“I’m fascinated to know what people think!” Brian May gifts Queen fans never-before-heard "work in progress" version of Christmas song Not For Sale (Polar Bear)

(Image credit: Michael Putland/Getty Images)

Queen guitarist Brian May has gifted fans a Christmas treat with the broadcast of a never-before-heard, unreleased song from the band.

The song, Not For Sale (Polar Bear), actually pre-dates the 1970 formation of Queen, and was co-written by May and vocalist/bassist Tim Staffell for Smile, a power trio completed by drummer Roger Taylor. According to the Queen Vault fan website, the song was first recorded by Smile during a session at De Lane Lea studios in London in September 1969.

Following Smile's break-up, May brought the song to his new band Queen, and the quartet reworked the song with the guitarist singing lead vocals on the verses, and frontman Freddie Mercury singing the chorus. However, Queen's take on the song was never released.

On December 22, May decided to share what he described as a "work-in-progress" version of the song at the close of his show on his Planet Rock radio show.

"My final choice is going to confuse you, probably," he said while introducing the song. “Because you might possibly have heard a kinda bootleg version of this by Smile, it’s a song that goes back a very long way, but to my knowledge no one has ever heard this version, which is kinda a work in progress and it will appear on the forthcoming rebuild of the Queen II album next year, but I’m sneaking this in because I’m just fascinated to know what people think about it. It's a very, very ancient song called Polar Bear."

Listen to the song below.

Queen - Polar Bear (2025 Planet Rock Broadcast) [Work In Progress Mix] - YouTube

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Earlier this year, Queen shared their own De Lane Lea studio demos on vinyl for Record Store Day.

The demos, which were recorded at the Soho studios in late 1971 and early 1972 before Queen signed with EMI, were originally made available as a CD included in the 2024 Queen I box set.

"The demos we made at De Lane Lea Studios were closer to what we dreamed of than our later sessions," Brian May. admitted in February. “Nice open drum sounds and ambience on the guitar. That was much more the way we wanted it to go."

Keep Yourself Alive (De Lane Lea Demo / 2024 Mix) - YouTube

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Artists

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.

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