People are only just noticing the ‘questionable’ Don’t Stop Me Now Queen lyrics years later
While 'Bohemian Rhapsody' might be the most popular song from the legendary rock band Queen, some people reckon another of their beloved tunes has got some 'questionable' lyrics.
That song is 'Don't Stop Me Now', the sort of quick-tempo number which has made it popular to sing for people of all ages and is one of the most popular things to play at a wedding.
Written by Freddie Mercury in 1978, the song featured on Queen's album Jazz and quickly went on to become one of their most popular singles.
Given how successful the band have been, that's a lofty achievement, but some folks who've been thinking about the lyrics have been given pause for thought.
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That's because the song is not just about someone who goes really fast, it's about the stuff you don't mention in front of the kids, the s-e-x and the d-r-u-g-s.
He's 'floating around in ecstasy' and 'a sex machine ready to reload' who is going to 'oh oh oh explode' like 'an atom bomb'.
It's not difficult to figure out what he means and yet the song is really popular with all ages.
Folks who've only just twigged about this said they 'hadn't realised for so long until actually focusing on the lyrics', while others said that Queen had 'questionable lyrics in their songs' with the likes of 'Don't Stop Me Now'.
The tune is featured in a lot of kid-friendly material, such as in the Sonic the Hedgehog movie and in the trailer for Pixar's latest film Elio, despite being a song about sex and drugs.
On the other hand, the kids are probably too young to really know what it all means and take 'Don't Stop Me Now' at face value, and it's not like half of the other songs that get played on the radio aren't about sex either.
One person who was worried about the song when it was first being written was Queen guitarist Brian May, who said he was uncomfortable with it 'for all the right reasons and the wrong reasons'.
He thought it was a very 'fun' song that he came to see as a 'stroke of genius', telling Mojo that he was initially worried about it because he was worried about Mercury.
The Queen guitarist said that by the time 'Don't Stop Me Now' was being made, Freddie was 'having sex with lots of men' and 'taking lots of drugs'.
May said: "I thought it was a lot of fun, but I did have an undercurrent feeling of, 'aren't we talking about danger here,' because we were worried about Freddie at this point.
"That feeling lingers, but it's become almost the most successful Queen track as regards to what people play in their car or at their weddings.
"It's become a massive, massive track and an anthem to people who want to be hedonistic. It was kind of a stroke of genius from Freddie."
Topics: Music, Freddie Mercury
Joe Harker