Don't Stop Me Now

"Don't Stop Me Now" is a song by the British hard rock/pop rock band Queen from their 1978 album Jazz and 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.

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.

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. Featuring in films, commercials, and television shows, the song has grown in popularity in the four decades since its release. Bobby Olivier of Billboard attributes its initial rebirth to its appearance in the 2004 cult classic zombie apocalypse film Shaun of the Dead. In 2014, Rolling Stone readers voted it their third favourite song by Queen.

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

Live performances
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. 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 rock feel. A live version of the song features in the band's 1979 album Live Killers.

In popular culture

 * In 2004, the song was featured in the zombie apocalypse film, Shaun of the Dead. Bobby Olivier of Billboard attributes the initial rebirth of the song to its appearance in the film, writing, “Perhaps the most famous scene from Shaun of the Dead features “Don’t Stop Me Now,” which blares from a pub jukebox while stars Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Kate Ashfield bash a zombie with pool cues to the song’s hurtling beat. Shaun became something of a cult classic among millennial comedy and horror lovers alike, introducing the song to a whole new generation of listeners.”
 * In 2005, this song was voted as "The Greatest Driving Song Ever" by viewers of the BBC television program Top Gear.
 * This song was included in the list of songs for use in the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow, and it was released in the Soviet Union that same year alongside Queen's "Jealousy" single.
 * In 2015, 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 popular response.
 * A version of this song sung by the cast was used as the opening theme to the sitcom Super Fun Night.
 * The song, and its Wikipedia article, are featured prominently in Hank Green’s 2018 novel An Absolutely Remarkable Thing.
 * The song is featured during the climax (fight scene) of the 2015 film Hardcore Henry.
 * A super-villain named Mr. Fahrenheit, the Supersonic Man, appeared on The Venture Bros. in a flashback to the late 1980s, visually based on Mercury.
 * In 2018, the original music video of the song was featured during the end credits of Bohemian Rhapsody.
 * In 2019, the song was featured on Netflix’s original series, The Umbrella Academy.
 * The song was featured in the 2019 DC Universe superhero film, Shazam!.
 * In 2019, the song was parodied in the season finale of Saturday Night Live with Alec Baldwin singing the song as President Trump.
 * In Canada, the song was used in a Telus mobile commercial that debuted in 2019.
 * The song was used in Iveco S-WAY commercial in 2019.
 * In Indonesia, the song was used in a Mitsubishi Xpander Cross commercial that debuted in November 2019.

Personnel
Queen:
 * Freddie Mercury – lead and backing vocals, piano
 * Brian May – electric guitar, backing vocals
 * Roger Taylor – drums, percussion, tambourine, triangle, backing vocals
 * John Deacon – bass guitar

Cover versions
Notable cover versions include:
 * McFly's cover was the official song for Sport Relief 2006. It reached Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on the week ending 29 July 2006.
 * Foxes covered the song on the 11 October 2014 "Mummy on the Orient Express" episode of Doctor Who. A music video was subsequently released by the BBC to publicize series 8 of the rebooted show.
 * The Vandals, on their 2004 album Hollywood Potato Chip.