YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND / '39

While the song that most people are going to be more familiar with here is 'You're My Best Friend' (one of the band's most commercially sucessful and accessible songs,) the song here that really shines is actually the b-side, '39.' While it's never received much attention, it stands as being one of my favourite Queen songs.

The song is in the sub-genre of 'filk,' a type of folk that revolves around science fiction and storytelling. To summarize, '39' tells the story of space explorers who travel at speeds faster than light for a year... However, when they get back, due to time dilation, while only a year has passed for them, many have passed back home on Earth, and everyone they knew is dead. While the song is short, the way it tells the story is very well done, and this is one of the few times we hear Brian May sing! In a way, I think that Freddy would have not worked for the song, as he is too theatrical for it. Brian May's voice is down to earth and works perfectly for the storyline.

'You're My Best Friend' is a catchy song and uplifting, but doesn't have the replay value of '39' of many other songs. Perfect choice for a hit single though, and this song gave 'A Night At The Opera' some of the attention it needed to suceed.

Both good songs, but one is clearly better than the other.