{"id":365150,"date":"2025-12-24T03:46:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T03:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/365150\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T03:46:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T03:46:11","slug":"queen-share-unreleased-christmas-song-not-for-sale-polar-bear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/365150\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen Share Unreleased Christmas Song &#8216;Not For Sale (Polar Bear)&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/queen\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Queen<\/a> guitarist Brian May slipped a surprise present under fans\u2019 trees on Monday (Dec.22) when he revealed a lost Christmas song recorded by the group way back in 1974. The gentle acoustic ballad \u201cNot For Sale (Polar Bear),\u201d was originally recorded during the sessions for the band\u2019s 1974 sophomore album, Queen II, but then left off the final track list.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tExplore\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/brian-may\/\" class=\"c-lazy-image__link lrv-a-unstyle-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" alt=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- height=\"\" width=\"\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/queen\/\" class=\"c-lazy-image__link lrv-a-unstyle-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/charts-static.billboard.com\/img\/1973\/11\/queen-ty8-344x344.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- height=\"\" width=\"\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-tagline  a-font-secondary-fancy-xxxs@desktop-xl a-font-secondary-fancy-s@desktop-xl-max lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase lrv-u-color-black u-padding-t-13 lrv-u-padding-b-2 lrv-u-margin-tb-00 lrv-u-text-align-center lrv-u-border-t-1 lrv-u-border-color-black lrv-u-width-100p\">See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tMay debuted the song on his <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ontheradio.co.uk\/2025\/12\/planet-rock-to-exclusively-play-unreleased-queen-christmas-track\/\">Planet Rock Christmas Special<\/a> in the U.K. on Monday night, informing listeners that the particular version he played had never been heard before and that it is slated to be part of an upcoming 2026 Queen II re-release. \u201cPeople might possibly have heard a bootleg version of \u2018Not for Sale (Polar Bear)\u2019 by Smile, it\u2019s a song that goes back a very long way, but to my knowledge no one has ever heard this version,\u201d said May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHe called the track \u2014\u00a0written for his pre-Queen band, Smile \u2014\u00a0a \u201cwork in progress,\u201d and said he decided to \u201csneak\u201d it into his holiday special because he\u2019s \u201cfascinated to know what people think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe song doesn\u2019t have an overtly Christmas-y vibe, but late singer Freddie Mercury\u2019s yearning, wistful vocals give it the feeling of sad-eyed holiday nostalgia so familiar from other blue Christmas yuletide classics. \u201cIn the bright shop window sits the polar bear\/ Makes the children\u2019s eyes light up to see him there\/ Amongst the tinsel he gives everyone a smile,\u201d Mercury croons over acoustic guitars and brushed drums. \u201cHe\u2019s not for, not for, not for sale,\u201d he adds on the angelic chorus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAt press time the song was not available on major streaming services but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lpjrOPN6yzw&amp;list=RDlpjrOPN6yzw&amp;start_radio=1&amp;pp=ygUdcXVlZW4gbm90IGZvciBzYWxlIHBvbGFyIGJlYXKgBwE%3D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">can be heard here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubpass.co\/billboard\" 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lrv-u-background-color-brand-primary lrv-u-background-color-black:hover lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-color-brand-primary:hover u-padding-lr-0.875 u-padding-tb-10 lrv-u-flex-shrink-0 u-align-items-center a-font-basic-fancy-xs u-margin-t-0.188 u-margin-b-0188 u-margin-b-040@mobile-max\" href=\"https:\/\/cloud.email.billboard.com\/signup\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\tSign Up<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queen guitarist Brian May slipped a surprise present under fans\u2019 trees on Monday (Dec.22) when he revealed a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,131270,75,5453,341,15111],"class_list":{"0":"post-365150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-christmas-music","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-genre-rock","13":"tag-music","14":"tag-music-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}