Marginal REVOLUTION

The Queen song ’39

2026-08-07 · 17:36 UTC ·Tyler Cowen ·1 min read

Brief

The Queen song '39 recounts volunteers sailing to the stars whose relativistic voyage produces time dilation: they return after many Earth years though they've aged little, leaving loved ones and a changed world. Tyler Cowen (Marginal Revolution, 2026-08-07) highlights Brian May's authorship and astrophysics PhD and cites the lyric In the year of '39.

Why it matters

Tyler Cowen (Marginal Revolution) explains that Queen's '39 is about relativistic space travel and time dilation: volunteers sail to the stars and return after many Earth years while having aged little, making their homecoming tragic.

Key details

  • The song opens with the year '39 and lyrics such as "In the year of '39 came a ship in from the blue"; Cowen quotes these lines to show the narrative.
  • Brian May wrote '39 and holds a PhD in astrophysics; Cowen notes May's scientific background and quips 'no synthesizers!'
Source evidence

I only recently learned what it is really about, namely very rapid travel into space and time dilation mattering for the return voyage. I had never before listened carefully to the lyrics.  I heard the “’39” reference at the beginning, the mention of volunteeers sailing away, and the general nostalgic British music hall mood to the piece, and assumed it concerned the Second World War.  But no, the volunteers sailing away are going to the stars, and their eventual return to the Earth will be for them a sad and tragic event, as everything they had known will be gone.  You can listen to the song here . Here is one of the most direct excerpts: In the year of ’39 came a ship in 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 darling, we’ll away But my love, this cannot be Oh, so many years have gone though I’m older but a year Your mother’s eyes, from your eyes, cry to me Here are the full lyrics .  Brian May, who wrote the song, is not only a wonderful guitarist but he has a PhD in astrophysics. p.s. no synthesizers! The post The Queen song ’39 appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION .