Queen’s Brian May in furious clash with Freddie Mercury over iconic song

has recalled how one of his most famous guitar solos almost didn’t happen as was insisting the track was a “piano song”. The famous riff on Don’t Stop Me Now is nearly more famous than the song itself but Brian admitted he found himself sidelined by Freddie Mercury when it came to recording his parts.

“Freddie saw it very much as a piano song, a la , really. Powerhouse piano, powerhouse vocal, and that’s it. 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,” he admitted, “but he did say, ‘Well, it does need a solo. I need you to take over the vocal.’” Brian admitted once he was given the go ahead he could “sort of hear the solo in my head before I actually picked up the guitar to do it”.

Describing it as “a kind of little diversion”and a “counter melody” he told “I sometimes feel a bit apologetic about it.”

However he condceded he is happy with the finished product as he feels it enhances the energy on a song that is already high energy.

The track originally featured on the band’s 1978 album Jazz and was released as a single on 26 January 1979.

It reached a respectable number 9 in the UK charts but only hit number 86 in the US, although it received plenty of airplay as the album had reached the top 10.

However in the years since it has taken on a new life thanks to being featured in movies, TV shows and commercials.

It famously featured in the Simon Pegg comedy horror Shaun of the Dead and has been covered by McFly, Darren Criss and The Vamps to name just a few.

It was voted as the third-best Queen song of all time by readers of Rolling Stone in 2014, beaten only by Fat Bottomed Girls, which also appeared on Jazz, and Bohemian Rhapsody, which was released in 1975 and featured on the A Night At The Opera album.

The magazine said “time has been very kind to it and it’s widely seen now as one of the group’s best works.”