Rocktober '70s Song #7: "It's Late" by Queen (1977)

You can't have a Rocktober dedicated to the '70s without some Queen.  There are dozens of Queen songs I could have gone with, and I certainly didn't want to go with one of the better-known songs because I wouldn't be fulfilling my mission of turning people onto great songs that maybe they haven't had the pleasure of hearing yet.

I've already had a Rocktober post about my favorite Queen deep cut, "Stone Cold Crazy,"  so I'm going with another one that you don't hear all that often, if at all:  "It's Late" off of 1977's News of the World album (released a day before I was born -- whatevs).

Clocking in at nearly six and a half minutes, "It's Late" is a majestic, magisterial masterpiece, as one would expect from Queen. Brian May wrote it as kind of a three-act play about a relationship on the verge of collapse, but one that the narrator wants to save (hence the refrain "it's late / it's late / it's late / but not too late").  The music reflects the ups and downs of love on the rocks.  The song starts out slow and whimsically.  The verses are poppy and soulful, so that you're expecting a sweet love song.  

But then that first chorus kicks in with Freddy Mercury's powerful wail, and you're like "shit, man, this is kind of a rager."  The pattern repeats, with a bluesy bridge, and then there are these all-out-shredding jams at around the four-minute mark and then again about 30 seconds before the end of the song that tell you with music, "Toots, look, I know things ain't been perfect between you and me, but I still have a fire, so if you want to make this work, god dammit, let's burn this world to the fucking ground.  Or at least let's just have one last marathon bang session before we part ways."  Speaking of tapping, something I didn't realize is that May uses finger tapping -- soon to be made famous by Eddie Van Halen -- in the song.