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Google pays tribute to Freddie Mercury with homepage doodle

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Google is paying tribute to former Queen frontman Freddie Mercury with a homepage doodle.

The doodle -- which unfolds into a 98-second animated video -- celebrates what would have been the British musician’s 65th birthday (on Labor Day, but Google chose Tuesday to run it in the U.S.). Mercury died 20 years ago from bronchopneumonia, resulting from AIDS.

Click the play button on the homepage, and what unfolds is an elaborate montage of animated Mercury clips set to the song ‘Don’t stop me now.’

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Tonight, I’m gonna have myself a real good time. I feel a-a-alive.’

Mercury performs on stage in front of hordes of adoring fans.

I’m a shooting star, leaping through the sky like a tiger defying the laws of gravity.’

The musician rides a tiger through space. The pixelated tiger shoots flames out of its mouth.

‘I’m a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva. I’m gonna go go go there’s no stopping me.’

Mercury rides a space ship, traveling between planets, shooting green aliens and zig-zagging between ‘G’s, ‘O’s and ‘L’s.

‘I want to make a supersonic man out of you. Don’t stop me now. I’m having such a good time.’

Dressed like a king in an ermine-lined cloak, Mercury zaps away a ‘Stop’ sign, a cake and flames before landing in a golden throne lined with a court full of peacocks.

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To accompany the doodle, Queen founding member and guitarist Brian May guest blogged on the official Google blog Sunday about his band mate, calling Mercury ‘a paradoxically shy yet flamboyant young man.’

‘He was truly a free spirit. There are not many of these in the world,’ May wrote. ‘To achieve this, you have to be, like Freddie, fearless -- unafraid of upsetting anyone’s apple cart.’

Google has paid tribute to other artists and musicians before, most memorably creating a strummable six-string guitar doodle earlier this summer in memory of Les Paul.

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-- Shan Li

Video: Google doodle tribute of Freddie Mercury. Credit: Official Queen YouTube channel

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