This is a song about self-awareness, individualisation, and ‘being’ as a breakthrough from superficiality. The video shows how one boy is unconsciously searching for his own uniqueness and ability to reciprocate as a real good friend, because he feels invisible even to himself. He senses that he needs to break free from his invalidating family and the societal pressure that keep him enslaved as a child, as he doesn’t yet know what the adult version of himself should look like. His unhappy sibling doesn’t necessarily help and uses her own position to invalidate his person, because that is the expression of her own same dark fears.
Hidden in his room, pushing out his oppressors, he fearfully shoots down the man inside him who would guide him through the step changes of becoming connected with his actual self and therefore confident in his own skin. If he does find an external exemplar to whom he can relate in order to complete this picture, society forces him to do so covertly ‘like the CIA or the FBI’, if he doesn’t find access to freely given resources.
Brian May filling the boy’s room with music shows how learning to play the guitar can lead to self-fulfilment and expression as an artist. In his case, it also leads to meeting likeminded people who also see beyond the superficial state in which most of society operates. This shows the power of following one’s passions rather living someone else’s vicarious dream, as per ‘In the Lap of the Gods Revisited’. It also illustrates the challenge of staying authentic when you don’t know what authentic is, and needing parental to support you in becoming authentic.
In order to co-operate as a band, members had to also have ‘me time’ individual projects in order to satisfy personal needs that Queen couldn’t provide. Part of growing up is therefore learning new ways to be uniquely yourself (E.G David Bowie or Madonna’s image changes), what you need to get from others, and what to reject from others. If you have no defense for invalidation ‘no-one knows what I’ve been through’(e.g. bullying, getting poor guidance, or being told your feelings are ‘wrong’) then you accept you are weak or unworthy and stop searching, harm one’s self and future, or don’t realise your own beauty. If things do suddenly click into place (say during a chance meeting with someone who is a mirror of yourself) and you inadvertently find your own soul, then after grieving for your wasted years of disconnectedness, you now ‘let my flag unfurl’ because your personal power in the same environment has now increased. Growing this power both separately and as a group meant a stronger result for the group over the long term, and satisfaction from helping others realise their own potential.
The strong baseline indicates a Deacon track, someone devastated and depressed when he lost his best friend. This shows how the bassist, who quietly and diligently ‘gives’ supporting the rest of the band can forget how to support themselves as an individual, despite them being a god to others.
This is a song about self-awareness, individualisation, and ‘being’ as a breakthrough from superficiality. The video shows how one boy is unconsciously searching for his own uniqueness and ability to reciprocate as a real good friend, because he feels invisible even to himself. He senses that he needs to break free from his invalidating family and the societal pressure that keep him enslaved as a child, as he doesn’t yet know what the adult version of himself should look like. His unhappy sibling doesn’t necessarily help and uses her own position to invalidate his person, because that is the expression of her own same dark fears. Hidden in his room, pushing out his oppressors, he fearfully shoots down the man inside him who would guide him through the step changes of becoming connected with his actual self and therefore confident in his own skin. If he does find an external exemplar to whom he can relate in order to complete this picture, society forces him to do so covertly ‘like the CIA or the FBI’, if he doesn’t find access to freely given resources. Brian May filling the boy’s room with music shows how learning to play the guitar can lead to self-fulfilment and expression as an artist. In his case, it also leads to meeting likeminded people who also see beyond the superficial state in which most of society operates. This shows the power of following one’s passions rather living someone else’s vicarious dream, as per ‘In the Lap of the Gods Revisited’. It also illustrates the challenge of staying authentic when you don’t know what authentic is, and needing parental to support you in becoming authentic. In order to co-operate as a band, members had to also have ‘me time’ individual projects in order to satisfy personal needs that Queen couldn’t provide. Part of growing up is therefore learning new ways to be uniquely yourself (E.G David Bowie or Madonna’s image changes), what you need to get from others, and what to reject from others. If you have no defense for invalidation ‘no-one knows what I’ve been through’(e.g. bullying, getting poor guidance, or being told your feelings are ‘wrong’) then you accept you are weak or unworthy and stop searching, harm one’s self and future, or don’t realise your own beauty. If things do suddenly click into place (say during a chance meeting with someone who is a mirror of yourself) and you inadvertently find your own soul, then after grieving for your wasted years of disconnectedness, you now ‘let my flag unfurl’ because your personal power in the same environment has now increased. Growing this power both separately and as a group meant a stronger result for the group over the long term, and satisfaction from helping others realise their own potential. The strong baseline indicates a Deacon track, someone devastated and depressed when he lost his best friend. This shows how the bassist, who quietly and diligently ‘gives’ supporting the rest of the band can forget how to support themselves as an individual, despite them being a god to others.