The second track , " Tear It Up " , written by May , was written as an attempt to revive Queen 's old sound , notably featuring riffs from the intro to the song " Liar " . When performed live during The Magic Tour , May would skip to the intro from " Liar " then go into the beginning of the song . It features stomping percussion similar to " We Will Rock You " . In 2018 , more than 30 years after being last performed , Queen Adam Lambert revived the song to be the opening track on their 2018 European Tour . The demo features May doing the vocals instead of Mercury . The third track on '' The Works '' , " It 's a Hard Life " , was written by Mercury . May and Taylor have stated it as one of their favourite songs of Mercury 's , although Taylor admitted his vast displeasure with the video . May contributed with some of the lyrics , and the intro was based on Ruggiero Leoncavallo 's " Vesti la giubba " , an aria from his opera '' Pagliacci '' . Mercury played piano and did most of the vocals , and instructed May about the scales he should use for the solo , described by May in the guitar programme '' Star Licks '' as very " Bohemian Rhapsody " - esque
2018 European Tour
Queen + Adam Lambert Tour 2017–2018
The Works (Queen album)