Freddie Mercury | Autograph manuscript lyrics for songs on the album 'A Night at the Opera', c.1975

Freddie Mercury

Autograph manuscript working lyrics for songs written for the album A Night at the Opera, comprising: 

i) 'Death on Two Legs', six pages of lyrics including an near-complete draft and early fragments and phrases, and one page of vocal harmonies with additional lyric fragments on the verso, pencil with some blue ballpoint and black fibretip, in total 7 leaves of British Midland Airways stationery with 1974 calendar

ii) 'Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon', three pages of lyrics including two near complete drafts and one page of early fragments, and one page of vocal harmonies, in pencil, text on rectos only, in total 4 leaves of British Midland Airways stationery with 1974 calendar 

iii) 'Seaside Rendezvous', four pages of lyrics including a near complete draft and early fragments, and three pages of vocal harmonies, in pencil with blue ballpoint and black fibretip, text on rectos only, in total 7 leaves of British Midland Airways stationery with 1974 calendar

iv) Five pages of early pencil fragments of lyrics relating to 'Death on two Legs', 'Bohemian Rhapsody' ("so you think you can love me then leave me to die/ no baby") and other songs, text on rectos only, in pencil, blue and black ballpoint, on a pad of blank stationery (165 x 122mm), plus seven blank leaves

v) Notes on instrumentation to various songs for recording sessions, four pages of additional fragmentary draft lyrics, three pages of doodles and addresses, text on rectos only, seven leaves, plus the unused remains of a pad of British Midland Airways stationery

Altogether 31 leaves, plus additional blanks, c.1974 

WORKING MANUSCRIPTS FOR QUEEN'S MOST HIGHLY REGARDED ALBUM.

“Go into the studio and make the best record you can!” was the injunction the band received from their new manager John Reid in the summer of 1975 before they assembled to record A Night at the Opera. This was their opportunity to build on exceptional successes of previous months: ‘Killer Queen’ had been their first major hit; their third album Sheer Heart Attack had been highly successful; and the subsequent tour had taken in the USA and Japan. They had also finally rid themselves of an unwelcome management contract - 'Death on Two Legs' is Freddie's farewell tirade against Trident - and their new album would be their first release under new management.

The album was recorded over four months using a number of different studios, most notably Rockfield Studios in rural Wales. Production was fraught with arguments and tension (the album's title is a tribute to a relaxing evening spent watching the Marx Brothers to decompress). It was produced, once again, by Roy Thomas Baker, who had also left Trident. A Night at the Opera saw Queen continually testing boundaries in the recording studio - Brian May has called the album "our Sgt. Pepper" - to create a unique soundscape of diverse musical styles with complex arrangements. The album contains five songs by Freddie Mercury (most notably, of course, 'Bohemian Rhapsody'), four by Brian May, and one each by Roger Taylor and John Deacon ('You're My Best Friend').

The current group of manuscripts show Freddie Mercury's characteristic working practices as well as his love of variety: they range from vitriolic rock to effervescent music hall. The earliest notes are on pages of plain notepaper, containing fragments for several songs that probably predate the earliest drafts on British Midland stationery. This has early fragments of 'Seaside Rendezvous' and also 'Love of My Life' (for which see lot 146) as well as an early version of 'Death on Two Legs' that gives the song's unmistakable attitude in unworked form:

"You suck my blood

You bleed my vein

Take all my money

Wash it down the drain."

There are early drafts when he was first feeling his way into the song, with phrases and individual lines that are yet to coalesce into a coherent whole. These are followed by full drafts of the songs which now largely have the shape of the completed songs, although they often include considerable revisions - for example Freddie reworked the final stanza of 'Seaside Rendezvous' after the song was otherwise near completion. He used pencil for these early drafts, with a few scattered later revisions then following in blue ballpoint pen. There are also notes for the arrangement of vocal harmonies, especially for 'Seaside Rendezvous', and a page with ideas about instrumentation for several songs for the album: 'Seaside Rendezvous', for example, would include "Roger's trumpet, tuba, whistle, tap dance, bells, cow-bell, triangle sirens" on one track, and "Freddie's 'Glen Miller' violin" on another. Freddie's justifiable pride in the album is evident:

"It's going to be our best album. It really is [...] There were a lot of things we wanted to do on Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack, but there wasn't space enough [...] Guitar-wise and with vocals, we did things we've never done before. Nothing was out of bounds. The backing tracks on this album are far superior. We felt that they were really closely knit and we seemed to feel each other's needs, which is very important for backing tracks. There were so many songs and styles we wanted to do. It makes a change to have short numbers as well as long ones. It's so varied that we were able to go to extremes. Every molecule on that album is us, just the four of us - every iota. There were no session men; not for strings, not for anything." (Freddie Mercury: A Life, in his Own Words, p.68)

Propelled by its exceptional hit single, A Night at the Opera was a major commercial hit and even the NME paid its respects to their artistry: "If it's the most expensive album ever made in a British studio, it's also arguably the best."

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