Nearly five decades on and Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now is still a party pleaser. The rock anthem is among their most popular and celebrated tracks as a band – but guitarist Brian May had a bone to pick with frontman Freddie Mercury over one of the song’s now most memorable lines.

“I remember berating Freddie for saying that he was travelling at the speed of light,” Brian recalled about making the track during a recent appearance on the Science Friday podcast. The guitarist had confronted Freddie about why he believed the line didn’t work. 

“I go: ‘Freddie, you cannot travel at the speed of light. I’m sorry’. And he said: I don’t [expletive] care’,” the guitarist recalled how the conversation went.

Brian May has spoken about a disagreement he had with Freddie Mercury over one of Queen's most memorable lyrics© Getty ImagesBrian May has spoken about a disagreement he had with Freddie Mercury over one of Queen’s most memorable lyrics

He added: “But you know, it’s all about fun and joy.” The track, of course, kept the line and appeared on Queen’s 1978 album Jazz before being released as a single the year after. While at the time, it peaked at number nine on the UK singles chart, the song has gone done as a hit in the band’s enduring discography along other treasures like Bohemian Rhapsody and We Will Rock You. 

How Brian’s solo came about

Aside from the metaphoric lyrics and catchy melody, one of the music memorable moments of ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ is Brian’s guitar solo that breaks up the piano on the track. However, in another recent interview, Brian said that Freddie envisioned the track “very much as a piano song, a la Elton John, really” with just “powerhouse” piano and vocals. 

“So I played lots of rhythm guitar on it, and Freddie still said, ‘No, no, no, no – it’s a piano song!’ That was a bit disappointing, but he did say, ‘Well, it does need a solo. I need you to take over the vocal’.”

Brian May performing in 2025© dpa/picture alliance via Getty IBrian May performing in 2025

“I said, ‘Okay, give me a verse and let me see what I can do’,” the guitarist recalled how he ended up with the solo moment, which he said he’s “happy with it the way it is”. 

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Brian’s life outside of music

Brian and his other Queen bandmate, Roger Taylor, have kept the band’s legacy alive over the years following Freddie’s death in 1991. The duo toured with singer Adam Lambert from 2012 for several years, playing Queen’s biggest smash hits. But outside of being a guitarist, Brian is an astrophysicist with a PhD, an animal welfare activist, and a collector of historical artefacts. 

Brian spoke to HELLO! in 2019 after his Les Diableries collection, a series of stereoscopic photographs that were published back in the 1860s, were exhibited in London. The guitarist joked about whether he gets exhausted having so many activities on his plate: “Sometimes I am! I think human beings have to keep moving. I think that’s one of the big secrets of life and I do keep moving, my head is always moving from place to place,” he said.

“I wear different hats depending on what’s going on. I do get tired and probably don’t sleep enough, but everything that happens is a bonus, everything is a treasure.”