In 1989,\u00a0Freddie Mercury\u00a0was confronting his HIV diagnosis head-on. He\u2019d been showing symptoms since 1982 and had been diagnosed since 1987, but by the end of the decade, the singer was getting too ill to continue hiding it and had to come clean to his Queen bandmates.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They say that the second you admit you\u2019re ill, you get sicker. For a lot of people, they want to avoid sharing the news for as long as possible to avoid their loved ones treating them differently or treating them like a fragile little thing. Mercury especially didn\u2019t want to be treated differently, as he had every intention of\u00a0working and performing until the very end, so he didn\u2019t want anything, anyone or anyone\u2019s sympathy holding him back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But naturally, after telling his bandmates at the start of sessions for what would be their 13th album, his mindset changed. He still wanted to make music, but existentialism crept in as Mercury was reflecting on his life more and more as the end of it seemed to creep closer. With that theme weighting heavy on it, it began to completely shape The Miracle<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Initially, the album was going to be called The Invisible Men, <\/em>but at the last minute, it was changed to The Miracle<\/em> as Mercury contributed what would now be its title track. Taking a far more positive outlook than the original title held, the new one and the song, both indicators of gratitude and awe as he reflected on the world and the entirety of human existence, essentially listing the things that amazed him the most. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll God\u2019s creatures, great and small \/ The human race and the Taj Mahal, that\u2019s a miracle,\u201d Mercury sings. From the wonders of the world to inventions and advances like \u201ctest tube babies\u201d, to weather patterns and nature\u2019s landscapes, he is looking at the world with complete adoration here. It\u2019s a celebration of life at its grandest level as he pulls together a list of the most incredible things the planet has to offer, and in the middle, he says a name: \u201cJimi Hendrix\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the song, Hendrix sits as the only modern musical name. It\u2019s Mercury\u2019s only shout-out to the entire world of art or music at all, as it seems that the Queen singer saw Hendrix as the one and only name needed, or as the absolute top of the pile. That is how he felt, and how he\u2019d always felt, as he said in 1975, \u201cJimi Hendrix is very important.\u00a0He\u2019s my idol\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his eyes, Hendrix was the whole package and the absolute epitome of a musician and a performer, stating, \u201cHe sort of epitomises, from his presentation onstage, the whole works of a rock star. There\u2019s no way you can compare him\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He fits perfectly in the song as Mercury lists miracles because he truly didn\u2019t think Hendrix\u2019s talent was something you could develop.\u00a0It was simply a god-given spark\u00a0with the singer saying, \u201cYou either have the magic, or you don\u2019t. There\u2019s no way you can work up to it. There\u2019s nobody who can take his place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so in a list of \u201cGod\u2019s creatures, great and small\u201d, Hendrix exists in the \u201cgreat\u201d pile to Mercury and as he sat at the end of his life, reflecting on the best of the best and the true joys in his life, it would be wrong to erase his \u201cidol\u201d from that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n