, known for defying 1970s radio standards and pioneering the modern music video.

The “Cowboy Song”: Freddie Mercury began writing fragments of the song as early as the late 1960s. He initially referred to it as “The Cowboy Song” because of the line “Mama, just killed a man”.

Handwritten drafts from 1974 reveal Mercury originally considered the title “Mongolian Rhapsody” before crossing it out for “Bohemian”. Recording began on August 24, 1975, and took three weeks to complete across five different studios. The “opera section” alone required over 180 vocal overdubs.

The band layered so many tracks that the 24-track analog tape became nearly transparent from being run over the recording heads. Record executives originally refused to release the song as a single because its 5-minute and 55-second runtime was deemed too long for radio.

The Kenny Everett Buzz: Mercury gave a copy to DJ Kenny Everett, who played it 14 times in one weekend, sparking massive public demand that forced the label to release it.

Shot in just four hours for £4,500, the official music video was created so the band could “appear” on Top of the Pops while on tour. It is now credited with launching the MTV era.  It is the only song to have topped the UK Christmas charts twice (1975 and 1991) and saw a massive US resurgence in 1992 after being featured in the film Wayne’s World.

Many scholars, including Sheila Whiteley, interpret the “killing a man” metaphor as Mercury “killing” his past heterosexual self to embrace his identity as a bisexual/gay man.

References like “Bismillah” (Arabic for “in the name of God”) and “Beelzebub” may reflect Mercury’s struggle with his Zoroastrian upbringing.  Others view it as a surrealist “mock opera” or a story about a man on death row reflecting on a senseless crime.