The piano introduction though was played through the Hot Space and Works tours.

'Death on Two Legs' remained on the setlist until, and well into, The Game Tour in 1980, then was dropped. Īs with ' Bohemian Rhapsody', most of the guitar parts on this song were initially played on piano by Mercury, to demonstrate to May how they needed to be played on guitar. After the song came together, it was agreed that the 'author should have his way', and the song went on as penned. In the Classic Albums documentary about the making of A Night at the Opera, Brian May stated that the band at first was somewhat taken aback by the incisiveness of Mercury's lyrics and described by Mercury as being, 'so vindictive that Brian felt bad singing it.'. Other than on the version of said live album, he'd said it was dedicated to a 'motherfucker I used to know'. Though the song never made a direct reference to him, upon listening to a playback of the song at Trident Studios during the time of album release, Sheffield was appalled and sued the band and the record label for defamation which resulted in an out of court settlement, and this later revealed to the public his connection to the song.ĭuring live performances, Mercury would usually rededicate the song to 'a real motherfucker of a gentleman', although this line was censored on the version that appeared on their Live Killersalbum in 1979. ' Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to.)' could only be referred to as Freddie Mercury's hate letter towards Queen's ex-manager, Norman Sheffield, who for some years was reputed to have mistreated the band and abused his role as their manager from 1972 to 1975 however this was later denied in an autobiography by Sheffield published in 2013 titled 'Life on Two Legs: Set The Record Straight' where Sheffield denies such rumours and refers to copies of the original 1972 Queen management contracts between Sheffield and Queen included in the book as proof to back up his defence. Main article: Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to.) Song information 'Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to.)' 1.1 'Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to.)'.2.1 'Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to.)'.

Queen a night at the opera