I've pondered the meaning of this song for 25 years-it has a deep personal meaning to me, and has always left me perplexed, because a guy that I was dating & deeply in love with dedicated the song to me at a bar one night. Now he wants to break free from the feelings of wanting the person back, but deep down he just wants to be with the person.Īt least, that's my interpretation, I tried! )Īt least, that's my interpretation, I tried! ) Reason:

But he can't get used to living without this love. He has broken up with the person, and as everyone always says: life goes on. But, he continues to give himself power by saying that 'he wants to break free, he wants to break free'. He's kind of doubting wether he wants to break free or not: It's strange but he can't seem to get over the way how this person loves him. He is in love with someone and he's convinced that it's real. This verse shows what his true feelings are. That what a lot of people do: it's called putting up a brave face! As the song progresses, I interpretate this verse as some kind of excuse for how he truly feels: he says he want to get rid of the person he's with, but secretly he doesn't want that at all.

He's moaning about the person he's with, and that he wants to break free from the persons lies. Like I say, it's a bit more ambiguous than the title might suggest and it's a cracker of a song. She's still got that hold on him so that he's truly not free. The person he's left has such a hold on him that, although he knows he's got to complete the break, he can barely bring himself to do it.Īnd the last line, 'So baby can't you see, I've got break free', re-enforces that: he hasn't broken free yet, not really. And now he's done it, he realises how much he needed her/it - 'I can't get used to living without you/I don't want to live alone'. The doubts are setting in now: 'But I have to be sure, when I walk out that door' - does he really want to break free? Does he love this person enough to leave whoever he's with at the moment? Can he break free?īy the last verse, he's done it - he's left her/it/whatever. The 'It's strange, but it's true' bit always threw me, but I think it's sung to the person he's fallen in love. There's nothing he wants more than to break free ('I've got to break free'). The first two verses ('I want to break free', 'I've fallen in love') are very strong, positive and defiant in the desire to get out of whatever it is (a relationship, I think) that's gone wrong. It was her idea to pastiche the Coronation Street women.įreddie, although shocked that the others suggested dressing up in drag for the video, doesn’t deny that he was actually dying to dress up in drag, and it was something in the back of his mind.The mood changes as the song goes on - it's quite clever really. Of Course! Everybody thinks that was Freddie’s idea because it looks like something that he would love to do but it actually came from Roger’s girlfriend at the time, strangely enough. Mercury plays a housewife who wants to “break free” from his constraining life.Īlthough music video is often believed to be Freddie Mercury’s idea, in an interview with Q magazine March 2011, when Brian May was asked whether each band member’s character in the video was an accurate reflection of their personalities, he answered: The video featured the band dressed as the cast of the popular soap opera Coronation Street and has Freddie Mercury dancing with members of the Royal Ballet Theatre.

The second single from Queen’s 11th studio album The Works, “I Want To Break Free” gained notoriety primarily for its controversial music video.

Bohemian rhapsody i want to break free