Don't Stop Me Now
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| "Don't Stop Me Now" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Queen | ||
| from the album Jazz | ||
| Released | 26 January 1979 (UK) | |
| Format | 7", Cassette tape | |
| Recorded | August - September 1978 | |
| Genre | Pop rock | |
| Length | 3:29 | |
| Label | EMI, Elektra | |
| Writer(s) | Freddie Mercury | |
| Producer(s) | Queen and Roy Thomas Baker | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Queen singles chronology | ||
| "Bicycle Race / Fat Bottomed Girls" (1978) |
"Don't Stop Me Now" (1979) |
"Jealousy" (1979) |
Don't Stop Me Now (Sample ) is a 1979 hit single by Queen, from their 1978 album Jazz. Words and music were by Freddie Mercury. It was recorded in August/September 1978 in Nice, France.
Musically, the song is based around Mercury's piano playing, with John Deacon and Roger Taylor providing a bass guitar and drums backing track, and Brian May adding a guitar solo. On live versions performed on the band's 1978 and 1979 tours, May would play guitar throughout the song to add a rockier feeling to it.
The lyrics have cosmic imagery describing feelings of power and exhilaration, for example "I'm gonna go, go, go there's no stopping me / I'm burning through the sky yeah 200 degrees…", although more careful examination reveals numerous metaphorical or even blatant sexual references. The song has been described as "the only overtly homosexual song Queen had recorded" [1]
The single reached #9 in the UK charts but only #86 in the US.
[edit] In popular culture
- The song is used, in a cut-down version, in the opening credits of Al Murray's Happy Hour. It is sung by Murray as he 'drives' though London on his ride-on bar. Murray also has a band on each week, who have to sing a Queen song at the end of the show, in the fourth show McFly sang "Don't Stop Me Now".
- In 2004, this song was featured in a scene in the film Shaun of the Dead in which three characters beat a zombie with pool cues, fire extinguisher, a gun and eventually the jukebox the song was being played on, all to the beat of the song.
- In 2005, this song was voted as "The Greatest Driving Song Ever" by viewers of the BBC television program Top Gear, but the trophy given to Roger Taylor was mis-engraved, reading Stop Me Now.
- In 2006, the song was used as a score for Kirin Nuda (Japanese beverage) televised commercial featuring model Rinka or a breakdancing Okamura Takashi.
- In 2006, the song was played on American Dad in the episode, Roger 'n' Me, when Stan and Roger were in Atlantic City.
- In summer 2006, UK supermarket ASDA advertised their George back to school range used school children singing an a cappella version with handclaps on a school bus.
- The song was also featured in the European version of Donkey Konga
- David Morrissey and Steve Pemberton sang it on Blackpool.
- At the end of his First Class Scamp DVD, Harry Hill dressed up like Freddie Mercury (yellow jacket and tracksuit) and sang this song.
- The song can clearly be heard blaring over the Shea Stadium speakers as replays are shown of Endy Chavez's miraculous catch in the 6th inning of Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series.
- The song is also in a scene of the National Lampoon film Blackball.
- The song was used in Dancing with the Stars, season 4, along with the professional dancers of the show while they danced "The Jive."
[edit] Cover versions
Notable cover versions include:
- The Vandals, 2004 (punk)
- Fobia (in Spanish)
- In the European release of the drumming game Donkey Konga (2004)
- McFly, the cover is the official song for Sport Relief 2006. It reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart on the week ending 29 July 2006.
[edit] References
| Preceded by "Smile" by Lily Allen |
UK Singles Chart Number One Single July 23, 2006 – July 30, 2006 |
Succeeded by "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira |
Tom Fletcher - Danny Jones - Harry Judd - Dougie Poynter
Studio albums: Room on the 3rd Floor - Wonderland - Just My Luck (US) - Motion in the Ocean
Singles: "5 Colours in Her Hair" - "Obviously" - "That Girl" - "Room on the 3rd Floor" - "All About You/You've Got a Friend" - "I'll Be OK" - "I Wanna Hold You" - "Ultraviolet/Ballad of Paul K" - "Don't Stop Me Now/Please, Please" - "Star Girl" - "Sorry's Not Good Enough/Friday Night" -"Baby's Coming Back/Transylvania"
DVDs: The Wonderland Tour 2005
