Brian May’s relationship with his fans online is an ongoing source of pure joy. With Queen’s legacy brought into the modern-day by the Bohemian Rhapsody movie and the new Queen + Adam Lambert Tour, new and old fans are relishing the incredible back catalogue of one of the greatest bands of all time. However, there are plenty of other little gems to be discovered which were never individual hits. One of these has resurfaced thanks to a new fan video and made May’s day. It is also utterly unique in the band’s entire discography for one fascinating fact.
Long Away is dear to May because it’s one of the tracks he wrote.
A clever fan, Tracy, created a short video on Instagram mere hours ago and the fan reaction brought it to May’s attention. He shared it on his own page almost immediately.
May added the excited comment (and usual exuberant punctuation): “Wow! How did you do this, tracyannsee??! Amazing! This song was never a single, much to my chagrin. But it’s nice to see it live on. THANKS !!! Bri.”
Long Away is actually completely special for another reason, too.
May says it was never released as a single, but the discography of the band lists it as the fifth and final single released from 1976 album A Day At The Races.
The three big hits were Somebody To Love, Tie Your Mother Down and Old-Fashioned Lover Boy. A fourth track Teo Torriatte was only released in Japan. Long Away did not chart but remains beloved of many Queen fans. It was also highly praised by many critics on the album reviews.
It is also listed as the only Queen single in the entire Freddie Mercury era where he did not sing lead vocals. May takes the lead, with Freddie and Roger Taylor on backing vocal duties.
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Enthusiastic fans have also started lobbying May to perform the track live on the current tour.
Queen + Adam Lambert are currently on the North America leg of a major stadium tour. It will move on to Korea, Japan and Australasia in the New Year.
UK and European fans have a nervous wait to see if other countries will be added.
ORIGINAL FAN TRIBUTE TO LONG AWAY ON INSTAGRAM