Jesus

Queen's first two or three albums painted a somewhat mystical picture of the world. The lyrics and the music seem to take us into a place that's almost like some kind of semi-Shakespearean version of Middle Earth. Everything is dramatic and the songs are embellished with all sorts of interesting characters like; fairies, ogres and of course the mystical, nameless, wise old man.

I think it's unclear whether Freddie was an atheist, an agnostic or a Zoroastrian - particularly at that point in his life. What is almost certain however is that Freddie was not a Christian. Never the less, I think Jesus is an extremely interesting character for Freddie and is, at the very least, worthy of some thought and musical attention.

Even the mighty Richard Dawkins (arguably the most famous “out” atheist in the world) has said that the teachings of Jesus are radical enough and ethical enough to be worthy of special treatment. On the net, for example, you'll find pictures of Dawkins wearing t-shirts that say “Atheists for Jesus”. Jesus, whether you are a religious person or not, is considered by people like Dawkins and (I think) Freddie to be a somewhat exceptional character as far as religion and spirituality goes. Jesus, it seems, cannot be dismissed so easily as some of the lead characters from other mainstream religions.

So, in this song Freddie is not saying that he is a follower of Jesus. He's not saying that Jesus was good or bad or was the son of God or old (as a previous commentator suggested). He is merely bringing Jesus into the spotlight and giving him the classic Queen treatment. In a way it's a tribute to Jesus. At the very least Freddie would have regarded Jesus as a radical peace loving hippy whose philosophy was centuries ahead of his time. There are certainly not any hints of any insults towards Jesus in the song.

However, the song doesn't seem to make any concrete declarations either way about how Freddie really feels about Jesus. There is merely a scattering of observations made by the narrator in which Jesus performs some good deeds. Even the old man doesn't say a word - “he just stared about him.”

And so this brings us onto the central message of the song. In the song the narrator (and indeed the old man) are merely observing Jesus. They're not making any declarations either way about whether Jesus was the son of God. So, I think you can think of the narrator/singer as being a curious, silent and perhaps undecided observer. If we were to put some kind of label on this perspective then I think agnostic would be the best word to choose. It is significant that the narrator of the song is able to remove himself from the rest of the frantic masses who are so enthusiastically all going down to see Jesus.

I think Freddie/the voice/the narrator was not entirely sure how he felt about Jesus. But he was certainly curious and he was not about to be swayed by whatever the masses were doing. So, if there is any message for the listener here then I think the message would be for you to be a non conforming free thinker. You alone have the power and the right to embrace, reject or even create your own religion. But whatever you do decide to do then you ought to be able to step back and make a decision on how you're going to live your life based on your own deductive reasoning. You don't have to be like the desperate masses all fleeing to Jesus so repetitively. You are free to think for yourself and you should use this power. That is the meaning behind this song and like all of Queen's music the song has strong existentialist undertones.