Don't Stop Me Now

"Don't Stop Me Now"
Single by Queen
from the album Jazz
B-side	"In Only Seven Days" "More of That Jazz" (Japan, USA, Canada and Australia)
Released	5 January 1979
Format	7"
Recorded	August 1978 at Super Bear Studios (Berre-les-Alpes, France)
Genre	Glam rock, pop rock
Length	3:29 (7" / Album version)
Label	EMI Elektra
Writer(s)	Freddie Mercury
Producer(s)	Roy Thomas Baker Queen
Queen singles chronology
"Bicycle Race" / "Fat Bottomed Girls" (1978) "Don't Stop Me Now" (1979) "Mustapha" (1979)
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"Don't Stop Me Now" is a song by the British rock band Queen, featured on their 1978 album Jazz that was released as a single in 1979. Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, it was recorded in August 1978 at Super Bear Studios in Berre-les-Alpes (Alpes-Maritimes), France, and is the twelfth track on the album.^[1]

Musically the song builds on Mercury's piano playing, with John Deacon and Roger Taylor providing a bass guitar and drums backing track. The song also provides an example of Queen's trademark style of multitrack harmony vocals for the chorus lines.^[2]

On the studio version, Brian May's only guitar playing is in his guitar solo, but on live versions performed on the band's 1979 Jazz and Crazy tours, May would also play rhythm guitar throughout the rest of the song to give more of a feel of rock music. A live version of the song features in the band's 1979 album Live Killers.^[3] The song also appears in the band's 1981 compilation album Greatest Hits, and in June 2011, as part of Queen's 40th anniversary celebrations, an old take of the song containing more guitar parts was included on the bonus EP of the re-released and remastered Jazz album.^[4][5]

The electronics company Alba conducted a survey of 2000 UK adults, which asked respondents to name their favourite uplifting song, and 'Don't Stop Me Now' was the most commonly said.^[6]

Reception

The single reached number 9 in the UK charts but only number 86 in the US. Viewed at the time of release as one of the lesser songs in the Queen canon, it was only performed live during 1979, with the last performance in the Crazy Tour.^[7] Despite this the song has grown in stature with time and has been popularised not only by consistent airplay, but by its use in advertisements, television programmes and films, and through cover versions. It has subsequently become one of Queen's most popular songs.^[8][9][10] The single also has reached Gold status in the United Kingdom.

Music video

The video for the song was directed by J. Kliebenstein and filmed at the Forest National, Brussels, Belgium on 26 January 1979.^[11]

Single

On the Japanese, USA, Canadian and Australian release, "More Of That Jazz" was the B-side.

In popular culture

• In the musical We Will Rock You, the song is used in the scene where Killer Queen prematurely begins to celebrate, thinking that Galileo and Scaramouche have been captured.
• Episode 5 of the 2004 BBC miniseries Blackpool featured the recording, accompanied on screen by the singing and dancing of the characters, as part of the story.
• In 2005, this song was voted as "The Greatest Driving Song Ever" by viewers of the BBC television program Top Gear.^[12]
• The song's use in a scene for the zombie/comedy film Shaun of the Dead, where the main characters attack a zombie to the song's beat was well received by critics.^[13][14]
• The song was used in an episode of American Dad! when Roger and Stan go on a wild night out in Atlantic City.
• In 2011, on what would have been Freddie Mercury's 65th birthday, this song was used by Google in their Google Doodle homage to him.^[15]
• The song was featured as a downloadable track for the Rock Band series.
• In 2015, Thomas Cook advert featured the song for Real Good Times.
• In October 2014 the singer Foxes performed the song in the style of a 1920s jazz number aboard a starship in the Doctor Who episode Mummy on the Orient Express. Her cover was used again in the episode Hell Bent.
• The song featured as the requested funeral music for Jonny Kennedy in the Channel 4 documentary The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off.
• UMK3 player legend Mgo, uses the song in a highlights video "UMK3 Don't Stop Me Now".
• The song appears in the 2016 video game Just Dance 2017.
• In September 2015, a spoof version of the track (with suitably amended lyrics) called 'The 111 Song' was published on YouTube to promote Britain's telephone health advice service.
• The song was used in the launch trailer for the video game Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2.
• The song was used in the film Hardcore Henry.
• Don't Stop Me Now features as the music to the intro credits sequence of Video Games: The Movie. The visuals in this sequence match the lyrics to the song.

Sales and certifications

Personnel

• Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals, piano
• Brian May - electric guitar, backing vocals
• Roger Taylor - drums, tambourine, triangle, backing vocals
• John Deacon - bass guitar

Cover versions

Notable cover versions include:

• McFly, the cover is the official song for Sport Relief 2006. It reached Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on the week ending 29 July 2006.^[19]
• The Vandals, on their 2004 album Hollywood Potato Chip. A music video filmed for the song features guitarist and producer Warren Fitzgerald busking in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre while in costume as Freddie Mercury.^[20]
• In the European release of the drumming game Donkey Konga (2004)
• The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.^[21]
• Katy Perry performed the song twice on her Hello Katy Tour.^[22]
• Unibet in Scandinavia featured a cover by Fibes, Oh Fibes! in autumn 2009^[23]
• Olly Murs sang this on 14 November during "Queen Week" of The X Factor 2009
• Parts of the "Weird Al" Yankovic song, "Ringtone" (2009) resemble this song's melody, along with several other Queen songs.^[24]
• Sally Chatfield covered this song in the Australian version of the X-Factor.
• Kitty Brucknell sang this on 12 November during "Lady Gaga vs Queen Week" of The X Factor 2011
• Sean (Kamasean Y. Matthews), an Indonesian Idol 2012 contestant sang this song on the second of her two performances at the Indonesian Idol (season 7) Top 6 Spectacular show 2012.^[25]
• A cover version of the song appears with The Incredibles float at Disney's Pixar Play Parade at the Disney California Adventure.^[26]
• Darren Criss as Blaine Anderson covered the song for Glee in the episode "Diva".^[27]
• This Morning presenter Matt Johnson performed the song as Freddie Mercury on week 4 of the ITV show Your Face Sounds Familiar, scoring top marks from the judges and winning the heat.
• Foxes performed the song in the style of a 1920s jazz number in the Doctor Who episodes "Mummy on the Orient Express" and "Hell Bent".

Chart positions

• United Kingdom - #9
• Ireland - #10
• Netherlands - #14
• Germany - #35
• Sweden - #37
• United States - #86
• Australia (2008) - #85^[28]

References

External links

• Official music video on YouTube