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Queen’s song ‘39 and Interstellar plot

Posted on 8/23/24 at 11:48 am
Posted by When in Rome
Telegraph Road
Member since Jan 2011
35980 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 11:48 am
Was Interstellar’s plot loosely based on ‘39 by Queen?

Every time I hear this song I can’t help but think it had to have an influence, yet every time I google it I can’t find any direct attribution. The song seems so similar to the basic plot of Interstellar; namely, a group of people go out to space and return to their great grandchildren as young men due to time dilation. I guess nobody owns the idea of relativity (besides Einstein), but it still seems close. This has bothered me for years.

Side note…what a great song, amirite?

quote:

In the year of '39, assembled here the volunteers
In the days when lands were few
Here the ship sailed out into the blue and sunny morn
The sweetest sight ever seen
And the night followed day
And the story tellers say
That the score brave souls inside
For many a lonely day sailed across the milky seas
Ne'er looked back, never feared, never cried
Don't you hear my call though you're many years away
Don't you hear me calling you
Write your letters in the sand
For the day I take your hand
In the land that our grandchildren knew
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
Don't you hear my call though you're many years away?
Don't you hear me calling you?
Write your letters in the sand for the day I take your hand
In the land that our grandchildren knew
Don't you hear my call though you're many years away?
Don't you hear me calling you?
All your letters in the sand cannot heal me like your hand
For my life
Still ahead
Pity me



This post was edited on 8/23/24 at 11:51 am
Posted by ProjectP2294
South St. Louis city
Member since May 2007
74041 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 11:53 am to
I haven't done enough drugs to tackle this thread.
Posted by RollTide1987
Augusta, GA
Member since Nov 2009
68325 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 12:01 pm to
Probably not. What people don't realize about Queen is that they were a band of nerds. Freddie Mercury met his fellow band mates while studying to become a graphic designer in college. Roger Taylor was studying to become a dentist, John Deacon an electrical engineer, and Brian May - the author of the song in your OP - was studying to be an astrophysicist. So the concepts found in the movie Interstellar were very familiar to May when he sat down in 1975 to pen that song.
Posted by ThoseGuys
Wishing I was back in NC
Member since Nov 2012
2615 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 12:21 pm to
Man I swear Queen could perform any genre of music and make an absolute banger.
Posted by When in Rome
Telegraph Road
Member since Jan 2011
35980 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 12:45 pm to
quote:

Probably not. What people don't realize about Queen is that they were a band of nerds. Freddie Mercury met his fellow band mates while studying to become a graphic designer in college. Roger Taylor was studying to become a dentist, John Deacon an electrical engineer, and Brian May - the author of the song in your OP - was studying to be an astrophysicist. So the concepts found in the movie Interstellar were very familiar to May when he sat down in 1975 to pen that song.
I am implying that Interstellar copied May, not the other way around. Unless Interstellar is based on a book written before 1975?
Posted by When in Rome
Telegraph Road
Member since Jan 2011
35980 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 12:45 pm to
I don’t do drugs, but I do think about this sort of thing a lot
Posted by When in Rome
Telegraph Road
Member since Jan 2011
35980 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 12:46 pm to
quote:

Man I swear Queen could perform any genre of music and make an absolute banger.
Agreed. While the themes in the song are very futuristic, the sound is more country or folksy than anything else. The Stones also put out some good folksy stuff like Wild Horses that I feel like goes under the radar too.
Posted by RollTide1987
Augusta, GA
Member since Nov 2009
68325 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 1:02 pm to
quote:

I am implying that Interstellar copied May, not the other way around.


Well, considering that the concepts behind Interstellar and '39 predate both intellectual properties, I highly doubt it. Christopher Nolan borrowed heavily from the writings of Carl Sagan when he was developing the story for Interstellar. Brian May, who was in school when Sagan was doing his best work, undoubtedly had the writings of Sagan assigned to him in class.
This post was edited on 8/23/24 at 1:04 pm
Posted by lsuguy84
Madisonville
Member since Feb 2009
25027 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 1:12 pm to
If you start the song at exactly 12:39, into the movie, Matthew McConaughey appears naked in your living room playing bongos
Posted by When in Rome
Telegraph Road
Member since Jan 2011
35980 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 1:25 pm to
Ahh, that makes sense. I own Pale Blue Dot but haven’t read it. Maybe I need to pick it up one of these days
Posted by When in Rome
Telegraph Road
Member since Jan 2011
35980 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 1:28 pm to
If you play it backwards, it says “I buried Murph”
Posted by lsuguy84
Madisonville
Member since Feb 2009
25027 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 1:29 pm to
Posted by lsusa
Doing Missionary work for LSU
Member since Oct 2005
6093 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 2:43 pm to
quote:

Well, considering that the concepts behind Interstellar and '39 predate both intellectual properties, I highly doubt it. Christopher Nolan borrowed heavily from the writings of Carl Sagan when he was developing the story for Interstellar. Brian May, who was in school when Sagan was doing his best work, undoubtedly had the writings of Sagan assigned to him in class.


To kinda expand on that and the OP’s question, barring something coming out like Nolan saying “I was fascinated by relativity ever since I heard Queen’s song ‘39, and I wanted to make a movie about it” I’m not sure that you could say he copied the song for the plot.

I’d also say that while that is certainly a key element of the plot, it’s only a part of the story.
Posted by When in Rome
Telegraph Road
Member since Jan 2011
35980 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 3:00 pm to
quote:

I’d also say that while that is certainly a key element of the plot, it’s only a part of the story.
Definitely agree with this point. Still, it would be cool if this turned out to be true:
quote:

Nolan saying “I was fascinated by relativity ever since I heard Queen’s song ‘39, and I wanted to make a movie about it”
But I’m sure by now he would have mentioned it.
Posted by TouchedTheAxeIn82
near the Apple spaceship
Member since Nov 2012
6464 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 3:11 pm to
Posted by TouchedTheAxeIn82
near the Apple spaceship
Member since Nov 2012
6464 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 3:21 pm to
I was a kid when I first read the lyrics and I didn't understand them. I thought it was a WWII-era reference (1939) and maybe the "volunteers" were going to war or something.

More recently I searched YouTube for live perfomances of '39, and in the old videos Freddie sang the song but never really hinted at the meaning of the song.

Now, when Brian sings the song he always puts on his professor hat and takes a moment to talk about time dilation.
Posted by Saint Alfonzo
Member since Jan 2019
25890 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 3:42 pm to
quote:

I don’t do drugs, but I do think about this sort of thing a lot

I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too.
Posted by SouthEasternKaiju
SouthEast... you figure it out
Member since Aug 2021
36220 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 5:37 pm to
Travel like this is still a head twister. Interstellar hit it pretty hard in the feels. Not sure we’ll ever get there but one can imagine….

Fun to try and play connect the dots with these things.
This post was edited on 8/23/24 at 5:38 pm
Posted by When in Rome
Telegraph Road
Member since Jan 2011
35980 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 5:39 pm to
Always happy to see a well-placed Hedberg joke
Posted by FearlessFreep
Baja Alabama
Member since Nov 2009
18477 posts
Posted on 8/23/24 at 11:02 pm to
highschool friend of mine bought this album when it first came out

brings back a lot of memories, mainly of his sister who was a smokeshow

i remember hearing the penultimate song on the record for the first time and thinking “thats amazing, the harmonies are fantastic - too bad it will never get played on the radio”





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