What is the meaning behind “Mama, ooh, didn’t mean to make you cry If I’m not back again this time tomorrow Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters”? Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
- by imrk
- March 25, 2023
“Mama” may refer to Freddie Mercury’s former partner Mary Austin , with whom he lived for about seven years. Freddie started work on “Bohemian Rhapsody” in 1972 but really got to finishing it in 1975, the same year he started his first love affair with a man . These lines may be telling Mary that he didn’t mean to hurt her, and that she should carry on with life even if he ends up leaving her; continuing the dispirited, fatalistic theme which resonates throughout the song, with lines like “Any way the wind blows” and “Nothing really matters.”