Unearthed Freddie Mercury lyrics reveal original title of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'
They're expected to fetch £800,000 to £1.2 million at auction
Freddie Mercury’s never-before-seen handwritten lyrics for Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' have revealed the song’s surprising original title.
The lyrics are part of Freddie Mercury’s largely unseen private collection from his beloved London home, Garden Lodge in Kensington, which will go on display in London this summer ahead of an auction at Sotheby’s in September.
Freddie bought Garden Lodge with his long-term friend Mary Austin, and he left the property to Austin in his will.
Written in black and blue ballpoint pen and pencil, the early draft for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was penned by Freddie in 1974 across 15 pages of stationery from the now defunct British Midland Airways.
One page reveals that Mercury originally planned to call the song ‘Mongolian Rhapsody’, before crossing out Mongolian and replacing it with ‘Bohemian’.
Another page reveals that the line “Mama, just killed a man” was going to have a wartime narrative of “Mama, There’s a war began, I’ve got to leave tonight.”
Elsewhere, Freddie’s scribblings for the operatic section ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ include the words and phrases “Galileo,” “Fandango,” “Scaramouche” and “Thunderbolts and lightning” that were used in the final track, alongside unused words “Matador” and “Belladonna.”
The lyrics are expected to fetch between £800,000 and £1.2 million when they go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London in September.
Dr. Gabriel Heaton, Sotheby’s Books & Manuscripts Specialist, comments: "Thanks to the sheer complexity of the music to Bohemian Rhapsody, and especially its unusual and varied structure, the song rests especially heavily on its lyrics to lend its coherence.
“In these pages we see Freddie Mercury wrestling in grand operatic terms with profound themes – sin, damnation, stoic acceptance – and witness the great efforts he goes to pinpointing precisely the right words to embody these emotions, and to create the most extraordinary narrative.
“Quite unlike anything that had been released before, Bohemian Rhapsody was the band’s greatest risk, which swiftly became their greatest hit.”
Other handwritten lyrics up for auction include ‘Somebody To Love’, ‘Don't Stop Me Now’, ‘Bicycle Race’, ‘If You Can't Beat Them’, ‘Killer Queen’, ‘Love of my Life’ and ‘We Are the Champions.’
Featuring more than 1,500 items including stage costumes, handwritten lyrics, fine and decorative arts, Japanese art, precious objects and a trove of personal belongings, the contents of Garden Lodge will go on display at a month-long exhibition in a 16,000 square foot space at Sotheby’s in London called Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own.
The main exhibition takes place from 4th August to 5th September 2023 following smaller touring exhibitions at Sotheby’s in New York, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong. After the public display, the lots will go under the hammer at six separate auctions in early September.
Items include Freddie Mercury’s handwritten manuscript working lyrics to Queen’s ‘We Are The Champions’ (estimate £200,000–300,000), Freddie’s iconic crown and accompanying cloak (estimate £60,000–80,000), and the legend’s 1975 Martin D-35 Acoustic Guitar (estimate £30,000–50,000).
Elsewhere, there’s an 1880 painting by James Jacques Tissot called Type of Beauty (estimate £400,000–600,000), a Fabergé gem-set (estimate £30,000–50,000) and the singer’s favourite waistcoat (£5,000–7,000).
Mary Austin will be donating a portion of the proceeds of the sale to both the Mercury Phoenix Trust and to the foundation of one of Freddie’s greatest friends, the Elton John Aids Foundation.
Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own exhibition and auction highlights:
Freddie Mercury’s favourite waistcoat
Worn in his final video 'These Are The Days Of Our Lives', 1991. The silk panels of red, green and purple are each hand painted with one of Freddie's cats, Delilah, Goliath, Oscar, Lily, Romeo and Miko.
Estimate £5,000–7,000
Freddie Mercury’s crown and accompanying cloak
The items are made from fake fur, red velvet and rhinestones, made by his friend and costume designer Diana Moseley, thought to be loosely modelled on the coronation crown of the United Kingdom. Indelibly linked to Mercury, they were worn for the finale rendition of "God Save The Queen" during his last tour with Queen, 'The Magic Tour', which ended with their very last live show together, at Knebworth in 1986.
Estimate £60,000–80,000
Freddie Mercury’s crown
A close-up of the grown, which is up for auction alongside Freddie's cloak.
A lavish ceremonial military-style jacket created for Freddie Mercury’s legendary 39th Birthday Party Drag Ball, Munich, 5 September, 1985.
An ornate jacket of black silk and velvet with large extravagantly fringed silver-metal epaulettes and imitation medals, in the style of "Sergeant Pepper", the fashion popular when Mercury ran his Kensington Market stall. Mercury had his decadent, raucous 39th birthday party filmed for the video of his solo single 'Living On My Own'. Banned by the BBC at the time, the video was not released in its entirety until 1993.
Estimate £10,000–15,000
Freddie Mercury with Jane Seymour
Freddie also wore the jacket to Fashion Aid at the Royal Albert Hall, where he appeared as a flamboyant groom at a mock wedding to Jane Seymour.
Pink star-shaped glasses.
Freddie Mercury appeared wearing a similar dark pair in the video for 'We Will Rock You' in 1977.
Estimate £2,000–4,000
Freddie Mercury’s 1975 Martin D-35 Acoustic Guitar
In its original case, photographed here in his dressing room at Garden Lodge. While best known as a pianist, Mercury was a proficient guitarist too. It is believed this guitar was used to write and record the hit single 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' in Munich in 1979, the only Queen hit known to have been written and recorded by Mercury on guitar.
Estimate £30,000–50,000
Freddie Mercury’s 1980s vintage bakelite cream rotary telephone,
Freddie Mercury kept the telephone at his bedside.
Estimate £2,000–4,000
Freddie Mercury’s 1980s vintage bakelite cream rotary telephone,
The telephone at Garden Lodge.
A classic Fabergé gem-set, nephrite and enamel desk clock
Circa 1908-17, the Fabergé clock had pride of place in Freddie Mercury's bedroom. An exquisite piece from the legendary Russian jeweller, this was bought at Sotheby's in Switzerland, and he kept it with the marked-up auction catalogue close by.
Estimate £30,000–50,000
A tiny Tiffany & Co. silver moustache comb
Late 20th century, the moustache comb would have easily fitted inside Freddie Mercury's wallet.
Estimate £400–£600
An Art Nouveau glass vase-lamp (c. 1905), by Daum
Daum is one of the finest producers of art deco glass, and the lamp has a bespoke tasselled shade made by Freddie Mercury himself. This lamp was placed in his sitting room - a space effervescent with colourful and rare pieces.
Estimate £2,000–3,000
James Jacques Tissot, Type of Beauty (1880)
The last work of art Freddie Mercury bought. The painting, which hung in his drawing room, depicts Tissot's muse and mistress Kathleen Newton – the woman whose beauty helped him establish his artistic standing, but whose background as an Irish Catholic divorcée, whom he moved into his home, scandalised and ruined his reputation in society.
Estimate £400,000–600,000
Erté watercolour gifted by Elton John
Downstairs in Garden Lodge hung eleven watercolours by Erté, including this one gifted by his close friend, Elton John. Erté was the supremo of the Art Deco era, known for his opulent set and costume designs for the opera, and a flamboyant style perfectly befitting Mercury's own. Ballet and opera would be key influences for Mercury's music and style across his career.
Estimate £2,000–3,000
Erté watercolour prints
Sudden Shower over the Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake (1857) by Utagawa Hiroshige
Utagawa Hiroshige had a profound influence on the Impressionist artists. In the months prior to acquiring this work, Mary Austin had attended a Sotheby's auction in the hope of purchasing a different impression of the same print, but after being outbid, Mercury then made it his mission to find another on his next trip to Japan.
Estimate £30,000–50,000
Henri Matisse’s Masque blanc sur fond noir
In Freddie Mercury's luminescent yellow dining room, Henri Matisse's Masque blanc sur fond noir hung side by side with works by Marc Chagall and Georges Braque.
Estimate £3,000–5,000
Pablo Picasso’s portrait of his wife, Jaqueline au chapeau noir
The Pablo Picasso painting hung in Freddie Mercury's kitchen at Garden Lodge.
Estimate £50,000–70,000
'Bohemian Rhapsody' lyric sheets
Written in black and blue ballpoint pen and pencil, the early draft for 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was penned by Freddie in 1974 across 15 pages of stationery from the now defunct British Midland Airways.One page reveals that Mercury originally planned to call the song 'Mongolian Rhapsody', before crossing out Mongolian and replacing it with 'Bohemian'.
Estimate: £800,000 - £1.2 million