The working title of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was ‘The Cowboy Song.’ Freddie Mercury had been working on lines for the song as far back as the late ‘60s.

Mercury wrote the song in bed.

It was recorded in 6 different studios.

180 overdubs were used in the final recording. The process took weeks and weeks.

The line“Mamma mia let me go,” was ironically the line from the song “Mamma Mia” by ABBA that ended the #1 streak for “Bohemian Rhapsody” in the UK.

Brian May says “Freddie’s piano playing was exceptional, although he didn’t think so. In fact, he thought he was a bit of a mediocre player and stopped doing it later on in our career.” Luckily he busted out that famous riff before he gave it up.

He used the same piano that Paul McCartney used for ‘Hey Jude.’

The opera section alone took 3 weeks, the amount of time it took for most rock albums to be completed.

Roger Taylor locked himself in the tape closet during recordings.

Their record label said the song was too long to release. DJ Kenny Everett in the UK and Paul Drew in the US began playing it on the radio and forced the label’s hand in both countries. Everett did say it was long, but then had a change of heart, saying “Forget it, it could be half an hour long, it’s going to be number one for centuries!”

It was the only song that won Queen an MTV Video Music Award. In 1992, a year after Freddie Mercury had died from complications from the AIDS virus, MTV awarded them “Best Video From A Film” for the song.

In the end, what does it all mean? Freddie simply said, “It means whatever you want it to mean.”