☝️ Key Points
- The song lyrics tell the story of a group of volunteers who go on a spaceship journey in 1939.
- The song lyrics refer to Einstein's theory of relativity, which states that time passes slower for a moving observer.
- Upon their return, the travelers have only experienced one year, while many years have passed on Earth.
- The world has changed during their absence and the people they knew have aged or died.
- The protagonist recognizes his past love in the eyes of her daughter.
- '39' discusses themes such as longing, loss, and the inevitable progression of time.
Interpretation
The song '39' by
Queen is a melancholic story about time travel and loss. The lyrics may seem a bit confusing at first glance, but they tell the story of a group of volunteers who embark on a spaceship journey in the year 1939. The first verse ('In the year of '39 assembled here the volunteers') describes the beginning of their journey, as they set out to discover new lands. This is a reference to Einstein's theory of relativity, which states that time passes slower for someone in motion than for someone standing still. When the volunteers return, they have only aged a year, while many years have passed on Earth ('Though I'm older but a year'). The world they knew has changed and the people they loved have grown old or died ('For the earth is old and grey, little darling we'll away'). The line 'Your mother's eyes in your eyes cry to me' suggests that the protagonist recognizes his love in the eyes of her daughter, who is now the same age as her mother was when he last saw her. '39' is a song about longing, loss, and the inevitability of the progression of time.