Unearthed early draft of Freddie Mercury’s lyrics for Bohemian Rhapsody reveal the song’s original title

Other revelations from the draft show Mercury’s initial lyrics for the verse. Instead of ‘Mama/Just killed a man/Put a gun against his head/Pulled my trigger, now he’s dead’, the singer proposed: ‘Mama/There’s a war began/I’ve got to leave tonight/I’ve got to stand and fight.’

The 15 pages of notes – which were recently uncovered after Mercury’s longtime friend Mary Austin offered up thousands of the singer’s items to go under the hammer at Sotheby’s auction house in London – are estimated to be worth $1.5 million.

Fans and collectors will be able to bid for the piece in a live auction on September 6.

Among the 1,500 items up for auction, there are also manuscripts of working lyrics to other Queen songs including Don’t Stop Me Now, Somebody To Love and We Are The Champions.

Mercury’s signature crown and cloak ensemble, famously worn throughout 1986’s Magic Tour, is also available, and expected to bring in £60,000-£80,000.

Following the death of Queen’s vocalist in 1991, Austin inherited much of his estate. Austin tells the BBC that she is selling the memorabilia in the hope of getting her “affairs in order”, adding that the collection “takes you deeper within the individual and the man I knew.”

View the Bohemian Rhapsody draft below: