Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" almost had a different title. It was almost called “Mongolian Rhapsody.” That was one of the working titles Freddie Mercury had in mind for the song.
This revelation came to light in Mercury's notes for the song, which are one of over 1500 items of his being auctioned off by Sotheby's coming up in September. Mercury wrote "Mongolian Rhapsody" as one of the titles, but later crossed out “Mongolian” and wrote “Bohemian” above it.
That piece of paper also contains some of the words and phrases that wound up making it into the song.
Brian May once commented on how “Bohemian Rhapsody” actually came about. He said, ”We were all already beginning to be quite separate at that point and we used to come in with ideas pretty well mapped out. I used to come in with all sorts of structures written down that I wanted the group to try, Freddie used to come in with sheets of notebook paper with vocal harmonies written out on them. So Freddie had a very powerful vision of that song before we ever got into it, it was very much his baby. We wanted it to sound like a huge choir, and the technology wasn’t really quite there for it.”
All 1500 items go on display at Sotheby's in London this summer with the sale to follow in September, with a total sales estimate around $7.5 million. Some of the proceeds will be donated to charity.
Freddie Mercury died on November 24th, 1991 from AIDS at age 45.
[Source: Classic Hits Today]