Trying to find a Queen song I heard ONCE :-)

Hello - 1st post here ... I'm into music a lot, and of course a Queen fan ... but not as much as I should be, I know!

I've asked around a lot trying to find out about a Queen song I heard once a few years ago, but can't remember much about ... you guys are my last hope! I have no idea what song it is, or what album, or much at all! I went through all the Queen songs by title and by album, but that didn't help ... I'm not sure I even knew the name of the song, just heard it played once or twice.

Here's what little I can remember of it:

1. It's not one of their mega-hits.
2. The musical characteristics that I (think I) remember is that an acoustic guitar sound seemed prominent, the whole feel of the song was gentle ... almost wistful.
3. For some reason, "Sloop John B", the old Beach Boys song comes to mind whenever I try to think of the Queen song. Was it nautically based? ... or is that a complete red herring?... I can't remember!

Well, if anyone thinks they might be able to point me towards a likely candidate song, please do. If, as I fear is most likely, there's no way to do so from the info I provided ... I apologize for taking up bandwidth in this excellent forum for no productive reason!

Thanks much -

Alexis

'39 maybe?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjuyXR5by2s

Save Me?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8h1Wj70kzk

or "sloop john b" perhaps?
nah seriously....long away,
some day, one day

Funny How Love Is?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_cjLkJQvaQ

With the "prominent acoustic guitar," and "wistful" characteristics, '39 and Long Away seem like the most likely candidates. I can't think of any nautical-themed Queen songs.

Do you know whether or not it was Brian May singing lead?

Love of My life?
That has a lot of acoustic in it

[QUOTE] [b]waunakonor wrote:[/b]

With the "prominent acoustic guitar," and "wistful" characteristics, '39 and Long Away seem like the most likely candidates. I can't think of any nautical-themed Queen songs.

Do you know whether or not it was Brian May singing lead?[/QUOTE]

Long Away is a reasonable call too. In addition to the acoustic and wistful characteristics there is something very vaguely similar in the early melodies of that and John B. Also some sense of a journey.

It's almost a Rorschach test of sorts, how we've each related the OPs description to the catalogue and to Sloop John B. Interesting. '39 is not nautical, but it is about a long journey and a sense of aloneness or self imposed exile that is reminiscent of voyages at sea. It also has the lyrics "Here the ship sailed out into the blue and sunny morn..." and closely thereafter "Sailed across the milky seas". Also the memorable lyrics "my grandfather and me" in John B and "the land that our grandchildren knew" in '39 gives the song a shared generational theme that might have stuck with the OP.

Hopefully one of us will get it for her. Nothing worse than having a just unreachable song stuck in your head. :)

You folks are absolutely incredible.

Yes, it was '39. I've just listened to it about 5 or 6 times, including an acoustic of Brian May alone.

What is it about that song that makes it so haunting? I'm not even sure what the words mean, but still they are so powerful ... amazing how he does that.

Also, what makes it one of those songs that makes you (well, me anyway!) think, "Sure, that's one of those traditional songs from long ago, what a nice job they did on it" ... but of course it's entirely from Dr. May's musical imagination!

Thanks again everyone - you are great!

P.S. If I'm not careful, I could see getting sucked into the Queen universe!

[QUOTE] [b]alexis1 wrote:[/b]
You folks are absolutely incredible.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, we are.

[QUOTE] [b]alexis1 wrote:[/b]
What is it about that song that makes it so haunting? I'm not even sure what the words mean, but still they are so powerful ... amazing how he does that.
[/QUOTE]
The song is about the distant future (It could be 2039, 2139 etc., whatever you want) where 20 volunteers ride a spaceship at faster than lightspeed to a faraway planet. When they return, they have only aged one year whereas 100 years have passed on earth (so it's still "The year of '39," just 100 years later) due to relativity and sciencey stuff like that. So, to put it briefly, all their loved ones are dead and they're really sad.

The haunting you're talking about is probably a combination of the really sad lyrics; Brian's calm, melancholy voice; and and screams Roger and Freddie provide in the middle section. It's all very pretty.

[QUOTE] [b]alexis1 wrote:[/b]
P.S. If I'm not careful, I could see getting sucked into the Queen universe!
[/QUOTE]
JOIN US

Thank god it was a real question

Not like

1) the music was a gentle ballad
2) it had no guitar
3) there was a red Jacket mentioned
4) they keep repeating that someone is the champion


.....I just can't find it!



Finally, the folks at QZ came through without cynicism and hostility. That's RARE

[QUOTE] [b]alexis1 wrote:[/b] What is it about that song that makes it so haunting? I'm not even sure what the words mean, but still they are so powerful ... amazing how he does that. Also, what makes it one of those songs that makes you (well, me anyway!) think, "Sure, that's one of those traditional songs from long ago, what a nice job they did on it" ... but of course it's entirely from Dr. May's musical imagination! [/QUOTE] You might be interested in Brian's own words on the song. He said: "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." The story he refers to as "The River" is actually called "The Poet". It's a quick enough read: http://www.alastairmcintosh.com/general/resources/2008-Hesse-The-Poet.pdf

[QUOTE]

[b]waunakonor wrote: [/b] [b]alexis1 wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] P.S. If I'm not careful, I could see getting sucked into the Queen universe!
[/QUOTE]
JOIN US[/QUOTE]

We have cookies! D:

[QUOTE] [b]waunakonor wrote:[/b]

I can't think of any nautical-themed Queen songs.

[/QUOTE]

sail away sweet sister
kashoggi's ship
seven seas of rhye
seaside rendezvous
ride the wild wind

[QUOTE] [b]inu-liger wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE]

[b]waunakonor wrote: [/b] [b]alexis1 wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] P.S. If I'm not careful, I could see getting sucked into the Queen universe!
[/QUOTE]
JOIN US[/QUOTE]

We have cookies! D:[/QUOTE]

And milk! O_O