1975 · Behind the Songs
The astrophysicist’s B-side: a skiffle-tinged story of astronauts who come home a century late.
The fifth track on A Night at the Opera (1975) is the least Queen-like song on a famously eclectic album — and it was written and sung by the band’s guitarist. “’39” is Brian May’s folk ballad, a fingerpicked story-song shaped by his astrophysics studies: volunteers set off on a year-long space voyage and return to find that a hundred years have passed on Earth, time dilation having stolen the world they knew.
The recording is full of quiet surprises. It is one of the few Queen tracks on which May sings lead instead of Freddie Mercury, and the rhythm section took an unusual turn: John Deacon, asked half as a joke to play double bass, went away and learned the instrument for the session. The result sits closer to skiffle than to stadium rock — acoustic guitars, brushed percussion, and a singalong chorus. The track was cut during the album’s August–November 1975 sessions, produced by Roy Thomas Baker with the band, and on June 18, 1976 it surfaced as the B-side of the “You’re My Best Friend” single.
Audiences claimed it anyway. First performed in Edinburgh in September 1976, “’39” became a live favourite and a full-throated singalong, holding its place in the setlist until December 1979. In March 1977, Groucho Marx — who had written the band an admiring fan letter — invited Queen to his Los Angeles home, where they performed the song a cappella for him.
The song’s most famous admirer arrived later. George Michael called it his favourite Queen song — he used to busk it on the London Underground — and he performed it at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in April 1992. May himself has pointed out a neat numerical coincidence: counting from the band’s debut album, “’39” is the 39th album track the band ever released.