Death on Two Legs Lyrics – We Will Rock You

Song Overview

The opening track of A Night at the Opera (1975), “Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to …)” detonates like a hand-written stick of dynamite. Freddie Mercury penned it amid an ugly split from manager Norman Sheffield; the vitriol is so raw that Sheffield sued Queen and EMI for defamation—settling out of court, thereby confirming everyone’s suspicions.

Though never issued as a worldwide single, the song head-lined a Polish 45 (flipped with “Bohemian Rhapsody”) and later fronted The Queen EP in 1977, keeping it in collectors’ cross-hairs.

Producer Roy Thomas Baker piles piano arpeggios, bowed double-bass, tape screams and Brian May’s razor-wire overdubs into three fevered minutes. The result: rock-opera bile at its most theatrical. Nearly five decades later, the track still makes newcomers gasp—and die-hard fans grin.

Personal Review

I first spun the track on a battered turntable at university; the pianist in me froze at that descending chromatic riff—like venom trickling down ivory. Then came those lyrics. Mercury doesn’t jab; he eviscerates. Halfway through, Roger Taylor lands a cymbal crash that feels like slamming a courtroom door. The takeaway? Sometimes art needs teeth sharp enough to draw blood, and Queen refuse to floss. The lyrics are cruel, sure, but the groove is glorious.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Mercury’s “hate letter” stalks the line between cabaret and chainsaw. In live shows he introduced it as “about a real mother-… gentleman,” letting the crowd fill in the blank. The lyric sheet never names Sheffield, yet each barb lands with sniper precision: “You suck my blood like a leech,” “Dog with disease,” “Do you feel like suicide?” It is musical litigation set to B-minor.

The arrangement mirrors that fury. Baker lets the piano intro wander in no man’s land—chromatic, keyless—before Brian May’s guitar slashes the canvas. John Deacon even bows a double-bass during the tape-loop scream, adding horror-film undertones. The choir-like backing vocals in the chorus contrast violently with Mercury’s spitfire delivery, mimicking public decorum versus private outrage.

Culturally the track joins a long tradition of manager-roasting songs—think Heart’s “Barracuda” or Yes’s “Five Per Cent for Nothing”—but “Death on Two Legs” stakes the earliest, loudest claim. Sheffield fired back with the memoir Life on Two Legs (2013) to “set the record straight,” further immortalising the feud.

Verse Highlights

Verse 1

Mercury paints Sheffield as a sanguisuge: legal jargon (“breach”) collides with playground venom (“pig-headed rules”). The leech image foreshadows the later “shark” interjection.

Chorus

Major-third vocal harmonies sweeten the phrase “You never had a heart,” making the insult sound almost liturgical—irony served cathedral-style.

Verse 2

“Hot air balloon” punctures Sheffield’s self-importance, while the sudden tempo halve gives May room for bluesy bends. The fin/shark pun underscores corporate predation.

Annotations

The curtain lifts with a jagged piano cascade, then Brian May’s guitar lashes out, and suddenly Queen’s studio turns into a courtroom. Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to…) isn’t merely an album opener; it is Freddie Mercury’s razor-edged deposition against former manager Norman Sheffield. The words are scalding, the harmonies barbed, and the band plays with the glee of musicians finally untied from an unfair contract. Below, the original annotation insights are re-shaped into a living essay that keeps their facts intact while letting the prose snarl, swagger, and occasionally wink.

Overview

You suck my blood like a leech.

Mercury set out to craft the coarsest lyrics he could muster, a “hate-letter” so vicious that even gentle Brian May hesitated to sing backing vocals. Yet the group agreed: honesty trumped decorum. The target—Sheffield—had overseen Queen’s early albums (Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack) while the quartet survived on meager wages. Tales abound of bassist John Deacon begging for £2,000 only to hear, “What £2,000?” Meanwhile Sheffield tooled around London in twin Rolls-Royces. Freddie’s verdict comes fast: moral bankruptcy on two legs.

Musical Techniques

[Guitar Solo Intro]

The opening piano arpeggios roam chromatically, establishing unease rather than key center. May’s riff barges in—a tritone-rich ostinato that smells of brimstone. Multitrack shrieks, cymbal swipes, a final Roger Taylor scream: courtroom doors slamming shut. When the verse lands on a B-minor bed with descending chromatic bass, the harmonic trap has sprung. Mid-song, May’s “squelching” lead—originally demoed on piano by Mercury—spills distortion and chromatic runs that mirror Freddie’s lyrical bile.

Character Dynamics

Misguided old mule / With your pig-headed rules.

Freddie paints Sheffield as everything from “old barrow boy”—a wheeler-dealer flogging fruit from a wheelbarrow—to an overgrown schoolboy puffing “hot air.” The insults escalate: “You’re the king of the sleaze… sewer rat decaying in a cesspool of pride.” Even by rock-and-roll standards, telling a man to

Do you feel like suicide? I think you should.

Thematic Elements

• Diss-Track DNA. Long before ’90s hip-hop feuds, Queen delivered one of rock’s earliest mainstream diss tracks—proof that revenge rhymes never go out of style.
• Artist versus Manager. The song crystallizes a classic music-biz power imbalance: creators earning pennies while gatekeepers bank pounds. Freddie’s rage became every underpaid musician’s battle-cry.
• Price of Integrity. Mercury’s refusal to self-censor highlights Queen’s guiding ethic: flamboyance is meaningless without truth.

Musical & Lyrical Synergy

Death on two legs, you’re tearing me apart.

The melody claws upward while the rhythm section hammers relentless eighth-notes, mimicking the psychic dismemberment Freddie describes. As the second verse spits

Shark!

Historical Footnote

Sheffield threatened legal action but never filed—perhaps realizing the public lawsuit would only confirm Queen’s grievances. Years later, he published a memoir denying wrongdoing; the band, by then stadium royalty, let the music speak for itself. Freddie’s line—

Have you found a new toy to replace me?

In the end, Death on Two Legs remains a masterclass in artistic retaliation: blistering lyrics, baroque-metal arrangements, and a final sneer that still makes listeners gasp—and grin—five decades on.

Song Credits

• Featured: Queen (Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon, Roger Taylor)
• Producer: Roy Thomas Baker & Queen
• Composer: Freddie Mercury
• Release Date: November 21 1975 (album); Poland promo single November 28 1975
• Genre: Hard Rock, Piano Rock
• Instruments: Piano, electric & bowed double-bass, layered electric guitars, drums, tape effects
• Label: EMI / Elektra
• Mood: Vindictive, theatrical
• Length: 3 min 43 sec
• Track #: Opener on A Night at the Opera
• Language: English
• Music style: Multi-section rock-opera rant
• Poetic meter: Mostly loose iambic trimeter with abrupt resets
• Copyrights ©: Queen Music Ltd. / EMI Records

Songs on Betrayal & Back-Stabbing

Heart — “Barracuda” (1977): Ann Wilson channels record-label rage into galloping riffs. While Queen wield piano flourishes, Heart fires twin guitars; both tracks, however, treat betrayal as sport—with the microphone as weapon.

Pink Floyd — “Have a Cigar” (1975): Roger Waters lampoons music-biz phonies through a smoky jam. The sarcasm is cooler than Mercury’s screed, yet the sentiment—industry suits leeching creativity—echoes perfectly.

Foo Fighters — “Stacked Actors” (1999): Dave Grohl skewers Hollywood fakes atop grunge-metal crunch. Compared with Queen’s vaudevillian spite, the Foo’s attack feels more street-level—but the disdain is identical.

Questions and Answers

Did Queen really get sued over the song?

Yes. Norman Sheffield filed a defamation suit against the band and EMI; it was settled out of court.

Was it ever played live?

Regularly from 1975 through the Game Tour; Mercury prefaced it with an unprintable dedication. A live cut appears on Live Killers (1979).

Any notable cover versions?

Dream Theater have performed it in full; Rooney recorded a studio take for the 2005 tribute album Killer Queen; The Protomen’s live version is a cult favourite.

Has it shown up in games or films?

It joined the Rock Band Blitz set list in 2012 and remains downloadable for the Rock Band series.

Was it really a single anywhere?

In Poland it served as the A-side to “Bohemian Rhapsody”; elsewhere it stayed an album track until the 1977 UK EP.

Awards and Chart Footprint

While “Death on Two Legs” itself never charted, its parent album A Night at the Opera topped the UK list, hit No. 4 in the US, and now routinely appears on “greatest albums” polls—No. 128 on Rolling Stone’s 500 list.

How to Sing It?

Mercury’s studio take hovers from E₃ to A₄, but the live versions leap to B₄ on those throat-ripping “Death!” cries. Keep the tongue low on “legs” to avoid strangling the note, and brace for swift tempo shifts: intro rubato, verses at roughly 120 BPM, half-time mid-bar in the chorus. Breath mark just before “You suck my blood”—you’ll need the air.

Fan and Media Reactions

“Freddie basically invented the diss track.”Record Collector Magazine

“Venomous, camp, and utterly irresistible.”Riffology retrospective

“Play this at max volume and watch the room split in half—people either wince or cheer.”Podcast guest Tyler Warren

“Norman Sheffield wrote an entire book just to clap back—how’s that for impact?”BBC Radio 2 archival chat

“Still my go-to warm-up in Rock Band 3; that piano intro is brutal on expert mode.”Gamer comment thread