Mongolian Rhapsody? Newly unearthed writing draft reveals original title for Queen hit | Queen

An early draft of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody to be auctioned at Sotheby’s reveals a different working title for the 1975 hit previously unknown to the band’s fans and scholars.

On one page of 15 pages of early drafts for the rock opera, songwriter Freddie Mercury wrote the words “Mongolian Rhapsody” near the top – but crossed out the first word and wrote “Bohemian” above it, the New York Times reports.

The draft is among a cache of Mercury’s belongings – including his furniture, stage costumes and drafts for other Queen hits such as Somebody to Love, We Are the Champions and Killer Queen – being sold by his friend and heir Mary Austin, who in April told the BBC that she was doing so in order to get her “affairs in order”.

The lyrics to Bohemian – or Mongolian – Rhapsody are written on stationery from the defunct airline British Midland, among doodles by Mercury. In 1976, Mercury said that in the early stages of writing the song, “I almost rejected it, but then it grew.” The drafts are estimated to be worth £1.2m.

A number of Queen biographers told the New York Times that they were not previously aware of this working title.

The Bohemian Rhapsody draft also reveals an early version of another verse. Rather than “Mama, just killed a man / Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he’s dead”, it goes:

Mama

There’s a war began

I’ve got to leave tonight

I’ve got to stand and fight

Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor declined to comment about the discovery.

Bohemian Rhapsody was the lead single from Queen’s fourth album, A Night at the Opera. It initially spent nine weeks at UK No 1, and a further five after Mercury’s death in 1991. In the US, it peaked at No 9 on its original release, but rose to No 2 in 1992 after being prominently featured in the film Wayne’s World.

It remains the UK’s third biggest-selling single of all time – certified four-times platinum – ranked at No 17 in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, and in 2018 gave the Bryan Singer-directed Mercury biopic its title.

An early draft of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody to be auctioned at Sotheby’s reveals a different working title for the 1975 hit previously unknown to the band’s fans and scholars.

On one page of 15 pages of early drafts for the rock opera, songwriter Freddie Mercury wrote the words “Mongolian Rhapsody” near the top – but crossed out the first word and wrote “Bohemian” above it, the New York Times reports.

The draft is among a cache of Mercury’s belongings – including his furniture, stage costumes and drafts for other Queen hits such as Somebody to Love, We Are the Champions and Killer Queen – being sold by his friend and heir Mary Austin, who in April told the BBC that she was doing so in order to get her “affairs in order”.

The lyrics to Bohemian – or Mongolian – Rhapsody are written on stationery from the defunct airline British Midland, among doodles by Mercury. In 1976, Mercury said that in the early stages of writing the song, “I almost rejected it, but then it grew.” The drafts are estimated to be worth £1.2m.

A number of Queen biographers told the New York Times that they were not previously aware of this working title.

The Bohemian Rhapsody draft also reveals an early version of another verse. Rather than “Mama, just killed a man / Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he’s dead”, it goes:

Mama

There’s a war began

I’ve got to leave tonight

I’ve got to stand and fight

Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor declined to comment about the discovery.

Bohemian Rhapsody was the lead single from Queen’s fourth album, A Night at the Opera. It initially spent nine weeks at UK No 1, and a further five after Mercury’s death in 1991. In the US, it peaked at No 9 on its original release, but rose to No 2 in 1992 after being prominently featured in the film Wayne’s World.

It remains the UK’s third biggest-selling single of all time – certified four-times platinum – ranked at No 17 in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, and in 2018 gave the Bryan Singer-directed Mercury biopic its title.