Lyr Add: Thirty-Nine (Brian May / Queen)

Subject: Lyr Add: THIRTY-NINE (Brian May)
From: Julie B
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 11:33 AM

Terry Wogan (BBC Radio 2, UK) played Brian May's song "Thirty-nine" this morning (from Queen's "Night at the Opera"). It's very folk-ish, and I'm thinking of learning it.

The thing is, what do the lyrics mean? Steve Parkes suggested it could well be a sort of futuristic 'Sci-fi' folk song, referring to a voyage across deep space, with travellers returning to earth generations later, even though they themselves have aged only a year or so. Considering that Brian May is an PhD in Astro-physics, or some-such, this sounds a feasible explanation! Does anyone else know more about this song?

Julie B

For info, here are the 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 darlin' 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

Subject: RE: Help: 'Thirty-nine' Brian May-lyrics meaning?
From: IanC
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 11:39 AM

This is what it says here.

Origins of '39 From an interview with Brian in "The Guitar Greats" by John Tobler and Stuart Grundy (thanks to Nessa Lopez for typing this in). [Comments] are mine -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- " '39 is a Science Fiction story I made up, it's a story about someone who goes away and leaves his family, and because of the time dilation effect, where the people on earth have aged a lot more than he has when he returns, 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 [presumably great grand daughter actually], in whom he can see his wife. I think I also had in mind a story by Hermann Hesse, which is called "The Poet" [in the interview Brian says "The River", but he is remembering incorrectly - "The Poet" is found in the short story collection "Strange News From Another Star" by Herman Hesse], I think, where a man leaves his home town and travels a lot, then comes back and observes it from the other side of a river and sees it in a completely different light because of his experiences. I felt a little like that about my home at the time, having been away and seen this vastly different world of rock music which was totally different from the way I was brought up. People may not generally admit it but I think that when most people write songs there is more than one level to them - they'll be about one thing on the surface, but underneath they're probably trying, maybe even unconsciously, to say something about their own life, their own experience - and in nearly all my stuff, there is a personal feeling."

Cheers!
Ian

Subject: RE: Help: 'Thirty-nine' Brian May-lyrics meaning?
From: mousethief
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 11:42 AM

One of the great new folk songs of the rock era.

For my life still ahead, pity me.

Alex

Subject: RE: Help: 'Thirty-nine' Brian May-lyrics meaning?
From: Julie B
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 11:49 AM

Thanks for your speedy response, Ian. I can now sing it with peace of mind!

Julie B

Subject: RE: Help: 'Thirty-nine' Brian May-lyrics meaning?
From: Matt_R
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 03:45 PM

Ah, I remember reading that article in Guitar Greats, back when I was first learning about rock & roll in 1996, and Queen was the first band I ever listened to, and speedily became my favorite band. Brian May is a pure genius. Literally!

Interestingly enough, there is a song on Blur's 1997 album Blur called "Strange News From Another Star."

Subject: RE: Help: 'Thirty-nine' Brian May-lyrics meaning?
From: SDShad
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 04:19 PM

Uhm, Matt, old bean, don't take this harshly or wrongly or anything, just kinda curious: what planet were you on before 1996? Myself, I had Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles and the Doors running through my bloodstream by the age of six....

Shad

Subject: RE: Help: 'Thirty-nine' Brian May-lyrics meaning?
From: SDShad
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 04:25 PM

By the way, for those who may not know it, MattR kicks ass on "39."

S.

Subject: RE: Help: 'Thirty-nine' Brian May-lyrics meaning?
From: mousethief
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 04:29 PM

What key does he sing it in? I can never hit those high notes in the chorus with Brian. Sigh.

Alex

Subject: RE: Help: 'Thirty-nine' Brian May-lyrics meaning?
From: Matt_R
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 04:45 PM

Falsetto, my dear Alex, falsetto! I do it in C.

SD, I didn't listen to ANYTHING besides country music until I was 16 years old. Then I started listening to classical and opera...this was 1994, just after I picked up classical guitar. In 1995 I was into modern musicals, checking every one I could find out from the base library. In September 1996, while looking through the musicals, I saw the Flash Gordon Soundtrack. It was a band I had never heard of at the time. Queen. I saw it week after week until I broke down and checked it out. I ended up falling in love with it, especially "Vultan's Theme/Battle Theme" ("Dive my brave Hawkmen! Dive!").

Then I started checking out Queen, then The Who, Styx...which eventually led to me doing something I had never done before...listen to a classic rock station! It was there that I heard the Electric Light Orchestra, which would eventually become, and still is, my favorite band of all time. I was 17 at the time.

The next Spring, I started listening to pop radio. The Spring after, Irish & Scottish trad.

And that, as they say, is the rest of the story!

--Matt

Subject: RE: Help: 'Thirty-nine' Brian May-lyrics meaning?
From: mousethief
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 04:49 PM

Falsetto only works for me if I'm miked (or singing in the choir with the support of the other voices).

Alex

Subject: RE: Help: 'Thirty-nine' Brian May-lyrics meaning?
From: Matt_R
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 05:14 PM

Ooops! I do it in G, not C.

Subject: RE: Help: 'Thirty-nine' Brian May-lyrics meaning?
From: mousethief
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 05:26 PM

That makes better sense.

BTW, What's the chords for the 'aaaaaaaaaaaah" part between the verses?

Alex

Subject: RE: Help: 'Thirty-nine' Brian May-lyrics meaning?
From: Matt_R
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 05:34 PM

Ah, that would be:

Cm A
C F# C
Am E
A# D# A# C F G

All sliding Barre chords.

Subject: RE: Help: 'Thirty-nine' Brian May-lyrics meaning?
From: mousethief
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 05:47 PM

Thanks, Matt! I can hardly wait to get home and try it!

Alex

Subject: RE: Help: 'Thirty-nine' Brian May-lyrics meaning?
From: Matt_R
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 05:50 PM

You're welcome!