A Song in Three Scenes
Only once can I recall a rock song having been written in scenes instead of verses.
The album cover for Queen’s “News of the World” gave many a kid nightmares in the ’70s — or at least that’s what I tell my own 2nd-grade self to make that kid feel better about it. The friggin’ robot had blood on its finger! That friggin’ robot killed Queen! Why? Why God why did it have to kill sweet little innocent Queen? How many more innocent humans must die!?
It was also the rare album where the flap opened downward, with both sides intended as a vertical picture instead of a letterbox. It kills Queen on the cover, and on the inside, it’s coming after the rest of us.
But I digress before I’ve begun, and I haven’t even talked about how much my love of Queen and the movie cheesy 1980 “Flash Gordon” are intertwined…
On the back lyric sleeve for “News of the World,” the tenth song on the album was broken down into scenes. Scenes! Like a play! OMG! This oddity mesmerized me, and even though I didn’t remotely understand the song then, I’ve been fascinated with the song ever since. (None of the online sites that provide the song lyrics include note of the scenes… which seems odd.)
Let’s begin with the comments from songwriter and guitar genius Brian May:
“It’s another one of those story-of-your life songs. I think it’s about all sorts of experiences that I had, and experiences that I thought other people had, but I guess it was very personal, and it’s written in three parts, it’s like the first part of the story is at home, the guy is with his woman. The second part is in a room somewhere, the guy is with some other woman, that he loves, and can’t help loving, and the last part is he’s back with his woman.”
It’s probably heresy, but I’m pretty sure May got his own song explanation wrong and accidentally flipped the first two. I think Act One is meeting The Other Woman. Act Two is His Woman after she has discovered his infidelity or he has confessed. And he begs for forgiveness that he’s not even entirely sure he wants:
It’s late — mmm, and it’s driving me so mad
It’s late — yes I know, but don’t try and tell me that it’s
Too late — save our love you can’t turn out the light
So late — I’ve been wrong but I’ll learn to be right
It’s late — It’s late — It’s late
But not too late
Act Three is… probably His Woman, since May says so. Or maybe it’s The Other Woman after she has become His Woman. No matter. Point is, gather ye rosebuds, because there’s marrow to be sucked, and you can’t tie down the lead guitarist to just one lady because Rock and friggin’ Roll won’t stand fer it.
(Please feel free to check out the lyrics and offer up your own take!)
If the subject matter and amorality turn you off, then just appreciate the construction of one of Queen’s very best songs, and easily one of the very best deep cuts in rock. “It’s Late” runs over six minutes, but it never drags and never feels stretched out. Everything about the musical architecture of this song is a home run, from the slow-rolling start, to the overtracked harmonies, to the phenomenal buildup to Scene Three that includes May tapping out the notes pre-Eddie Van Halen and Freddie Mercury offering up one serious passion-scream that’s so awesome he returns to that yell well to close the song.
YEAR: 1977
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