All good songs are written out of an experience. And is there a more compelling and convincing experience than the awareness of a soon-to-come, certain and inevitable death? Freddie Mercury knew he was going to die and with that notion in mind he wrote his swan song “Innuendo” (The End in Spanish.) The album and the song with the same name are his best and most convincing work, at least for me. The song, in particular, gives me the chills every time I listen to it (and I’ve heard it hundreds of times). Freddie was determined to leave his final mark the best way he could. Brian May recalls that the singer could barely walk from his home to the studio, but once inside, he sang like nothing was wrong with his health.
Mercury was such a genius that could transcend fear and transform it into an epic piece of art, just like Bob Marley did with “Uprising” before him, and David Bowie with “Blackstar” recently. I will not go on blabbering about Innuendo. Here are the lyrics and you’re more than welcomed to contemplate on them, as long as you need. They are just superb, both from a poetical and from a philosophical point of view.
"Innuendo"
While the sun hangs in the sky and the desert has sand
While the waves crash in the sea and meet the land
While there's a wind and the stars and the rainbow
Till the mountains crumble into the plain
Oh yes we'll keep on tryin'
Tread that fine line
Oh we'll keep on tryin' yeah
Just passing our time
While we live according to race, color or creed
While we rule by blind madness and pure greed
Our lives dictated by tradition, superstition, false religion
Through the eons, and on and on
Oh yes we'll keep on tryin'
We'll tread that fine line
Oh we'll keep on tryin'
Till the end of time
Till the end of time
Through the sorrow all through our splendor
Don't take offence at my innuendo
You can be anything you want to be
Just turn yourself into anything you think that you could ever be
Be free with your tempo, be free be free
Surrender your ego - be free, be free to yourself
Oooh, ooh -
If there's a God or any kind of justice under the sky
If there's a point, if there's a reason to live or die
If there's an answer to the questions we feel bound to ask
Show yourself - destroy our fears - release your mask
Oh yes we'll keep on trying
Hey tread that fine line
Yeah we'll keep on smiling yeah
And whatever will be - will be
We'll just keep on trying
We'll just keep on trying
Till the end of time
Till the end of time
Till the end of time
