Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...)
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"Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...)" is a song by British rock group Queen, and is the opening track on their fourth studio album A Night at the Opera. The song was written by Freddie Mercury and allegedly describes his hatred toward Queen's ex-manager, the late Norman Sheffield, who is reputed to have mistreated the band and abused his managerial role from 1972 to 1975.
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.
Lyrics
The song is considered to be Freddie Mercury's "hate letter" toward Queen's former manager Norman Sheffield, incorporating a vast range of vicious lyrics, and described by Mercury as being "so vindictive that Brian felt bad singing it."[1] 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,[2] thus revealing to the public his connection with the song.
In his autobiography published in 2013, Life on Two Legs: Set The Record Straight,[3] 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.[4]
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.
Cover versions
- Rooney covered "Death on Two Legs" on the 2005 tribute album Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen.
- The song was covered by Tony Zaikowski as part of the "Loser's Lounge" project.
- GoGoGo Airheart also recorded a version of the song.
- Dream Theater recorded their version to this song for their CD Uncovered 2003-2005, released by their own label as part of their "Official Bootleg" collection.
- Heathen covered this song on their 2004 EP Recovered.
- The Protomen covered this song in their 2012 album The Protomen Present: A Night of Queen.
- Shaolin Death Squad covered this song in their 2015 EP As You Become Us
The song is also featured in Rock Band Blitz and then released as downloadable content in the Rock Band store, performed by Queen themselves.
Personnel
- Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals, piano
- Brian May - guitars, backing vocals
- Roger Taylor - drums, backing vocals
- John Deacon - bass guitar
References
External links
- Use dmy dates from July 2014
- Use British English from July 2014
- Articles which use infobox templates with no data rows
- Pages using infobox song with unknown parameters
- 1975 songs
- Queen (band) songs
- Songs written by Freddie Mercury
- EMI Records singles
- Parlophone singles
- Elektra Records singles
- Hollywood Records singles
- Heavy metal songs
