Queen Song of the Week: Don't Stop Me Now

Don't Stop Me Now is Husband's favorite Queen song and since it is his 30th birthday in a few days, I figured I'd do a Queen Song of the Week in his honor.

Don't Stop Me Now, written by Freddie Mercury, was released on the 1978 album Jazz.  It was released as a single and peaked at #9 on the U.K. charts and at #86 on the U.S. charts.

As an aside, seriously U.S.? In 1979, Escape (The Pina Colada Song) was #1 on the U.S. charts for two weeks (and then a third week in 1980) and Queen only makes it to #86? There were many other occasions where a song charted much higher in the U.K. in the U.S. but this particular song is just a glaring disparity (#4 versus #86). I seriously should have been born in England... in 1965. Rant over.

I'm not sure why exactly my Husband likes this song. I made him a mix CD of 18 Queen songs and then asked him every night for two weeks, "Which song is your favorite?" Finally, he said, "I like the song about Mr. Fahrenheit." Then we got SingStar: Queen a few weeks later. I asked if he wanted to sing that song (in front of my entire family, no less) and he agreed so he was clearly not joking about liking the song.

I'll agree - it's a great song. Jazz is Queen's last album from the 1970s. In the 1980s, they moved in a slightly different direction, experimenting with a variety of new styles (including funk) on 1980s The Game and 1982s Hot Space (widely considered by both fans as well as the band itself to be one of their weakest albums). That said, this song is bit of a transition for Queen: not quite the complex hard rock material from the earlier 1970s but not quite the radio-friendly pop they began to record in the 1980s. Sure, it's catchy and the harmonies are fun. The guitar solo isn't too complicated (in relation to the rest of the song, I mean - it's not a terrible divergence from the melody. I have no idea how complicated it is for Dr. May.) Overall, it's a good listen. I like it, but if I had to pick five (or even ten) Queen songs to take with me on a desert island, this probably wouldn't be one of them. Husband, on the other hand, would be perfectly content to listen to this (and Radio Ga Ga) over and over again. So it is clearly a matter of personal taste!

For some reason, this song is also a favorite for people to recreate using video games proving that there are actually people out there with more time on their hands than me! Here's the entire song composed on Mario Paint  and here's song divided into the four main parts (singing, drums, guitar, and bass) on something called Automatic Mario. Absolutely ridiculous!

Happy Listening!

And Happy Birthday Husband!