Queen Ogre Battle: Mercury's Musical Miracle

Ogre Battle by Freddie Mercury is one of those rare songs where the music itself is a window into the meaning of the words. This is a hugely underappreciated deep cut from Queen II, that really does contain a miracle. The song begins with the strike of a gong played in reverse. The song then enters into a 30 second musical palindrome (you can hear this palindrome around 7:00-8:10). In this way, the music introduces the concept of endless repetition as the music cycles around and around (forwards and backwards). The lyrics themselves, present ideas related to the distortion of time (past, present and future) such that the ogre battle never ends and constantly repeats. This culminates in the phrase: "Ogre battle lives forevermore."

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
1:15 The concept of the Fairy Tale in Ogre Battle
2:41 Past, Present and Future in the Lyrics
4:58 Palindromes in Ogre Battle
7:00 The palindrome miracle
8:10 Themes of endless repetition and the futility of war
13:13 Different possible meanings of Ogre Battle

[susaneuliano]

Freddie Mercury was a genius., that's all there is to it. He was meticulous in his composition and was extremely complex.

[neilcooper]

That was hachuly very interesting thanks also that song is an epic

[jodawson]

Freddie Mercury wrote this entire thing even the guitar riffs. Brian May said he did it on an acoustic, and if you want to try playing it, be my guest.

[carolyndanielson]

Thank you for this. I find your interpretations fascinating. I would love to hear your interpretation of Son and Daughter, written by Brian May. This one is a complete mystery to me.