Bohemian Rhapsody
(Brian May)

Is this the real life,
Is this just fantasy.
Caught in a landslide,
No escape from reality.
Open your eyes,
Look up to the skies and see.
I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,
Because I’m easy come, easy go.
A little high, little low,
Anyway the wind blows, doesn’t really matter to me
To me.

Mama just killed a man,
Put a gun against his head.
Pulled my trigger, now he’s dead,
Mama, life had just begun.
But now I’ve gone and thrown it all away,
Mama ooo.
Didn’t mean to make you cry.
If I’m not back again this time tomorrow.
Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters.

Too late, my time has come,
Sends shivers down my spine.
Body’s aching all the time,
Goodbye everybody, I’ve got to go.
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth,
Mama ooo- (any way the wind blows).
I don’t want to die,
I sometimes wish I’d never been born at all.

I see a little silhouetto of a man,
Scaramouche, scaramouche will you do the Fandango.
Thunderbolt and lightning-very very frightening me,
Galileo Galileo.
Galileo Galileo,
Galileo figaro-Magnifico.
But I’m just a poor boy and nobody loves me,
He’s just a poor boy from a poor family.
Spare him his life from this monstrosity,
Easy come easy go-,will you let me go.
Bismillah! No-,we will not let you go-let him go,
Bismillah! We will not let you go-let him go.
Bismillah! We will not let you go-let me go,
Will not let you go-let me go.
Will not let you go let me go,
No,no,no,no,no,no,no.
Mama mia,mama mia,mama mia let me go,
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me,for me,for me.

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye,
So you think you can love me and leave me to die.
Oh baby-Can’t do this to me baby,
Just gotta get out-just gotta get right outta here.

Nothing really matters,
Anyone can see.
Nothing really matters-,nothing really matters to me,
Any way the wind blows....

Axl’s vocals in bold.



Performed by Axl with Elton John & Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute in London, England on April 20, 1992.

Axl's comments:
Axl - "When we did "Bohemian Rhapsody," that was unrehearsed. Brian asked me to do it that day, and it felt right. l spoke to Elton before the show, and he was kind of uneasy about meeting me, you know, I'm supposed to be the most homophobic guy on Earth. When we talked, l was excited, but serious, telling him how much his music meant to me. By the end he was like, "Whoa." Onstage l was trying to be as respectful to him as could. l was purposely vibing out, and if you look close, you can see it at times, how much love and respect I have for Elton. There was some heavy eye contact going down. It was amazing. MTV's John Norris kept saying, "This could be the last time you'll ever see Elton John and Axl Rose together onstage." Not if I have anything to do with it."

Other information
"Bohemian Rhapsody" was originally recorded by Queen in 1975.