Freddie Mercury’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ vocal has emerged in isolated form.
The Queen singer remains one of rock’s most iconic frontmen, his life captured for the Silver Screen in 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. The band’s run of hits is nigh-on endless – powerful theatrical rock, replete with soaring vocals.
Even at their most pop-centric, that sense of daring and drama remains. ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ was released in the opening weeks of 1979, and immediately became a bold, larger-than-life hit.
Smashing into the Top 10 in the UK, Queen broke global with the song, rushing to the upper echelons of the Billboard charts. Ironically, guitarist Brian May wasn’t initially a fan, citing its open lust for hedonism as a turn-off. Indeed, it was only after seeing the joy it brought fans that the musician was finally won over by the song’s emphatic nature.
Indeed, it all seems to hang on Freddie Mercury’s bravura vocal. Completely in his prime, it rushes head-long to the horizon – little wonder Top Gear viewers voted it the Best Driving Song Of All Time in a popular poll.
Broken down, the isolated vocal shows the singer’s lust for life, his unashamed grasp of pleasure – there’s a darkness here, too, with ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ aware that, sometimes, limitations can be a good thing.
Little wonder it’s such an evergreen karaoke staple across the world:
I’m a shooting star leaping through the sky
Like a tiger, defying the laws of gravity
I’m a racing car passing by, like Lady Godiva
I’m gonna go, go, go there’s no stopping me
The isolated vocal epitomises Freddie Mercury’s skilfully ebullient approach, and lets you imagine yourself sitting alongside him in the studio booth during that fateful performance.
Tune in now.
