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Tuning vs Speed-Up

I strongly suspect that the song is speeded up half a tone, as opposed to having been recorded in Ab originally.

It is certainly played in G in the version on "Live Killers"--feline1 09:23, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

It's in G on the recording, guys.

The recording is of course in A-Flat, and I do suspect it was speeded up as well. Though speeding up sometimes results in changing the timbre, it wouldn't be the case for this one (only accelerated a 6%). The song does sound better in A-Flat, it's got more dramatical subtlety than the more folksy and 'fireplace-esque' G Major. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.156.29.47 (talk) 14:31, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

- I also suspect it has been sped up half a tone, and not recorded with a capo. As far as I know Brian has never recorded with a capo (and if he did, it was a rare occasion). And they did sped up backing tracks sometimes, to give it a bit of a fresher sound. They also did it with Another One Bites the Dust (it's tuning is somewhere between E minor and F minor). Also they played the song in G (if the album version was indeed recorded with a capo and written in Ab it would be another rare occasion of playing a song live in a different key to the album version)

I full agree that the track was most likely recorded in the key of G, and then varispeed was used move everything up a semitone to the key of Ab. The vocals would then have been recorded afterwards. Unfortunately, I have never read any evidence that this is the case, it just seems the to make the most sense (especially since it's always been played live in the key of G).

There are a number of reasons as to why this might have been done. Possibly it was to give the song a slightly different sort of mood (given the sci-fi subject matter), or possibly it was sped up to make the backing track a little tighter. LeftHandedGuitarist (talk) 09:58, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Lyrics

I'm pretty sure the lyrics quoted here are wrong, and I'm going to change them. I posted this on the reference desk yesterday and got a response:

'39

In the article for the song '39 by Queen, it says the lyrics include, "your mother's eyes in your eyes/cry to me...All my life/still ahead/pity me!" I've been listening to my recording of the song over and over again, and I'm pretty sure they're "from your eyes" and "For my life". Can I get a confirmation on this? Black Carrot 02:18, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

, , and agree with you. But is the only one on the the first page of a google search that returned that it said "Your mother's eyes in your eyes cry to me." All of them, however, agree with you on the "for my life" part. schyler 03:09, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

So, if anyone disagrees, feel free to contact me. Black Carrot 14:38, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

I think by the line "In the land that our grand-children knew" he is implying to his dead lover that he has come back and meet their grandchildren. 75.44.28.48 (talk) 06:09, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

Time Dilation

The velocity calculated here (to produce the required dilation effect) seems to be based on the speed of light being 300,000,000 m/s. Would it not make more sense to use the exact value of c (299,792,458 m/s)? In this case the desired volocity would be 299777468 m/s. (As it stands, the velocity is greater than that of the exact speed of light and may upset some of the more 'picky' readers, myself included :D ) Oatzy 20:10, 08 December 2006 (GMT)

I tend to agree. Either remove the speed reference and leave the multiplayer of 'c' only or give a precise speed. Don't see the point this way. I'm going to fix the number, and if you prefer exclude it, as it was in the prev. version. Donny 17:30, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Express it as a fraction of c, and wikilink that to speed of light.--feline1 17:44, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

agreed. it is good enough as it is now. 99% is fair to show the reader an idea about this, we don't need all of the mega numbers, but we definitely didn't need mega numbers that were wrong. And yes, noone says that the travel was "exactly" 100 years. it is probably more of a figure of speach. Donny 19:28, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Quite. AND the entire concept is only "science-fiction" anyways ;-)--feline1 20:05, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Setting

It's either 2039-2139, or 2139-2239. the second is more relistic, but from quens pespectibe in the 70's/80's, the first might have seamed pheasible.Avianmosquito 16:20, 2 October 2007 (UTC)Avianmosquito

Your Mother's Eyes

While the lyric "Your mother's eyes, from your eyes, cry to me" COULD suggest that he is met with his daughter as an old woman, isn't it a little more feasible that he's met with his granddaughter and sees the resemblance of his daughter in her? It seems a little far fetched that in this apocalyptic future where the world is dying that health care would still be good enough that people could survive to live over 100 years old.

Then again, they could have developed something totally awesome that makes you live to 150 by that time, but I'm thinking pessimistically. ~~ Not logged in Tranchera ~~ 22:01, 1 November 2007

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Did the volunteers really not know?

OK, pure speculation time. I love this song, but one thing I don't get. In the second verse, Brian sings "... little darling we'll away, but my love this cannot be..." His plans with his "little darling" and especially his expression of disbelief in the next line imply the volunteers were not aware of the phenomenon of time dilation. That would mean either (1) the people who ran the mission didn't know about it or (2) they knew it, but didn't tell the volunteers about it. The first seems unlikely, while the second is disturbing and, frankly, unbelievable. Surely they would tell the volunteers, which doesn't mean there would be no takers: the planned Mars One mission got over four thousand volunteers even though they'd never return to Earth. I wonder which of these options Brian had in mind when he wrote it. Fool4jesus (talk) 14:28, 25 July 2017 (UTC)

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Groucho Marx and 'A Cappella'

The article claims that when the band met Groucho Marx, they "performed "'39" a cappella". The source cited is a book called Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock, which I don't own. But in this video, Roger Taylor states that Groucho gave them a guitar, which would imply that they weren't performing a cappella. What in the book lead to the article saying that it was a cappella, and which source would be more verifiable? Mister Apple (talk) 10:09, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Progressive rock?

Is '39 really progressive rock? Most sources agree that it's folk or skiffle, but not prog rock in the same way Bohemian Rhapsody or The Prophets Song are prog. In the review of the album it says that '39 is "mystical prog rock" but this seems to refer more to the fact that it's about science fiction and space travel. And in the review of the song, the reviewer says that "its only obvious progressive attribute being the chorus over the opening bars". So, I'm changing it unless someone can explain it to me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by UndoubtedlyMe (talk • contribs) 17:30, 15 November 2018 (UTC)

If the source describes it as "prog rock", that's what we should go with. It's similar to some of the simpler songs on early Genesis albums, and nobody disputes that they were prog rock.

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

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Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 06:47, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

@султан 91.192.66.153 (talk) 21:39, 1 April 2023 (UTC)

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