This month, all my A to Z Challenge posts will feature a song that is on my personal list of “deep cuts.” These are songs that my husband often razzes me about, that there’s no one else who has ever heard of them or is listening to them, or they’re songs that possibly are just not that mainstream. If we are of the same era or run in the same musical taste circles, none of these may seem that off the beaten path, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t fun songs! Enjoy!

My all-time favorite song by Queen is “It’s Late” from the album News of the World. Most people are familiar with this album because the mega powerhouse hits “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions” are on this record. Those songs are on side 1, tracks 1 and 2. But if you flip over to side 2 and get to the second to last track, you will discover my favorite.

“It’s Late” tells a story of a relationship from thrilling beginning to the breakdown in the middle and the melancholy end. And I think that’s what drew me in to this song, was it clearly told a story, a sad love story, and I wondered what happened to make the relationship go bad. It was lines like, “After all this time, the more I’m trying, the more I seem to let you down,” “I’ve been wrong but I’ll learn to be right,” and “You say what game are you playing? What’s this that you’re saying? I know that I can’t reply. If I take you tonight, is it making my life a lie?” made me wonder what went down between these two people who seemed to have great passion for each other — maybe too much passion. I’m a bit of a sucker for a cryptic, sad love song because I end up imagining a story to go with the song. In fact, this was probably the first song where I did that (other songs followed over the years, probably most notably “Hands Tied” by Scandal and “Fortress Around Your Heart” by Sting).

Give the song a listen and let me know if it makes you feel sad for the lovers that their relationship is done. I couldn’t find a video for the song that I thought was any good, so this is just the audio.