He Wrote it at Home
Freddy Mercury wrote “Bohemian Rhapsody” in his home in London, which was different from the other songs that were written in the studio. He actually wrote the whole song on telephone books and scraps of paper.
Photo by Ian Dickson/Redferns
According to Chris Smith (a keyboard player in Smile), Mercury first started developing “Bohemian Rhapsody” in 1968. He used to play parts of songs he was writing at the piano. He came up with an opening line “Mama, just killed a man” but didn’t yet have a melody. He originally referred to his work in progress as “The Cowboy Song.”