Songfacts®:

• In late April 1987, Freddie Mercury tested positive for HIV. The Queen frontman kept the diagnosis private, and during the next year, he concentrated all his energies on writing and recording the group's The Miracle album. Mercury's bandmates knew of his diagnosis but kept his condition private to protect those closest to him. This song is an outtake from sessions for The Miracle, Queen's 1989 album.
• None of Mercury's lyrics for The Miracle hinted at him suffering from AIDS, though the album's closing track, "Was It All Worth It," finds the rock star reflecting on his life and career.
  
  This somber ballad, which didn't make the album, appears to reference Mercury's failing health.
  
  When the moon has lost its glow
  You have to face it all alone
  
  Mercury sings throughout the song about learning to master life and deal with its trials. Now he must face alone the challenge of his terminal illness.
• Mercury died in November 1991 and as time passed, the surviving members forgot about the track. Queen's production and archive team rediscovered the song when they returned to The Miracle sessions to work on The Miracle Collector's Edition box set.
  
  "I'm happy that our team were able to find this track. After all these years, it's great to hear all four of us," said their guitarist, Brian May. "Working in the studio on a great song idea which never quite got completed... until now!"
• Queen released "Face It Alone" as the lead single from The Miracle Collector's Edition on October 13, 2022. The song is one of six unreleased tracks to feature on the eight-disc box set, including three other previously unheard tracks with Mercury.
• "Face It Alone" is the first new song featuring Freddie Mercury released in over eight years. On the 2014 Queen Forever compilation album, the band included three previously unheard tracks with Mercury: "There Must Be More To Life Than This," "Let Me In Your Heart Again," and "Love Kills."