This 'Today's Tune' is in honor of Freddie Mercury, as he was born on September 5, 1946. Mercury is best known as lead singer for one of Britain's all time greatest bands, Queen. Freddie (Farrokh Bulsara) was born on Zanzibar, an island of Tanzania, of Parsi heritage. He later went to school in India, before he and his family moved to London, England in 1964. There, he became a British citizen, went to college and in 1970, formed the band Queen with guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and bassist John Deacon. They spent many years as one of the world's top bands. Mercury was diagnosed as having AIDS in the Spring of 1987. Freddie died November 24th, 1991, less than twelve hours after publicly announcing through a prepared statement that he had AIDS.
"Mother Love" is supposed to be the last song ever recorded by Freddie Mercury. You'll notice the last verse being sung by guitarist Brian May. It is said that after having willed himself through recording several other songs, he didn't have the strength to finish the last one. However, it may have just been decided later that it needed a bit more at the end to properly finish the tune.
The song's meaning has been debated, but to me it is quite simple. "Mother Love" is not about love from Freddie's mother. The song refers to his desire to be loved with the same intensity and unyielding quality as a Mother's love of her child, the mother of of all loves. A love without fear of being left behind. There's no deviant meaning here. There is only one line that actually brings up the actual mother - "Mama, please let me back inside". This is about a frustrated, lonely and scared person wanting to hide away from the sometimes overwhelming real world. Most likely, Freddie was thinking of his (much more than) close friend Mary Austin, when he and Brian May wrote this song. He loved her as much as any gay (bisexual?) man could ever love a woman.
I browsed through several videos, and couldn't decide which was best. Therefore, here's two of the fan made YouTube videos I like.
Queen - "Mother Love"
Queen - "Mother Love"
