Over the years there has been much speculation over the years as to who this song is dedicated to. A post on songmeanings.net states that it is about Norman Sheffield, their manager in the early days who “locked Queen into a slave like contract where they saw almost nothing in terms of royalties and artistic freedom.” Nasty!
I searched about a year ago for the answer to this question but couldn’t find anything as “concrete” as the answers above. It is still hear-say but I believe it could be true..
Last night while channel-flipping I came across “Classic Albums” on BBC1. The show was about Queen’s, “A Night At The Opera”, the album which really set the ball rolling for them and included the huge hit Bohemian Rhapsody.
I missed the start of the show but came in when they were talking about “Death on Two Legs”. Brian May spoke for up to a minute about the early days, saying they had a manager then who handled everything. He named the manager but I can’t recall what the name was. It was most likely Norman Sheffield.
They showed a grainy black and white group photo, and the camera zoomed in on the smiling young face of a man in a suit and lingered there for a few seconds. The scene changed back to May who looked into the camera for a few seconds saying nothing.
If you want to know what others think about this album, here are some critical and not so critical reviews.
donnncha °-°
I’ve heard other places that the identity of “Death on Two Legs” was revealed on Classic Albums to indeed be Norman Sheffield. I wish I could see this with my own two eyes, but short of it being shown here in the States, I doubt I will get to very soon.
I do know that Sheffield sued Queen apparently thinking the song was about him. If I recall, the lawsuit never really went anywhere.
Sometimes I’d like to say those words to a lot of people I know.
On Classic Albums, the picture they showed was of their (then-) new manager who told them that he would take care of the finacial situation, and told them to go back to the studio and make the best record they’ve ever made. Do you recall (hopefully) exactly what Brian said about “how vicious Freddie wanted it to be”? If so, feel free to email me, I have misplaced my copy of the DVD.
Norman Sheffield is my father, so therefore, i have heard a lot of the old stories. It is supposedly true that Freddie had my father in mind when he wrote this song, however what is not told is that after my father built the studio and found Queen, he gave them free access to the studio whenever he could and didn’t charge them a penny. He was a very well known drummer before building the studio with his barehands. He helped make Queen and thus Freddy mould their raw talent, and then like a lot of bands when they made it they got greedy. That’s the basics, and I won’t go into any more, but for your interest he is in the process of writing a book about the years of the studio, when he dealt with a lot of huge artists such as The Beatles and Bowie, none of whom he or they had any problems with. Just thought i would let you all know!
Nice and valuable post, Sam.
Thank you indeed!
I was Norman Sheffield’s PA from 1970 to 1973 and will endorse what Sam has said above about giving Queen free access to the studio. Queen were very talented and they were also very lucky to gain access to the best studio at the time with the best facilities and the best recording engineers/producers. A lot of talent would have loved that opportunity. I would never have worked for anybody who was a bad guy. Norman was a good guy and I treasure the time I worked there. Some times people are quick to judge without knowing the full facts. I’m very proud of Trident’s achievements and also very proud of Queen’s achievements and to have been a very small part of their history together with the rest of us who worked there.
Sam (and all others), there are always two sides for a story. I can’t believe Queen would just attack him for no reason.
I worked for Norman Sheffield for just over a year at the end of the 70′s at the time of all the aggro. He is in my view a hard nosed but very fair businessman with a soft inside. He took a gamble with Queen at the same time they took a gamble with him. He was more than generous with studio time. Everyone earned out of it , so whats the problem ? Any criticism he should tell them to **** off.
they were broke thanks to mr. sheffield, they didnt make any money till a night at the opera came out so stop talking shit.
From what I’ve read around the web the Sheffield’s story is not quite as Sam puts it.
Apparently thanks to Paul McCartney, Queen was allowed to use the studio for free when it was not in use by any other band. normally this would be between 3 and 7 am…. not a pleasant time to sing and work. They finished their first album in November 1972, but wasn’t released until July 1973!!!!
By that time, they were working on their second album, which had to be held so it wouldn’t be released so close to the first one. That’s what really upset Freddy and the band.
I think Sam’s information is more valuable than what you read on the web.
Unless you have the facts from both sides you know nothing. So how can you
take a view when you only hear/know one side? In my humble opinion, that is being biased.
As I’ve said before, there are two sides to all stories. I can’t believe Queen would attack him for no reason, but wheather he was really a complete maniac or not we’ll never know.
Hello. A message to Britt Young and Sam Sheffield-Dunstan. If you are reading this, please drop me a line at this Yahoo account: queenbook51@yahoo.co.uk
I am an author currently researching a book and interested in speaking to anyone that worked with Queen at Trident Studios in the early 70s. Would love to hear from you.
Apologies for the yahoo account, but always reluctant to put personal e-mail address or phone number on the Web. Look forward to hearing from you.
I saw the documentary this morning, with the photo and everything and they mentioned another guy – John Reid. I searched for John Reid and apparently he was Queens manager between 1975-78 according to Wiki anyway, so my first thougt was; “Why keeping a manager who’d exposed you for gross fraud, for three more years?”
Wiki did also claim that Norman Sheffield was the target of this song…
I’m confused!