This Queen Classic May Be Freddie Mercury’s Greatest Empowerment Anthem

Freddie Mercury opens “We Are The Champions” with dues paid and sentences served. It all leads to a celebratory chorus of triumph over hardship. And it endures as a go-to song for victorious sports teams: “No time for losers / ’Cause we are the champions of the world.” No doubt a great anthem for when one has routed an opponent in the big game.

However, Mercury’s greatest empowerment anthem may be “Don’t Stop Me Now”. Appearing on Queen’s 1978 LP, Jazz, it’s an upbeat and cheerful tune that finds the singer in a state of utter rapture as he keeps the buzzkills at bay.

Floating Around in Ecstasy

Mercury croons optimistically over piano chords. He’s floating and he wants to keep it that way. It could be a great night, week, or month; he doesn’t want it to end.

Tonight, I’m gonna have myself,
A real good time, I feel alive.
And the world, I’ll turn it inside out, yeah,
I’m floating around in ecstasy, so.

His soliloquy then becomes a chorus as Mercury and the band layer voices into a kind of defiantly grand opera.

Don’t stop me now,
Don’t stop me,
’Cause I’m having a good time, having a good time.

From here, he leaps like a jungle cat, refusing to be grounded, and speeds by like a naked Godiva on horseback.

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 Speed of Light

“Don’t Stop Me Now” feels like it could be the backstory to “We Are The Champions”. Before a champ can triumph, the champ must first rally himself, as Mercury does here.

This is Mr. Fahrenheit, who, like Mercury the planet, reaches scorching temperatures. And Queen’s theatrical singer, appropriately named, ignites this empowerment anthem with a gymnastic vocal range, glitzy strut, and conviction.

Oh, I’m burning through the sky, yeah,
200 degrees, that’s why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit,
I’m travelling at the speed of light,
I wanna make a supersonic man out of you.

Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns