The main character is a young man that is suffering an internal conflict of existentialism. He has murdered a man and later attempts to commit suicide in order to alleviate his conscious. The first stanza of the song begins with melodramatic melody. The vocals resemble a fantasy, as if he were in a dream. The setting of the first part of the song is undefined, but he is laying down on the floor in the verge of dying; “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” he asks this rhetorical question to depict his attitude of confusion and delirium, he begins to doubt the reality of his situation which up to this point the audience still does not know. He continues explaining that he is “caught in a landside,” landslide can be interpreted in two different ways but both interconnecting with the main theme of the song. It can mean that gravity is pushing him down on a slope to misery or even to hell (foreshadowing the trial), it can also mean “a majority of votes for one side” which is also foreshadowing the trial where the demons want his soul to be punished. He claims that there is “no escape from reality,” stating that he wants to escape means that he feels trapped in reality which is the harsh truth and how he has to face consequences. He then shifts from having a rhetorical conversation into referring to a specific you, which later the audience finds out that he is speaking to his mother. He tells her to “open your eyes, look up to the skies and see; I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy” this is the first statement where the character contradicts himself for he refers himself as a “poor boy” but when he asks for no sympathy it just emphasizes that he has done something shameful. He justifies his statement by saying that he is “easy come, easy go; little high, little low. Any way the wind blows doesn’t really matter to me, to me” this perfectly exemplifies his existentialist attitude; this character is often compared to Albert Camus’s “The stranger” because of this.
There is a shift of tone form the first stanza to the second; the conversation is now directed to his mother specifically. “Mama, just killed a man,” he says this in a very apologetic tone, this is where he confesses what in the first stanza had him caught in a landslide. “Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he’s dead” he describes how he committed the murder; this causes the audience to realize that the character has gone from being a victim (poor boy) to a murderer. He continues to address his mother, “Mama, life had just begun, but now I’ve gone and thrown it all away,” he can be talking about how he threw his own life away or the life of the man he just killed. His mother is a symbol for the character’s need of acceptance, a mother is supposed to give unconditional love; she can also be a symbol for being his main source of guilt. The singer begins to build the intensity of his voice in the last few words of this sentence and the music begins to slightly change. This moves the mood from being calm and depressing to a more passionate sense of remorse. “Mama, ooh, didn’t mean to make you cry,” he knows that “mama” is suffering for his attempt to kill himself (which up to this point the audience still does not know) and by the fact that he has committed murder; this is why he tells her “If I’m not back again this time tomorrow, carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters.” This is the first time that he hints his suicide. By saying “if” the audience doubts whether or not he will commit suicide. The fact that he repeats that “nothing really matters” links back to his existentialism and how his life is not important to him either.
The intensity of his voice calms down once more as the third stanza begins. The mood returns to being apologetic but this time there is a hint of tragedy in his voice. “Too late, my time has come,” this is a declaration that he is about to die, the fatality of this sentence contributes to the beginning of the climax. He continues to describe how it “Sends shiver down my spine, body’s aching all the time,” the sleepless nights caused by guilt could be the reason why his body hurt, and the shivers are a common thing when a person is about to do something tragic (in this case, suicide). “Goodbye, everybody, I’ve got to go, got to leave you all behind and face the truth;” his punishment is the “truth” that he refers to in this last sentence. He refers to his mother one last time but there is a shift in his voice, there is a tone of desperation in where he says “Mama, ooh, I don’t want to die, I sometimes wish I’d never been born at all.” This is a major contradiction, he tells her that he does not want to die and yet he has attempted to commit suicide and is about to die. The audience begins to see how the character is not stable and how he is confused as to what he wants.
As Mercury sings the rising line "I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all," the band builds in intensity, leading up to a guitar solo by May that serves as the bridge from ballad to opera, it can also be the bridge from the living (reality) to the dead (fantasy). The music is an interpretation of his soul’s journey up to purgatory where the demons and saints will fight for his soul. “I see a little silhouette of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango,” the saints are introduced in this stanza. They see the main character for the first time and call him Scaramouche. Scaramouche is a theatrical character from the Italian form of theatre called “Comedia de’ll arte,” it was invented by Tiberio Fiorelli and the character is known for his cowardice. Fandango is a Spanish dance, all this implies is t hat they are mocking t he seriousness of the situation. The demons are introduced next, they enter the scene with “Thunder bolts of lighting, very, very fright’ning me,” the main character I has now been presented with the two sides that will be fighting for his soul. “(Galileo.) Galileo. (Galileo.) Galileo, (Galileo.) Figaro,” the battle between the saints and the demons has begun; the Galileos that are in parenthesis are said by the saints and then are answered by the demons. Galileo is a historical figure that is known for his astronomical and mathematical discoveries. (?) Figaro is another chracter form a “comedia de’ll arte” he is from the opera “Le Barbier de Séville;” this character is known for being a clever liar, moral and yet unscrupulous, good humored, brave but above all cynical, just like the main character has proven to be. Then the dialogue shifts from the demons and saints to the main character, he justifies himself by saying once more “Magnifico. I’m just poor boy nobody loves me.” This time however, he adds the phrase “nobody loves me” which can be linked to his existentialism and to his mother. The saints respond to this statement by defending him “He’s just a poor boy from a poor family, spare him his life from this monstrosity,” the “monstrosity” that they refer is his soul being possessed by the demons and living his life in hell for eternity. The character then interferes and pleads for his freedom, “easy come, easy go; will you let me go?” this moment is crucial to the characters’ development, he has shifted from the “nothing really matters” attitude to wanting his freedom and life. He tries to put the situation into his perspective and point of view by saying “easy come, easy go.” Freddy Mercury descends from a Muslim family, this could explain why he chose to allude to one of the gods of the religion; “Bismillah! No, we will not let you go.” These are the demons fighting to keep his soul, Bismillah means to “feel sympathy or pity” it can also mean “in the name of god.”


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First of all, i haven't finished the essay. I don't have an introduction or conclusion, this is because still didn't know where i was going with the essay. I made a mistake in dissecting the song line by line and analyzing every specific stanza. What i have to do to revise my paper is to first find my thesis statement, I have to find the argument that I'm going to make throughout the whole essay and then i have to incorporate the different factors of the song. Not only the lyrics but how do they affect the public now and h ow did they affect them in 1975 when this song was released. It is also important to talk more about the music and how it integrates with telling the story. The essay now seems very technical there is no flow with the words or sentences, i have to change it from being just lyrics analysis to a complete song analysis. Some ways of doing this is my looking at my other classmates essays and seeing how the structure should be, it is also important for me to do more research on the history of the song so i know how it affected the public and the reaction that it got in 1975.