Released 21 November 1975 Length 3:43 | Genre Heavy metal | |
A-side Bohemian Rhapsody (Poland only) Recorded August–November 1975
Sarm East Studios Label EMI, Parlophone (Europe)
Elektra, Hollywood (US) | ||
"Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...)" is a song by the British rock band Queen, and is the opening track on their fourth album A Night at the Opera. The song was written by Freddie Mercury and allegedly describes his hatred of Queen's original manager, the late Norman Sheffield, who is reputed to have mistreated the band and abused his managerial role from 1972 to 1975.
Contents
The song was recorded and mixed at Sarm East Studios in late 1975. As with "Bohemian Rhapsody", most of the guitar parts on the song were initially played on piano by Mercury, to demonstrate to Brian May how they needed to be played on guitar.
Song analysis
The song is dominated by guitars, strong lead and backing vocals as well as piano. It's in 4/4 meter, and has a piano arpeggio intro with heavy guitars, mechanical sounding noise and a loud shriek by Roger Taylor, which abruptly leads into the song in B minor. There are numerous subsections and layers, as was typical for Queen at the time. The verses have short sections with the tempo virtually halved, and the choruses are emphasised with strong harmonies and drum fills.
DRUM! magazine said of Taylor's drum work: "[...] Shortly after the 2/4 measure there’s an unusual snare accent on the & of 4 and a change to a half-time groove. These back-and-forth feel changes continue throughout the song and Taylor somehow makes them flow smoothly."
Lyrics
The song is considered to be Freddie Mercury's "hate letter" to Queen's original manager Norman Sheffield, incorporating a range of vicious lyrics, and described by Mercury as being "so vindictive that Brian felt bad singing it." Though the song makes no direct reference to him, Sheffield was appalled when he heard a playback of the song at Trident Studios at the time of the album's release, and sued both the band and the record label for defamation. This resulted in an out-of-court settlement, thus revealing to the public his connection with the song.
In his autobiography published in 2013, Life on Two Legs: Set The Record Straight, Norman Sheffield denied that he had mistreated the band in his capacity as manager, and referred to copies of the original 1972 Queen management contracts between Sheffield and Queen — included in the book — to back up his defence.
Sheffield died in 2014.
During live performances Mercury would usually dedicate the song to "a real motherfucker of a gentleman". This line was censored (using bleeps) on their Live Killers album in 1979.
Live recordings
"Death on Two Legs" was regularly performed live by Queen up to and including The Game Tour. Only one live version of the song has been officially released, on the 1979 album Live Killers. The piano introduction, however, was played during the Hot Space and The Works tours.
The song is featured in Rock Band Blitz, subsequently released as downloadable content in the Rock Band store, performed by Queen themselves.