Still Loving Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, would have been 65 years old this week, and the tributes are pouring in.

Freddie Mercury

Even today's  Google Doodle had an animated short depicting Mercury.

I'm glad he's getting all this attention. To me, Mercury, who died in 1991,  had one of the best rock and roll voices ever.

He was a showman, maybe a diva, but his strong voice, with its big range, helped rock me through high school and beyond.  He was the bold id I wanted to be.

My favorite Queen song, "Spread Your Wings," wasn't nearly their biggest hit and doesn't perfectly showcase Mercury's voice.

But it came out during low points while I was in high school. It was on Queen's "News of the World" album, which I played over and over again until it wore out from overuse.

I feared my life would dead end right after high school. It didn't, of course, but teenagers tend to be overwrought, and I was the overwrought-est of them all.  Silly me.

So I listened to this lyric, over and over:

"Sammy was low
Just watching the show
Over and over again
Knew it was time
He'd made up his mind
To leave his dead life behind"


Here's the video for that tune:


I always felt like I was Sammy when I heard that song.
And it turned out, I was.

No, I was never as spectacular as Freddie Mercury, but I'm still having a great trip of a life.  I stopped watching the same show, over and over again. I spread my wings and flew away. Mercury helped me leave my so called dead life behind.

So thanks, Freddie