'39 - Queenpedia.com - Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon, Discography, Bibliography, Charts

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Credits

Written by: Brian May
Produced by: Queen and Roy Thomas Baker
Musicians:

Brian May - lead and backing vocals, acoustic and electric guitars

Freddie Mercury - backing vocals

John Deacon - double bass

Roger Taylor - bass drum, tambourine, backing vocals

Length: 3:25

Discography

Albums:

A Night At The Opera, 1975

Live Killers, 1979

Return Of The Champions, 2005

Singles:

You're My Best Friend, 1975 B-side

Solo Versions:

Live At The Brixton Academy, 1994

Queen Talks

"It’s a science fiction story. It’s the story about someone who goes away and leaves his family and because of the time dilation effect, when you go away, the people on earth have aged a lot more than he has when he comes home. He’s aged a year and they’ve aged 100 years so, instead of coming back to his wife, he comes back to his daughter and he can see his wife in his daughter, a strange story. I think, also, I had in mind a story of Herman Hesse which I think is called ‘The River’. A man leaves his hometown and has lots of travels and then comes back and observes his hometown from the other side of the river. He sees it in a different light having been away and experienced all those different things. He sees it in a very illuminating way, cause I felt a little bit like that about my home at the time as well having been away and seen this vastly different world of rock music. Totally different from the way I was brought up and I had those feelings about home.

So usually the song, I think people generally usually won’t admit it, but I think when most people write songs there are more than one level to them. They’ll be about one thing on the surface but underneath they’re probably, even unconsciously, trying to say something about their own life, their own experience. I know in my own stuff there is something like that."

Brian May - 1983, BBC Radio One

"It's something that we have... people can't believe it, they can't believe it's us. It's something Brian May wanted to do and it's very, very unlike Queen really. I think it's going to the B-side for You're My Best Friend. It's something Brian wanted to do and that's nice."

Freddie Mercury - 21/05/1976, Record Mirror

Covers

Cover Versions

Chords & Tabs

'39 tab, transcribed by Ken Goach and Patrick M. Ryan

Lyrics

'In the year of thirty-nine'
Assembled here the volunteers
In the days when lands were few
Here the ship sailed out into the blue and sunny morn
The sweetest sight ever seen
And the night followed day
And the story tellers say
That the score brave souls inside
For many a lonely day
Sailed across the milky seas
Never looked back never feared never cried

Don't you hear my call
Though you're many years away
Don't you hear me calling you
Write your letters in the sand
For the day I'll take your hand
In the land that our grand-children knew

'In the year of thirty-nine'
Came a ship from the blue
The volunteers came home that day
And they bring good news
Of a world so newly born
Though their hearts so heavily weigh
For the earth is old and grey
Little darling we'll away
But my love this cannot be
Oh so many years have gone
Though I'm older than a year
Your mothers eyes from your eyes cry to me

Don't you hear my call
Though you're many years away
Don't you hear me calling you
Write your letters in the sand
For the day I'll take your hand
In the land that our grand-children knew

Don't you hear my call
Though you're many years away
Don't you hear me calling you
All your letters in the sand
Cannot heal me like your hand
For my life still ahead pity me