Reviews for '39 Lyrics

IMHO, one of the most masterful songs ever created and my favorite Queen song, too. Freddie Mercury's talent is undisputed, but this song is best sung by Brian May, as on the album.

I was a kid when this song was a hit in the 70s and I always thought it was a sort of medieval-themed tale of a sailor going on a voyage, then returning to his love, but could never resolve the "land that our grandchildren knew" part until recently.

My love of this song has never diminished and I keep hitting "repeat" in iTunes..

Brian May, himself an Astrophysicist, says this old folk song is a sci-fi story about a score of space adventurers (that’s 20) in the year of '39. NOT 1939! Traveling at relativistic speeds V near the speed of light C which causes time dilation. So one year t0 aboard the ship, will cause 100 years t to pass on earth > t = t0 / (1-v2/c2)1/2.They leave and return in the year of ’39. The important points in the song are
1) "Ne'er looked back, never feared, never cried", these are really brave guys!
2) “Your mother's eyes from your eyes cry to me”, The child is a decedent of one guys lover, “But my love this cannot be”
3) “For my life, still ahead, pity me.” Everyone he knows is dead. He is alone for the rest of his life, “In the land that our grandchildren knew.”

That song efectivelly is about a group of space explorers, according to Einstein if they travelled light speed they'll be grow old only 1 year, but in the earth the time is dilatated and have been passed one hundred years

Listen to Brian's own explanation at the Return of the Champions' perfomance of the song (track 9):
"This song is about time, its about a man who goes off in his silver spaceship to discover new lands, which he manages to do, but when he comes back he feels like he's only a year older but to the people back on Earth this planet is a hundred years older"

It's about a group of space adventurers who go into space in the year of '39. They think they've only been gone a year but in fact have been gone a hundred (they also returned in '39). One of the adventurers says he's aged a year but his love looks like her mother now.

That's my opinion anyway.

If you have watch the "Classic Albums" episode about the making of "Night at the Opera" Brian May explains that he thought it would be cool to write an old folk song about a sci-fi story.

Remember... Brian May went to college and gradutated as an Astrophysicist

To the previous reviewer: This song is not about WWII. There were no British volunteers deployed to the Continent until 1940, anyway. Either you made this story up or your friend is pulling your leg.

I have listened to this song for a long time, and I couldn´t guess the meaning of the lyric until I met a friend from the British Army and he has the following opinion on the song: In 1939, Great Britain sent soldiers to the occupied land in Europe by the German army. It seems it was the first time they did so and the shock on the soldiers and their families were very deep, specially because they were very young and unexperienced. Some of them came back and their families were gone. But they brought good news because the war was won and everything would be better!!! That is what I was told and this song means a lot for the soldiers of the British Army, even if they are retired. I am not so sure if it is true or not, but if so, I think it is a good story to tell!!!

The song isn't actually in colonial times, but more like in the future. In some odd year of '39 when the Earth is slowly dying, 20 volunteers went out to look for another 'Earth'. Which is when he says they 'sailed the Milky Seas,' an obvious reference to the Milky Way.

The second verse tells when the volunteer came back to earth in the year '39, but this is a hundred years later. 'so many years have gone, though I'm older but a year.' Which most likely means that though a century passed on Earth, the volunteers only felt and aged a year difference, probably cause of time dilation. The last lines of the verse is most likely when he met his son, or grandson, since the ones that the volunteers knew already passed away. 'little darlin' well away'.

Just my 2c on the song

This song seems to me to be a British colonial song- Explorers sailing for New Zealand or Australia from Britain, finding new lands full of beauty and potential, and then returning sad that the new lands would be turned 'old and grey' by the grandchildren of the settlers. The 'land that our grandchildren knew' is the settler colony

There is a clear influence most obvious when Dylan's is heard right after this. Having said that, who did Dylan not influence?

Having said that, this is still a great song and I could listen to it for hours. It's my favourite queen song along with 'Radio Gaga'

Jack, as I don't know any better, I'll take your and Dazz's words for it, but either said scifi story was inspired by Chopin's last years, or that's the weirdest set of coincidences I've ever heard of. And I'm usually the first person in the room to call bullshit on coincidences like that.

as Dazza pointed out, it's actually a sci-fi story. brian may pointed this out himself. it actually does all fit. i believe the reason that it's called '39 and that the year is '39 is because the song is, in fact, Queen's 39th song in their studio album chronology.

In response to cerulans' notes about Chopin, one other thing about that: Chopin died of TB at the age of...39.

I think cerulans may have hit this on the head. In any case, one of my favorite songs.

"And the story tellers say that the score brave souls inside"

Score is an old term for the number 20. Entonces, dice "Los narradores dicen que los veinte almas valientes dentro". Dentro referriendo al astronave.