Grapthar's Song of the Day: Queen '39'

grapthar (74)in #music • 6 years ago

Queen - '39

Queen were clearly a massive band

and don't need much of an introduction, but just in case someone, somehow, hasn't heard of them before... They formed in 1970 in London, England, and their famous line-up consisted of Freddie Mercury on vocals, Brian May on guitar, Roger Taylor on drums, and John Deacon on bass-guitar. While they came to fame around the time as a lot other so-called "glam" bands, Queen always had an extra layer of virtuosic musicianship on top of everything they did, which allowed them to create some of the most memorable and original songs of the last century.

Listen to '39 by Queen here.

This song appeared on their 1975 release,

A Night at the Opera, along with hits like You're My Best Friend and Bohemnian Rhapsody. This song is probably my favorite by the group; the lyrics tell a story of travelers who left on a ship, and traveled through time, arriving in the future where their loved ones ancestors lived, despite the fact that the crew hadn't aged at all. The format and chord progressions in this song are truly amazing, particularly in the break. We are in Abmajor for most of the piece, but then they do an incredible modulation and progression, moving from Emajor to C#/Dbminor, to Bbmajor, then to the opening riff of C#/Dbmajor (adding the tritone of Gminor, adding an AWESOME dissonance), and Bbminor, and finally to Fmajor, before they do a little flat Vi and Vii move, returning us to Abmajor. Just amazing.