The title was shocking. The track cover, featuring a ‘generously endowed’ woman at the backside region, with just red panties on, while riding on a bicycle, was even more shocking. It was 1978 — White mothers and Black conservatives clutched their pearls and gasped in horror when they saw that image gracing their screens and billboards. Sunday school classes had solid topics for weeks, especially since the catchy tune would not leave their minds. The meaning of the song might have eluded them, but the clear lyrics and accompanying visuals were glaring to them.
Videos by American Songwriter
Queen released the song as a part of their seventh studio album, Jazz. The song was initially released as a double A-side, with their other single, “Bicycle Race” taking the second A-side. The genre of the song is both glam rock and hard rock, with the album version being 4 minutes, and 16 seconds long, and the released single running at 3 minutes, and 22 seconds long.
Below we’ll take a look at Queen’s hit “Fat Bottomed Girls.”
Meaning of the Song
As the title of the song suggests, it’s a song about girls with ample lower girth, but it’s also not that simple. The lyrics of the song delve a little deeper into Freddie’s and probably Brian’s love for fat bottoms.
Are you gonna take me home tonight?
Oh, down beside that red firelight
Are you gonna let it all hang out?
Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin’ world go round
The song begins with its chorus and it asks the lady in question if she would take him home.
I was just a skinny lad
Never knew no good from bad
But I knew life before I left my nursery
Left alone with big fat Fanny
She was such a naughty nanny
Heap big woman, you made a bad boy out of me
This stanza generated a bit of controversy. Activists believed it promoted child sexual abuse by nannies while encouraging boys to see it as a rite of passage or something liberating. Some saw it as the writer’s first experience with big buttocks being those of his nanny, and appreciating her form.
I’ve been singing with my band
Across the wire, across the land
I seen every blue eyed floozy on the way
But their beauty and their style
Went kind of smooth after a while
Take me to them, dirty ladies, every time
Take me to them dirty ladies every time”
Here, the song describes the songwriter or singer’s experience with the typical American beauty standard — tall, skinny, blonde, and blue-eyed. He implies that after seeing a lot of this kind, it no longer appealed to him. Rather, he wants an “unconventional” fat-bottomed woman.
Hey, listen here
Now I got mortgages on homes
I got stiffness in the bones
Ain’t no beauty queens in this locality, I tell you
Oh, but I still get my pleasure
Still got my greatest treasure
Heap big woman, you gonna make a big man out of me”
This stanza talks about his age and adulthood responsibilities. He’s now settled, and the typical “beauty queens” are not around him, but he’s satisfied because his big woman — his “greatest treasure” is with him, and will make a “big man” out of him.
Writer of the Song
Brian May, the lead guitarist of Queen, penned “Fat Bottomed Girls.” Quite surprisingly, Brian is also an astrophysicist and an animal rights activist. Makes you wonder, how did a space scientist end up in a band and why was he writing about women with bountiful derrière? The answer—he wrote it for his bandmate.
In his 2008 interview with Mojo magazine, Brian said he wrote the piece with his bandmate and co-founder, Freddie Mercury, in mind (Per Songfact). He alluded that Freddie, now deceased, had a big love for women and men with big buttocks.
It was fitting because Freddie was the lead vocalist of the band, and he certainly poured his heart and soul into the song while recording it. His point was made — yes, Freddie loved voluptuous people.
Fun Facts About the Song
One interesting fact about the song was that the so-called raunchy cover was initially even more explicit. The original cover had the image of a completely nude woman on that bicycle. It was due to the refusal of stores to stock what they referred to as a “Satan-inspired” cover that made Queen’s label add the red panties. It was 1978 after all.
Impact of the Song
Other than the obvious fact that it became a national sensation, “Fat Bottomed Girls” reached No. 11 on the U.K. Singles Chart. It also peaked at number 24 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Based on certification alone, the song sold 600,000 units in the UK with a platinum certification (British Phonographic Industry), and 2,000,000 units in the US, with a 2x platinum certification (Recording Industry Association of America ).
Leaving a legacy, the song inspired the writing of the song “Big Bottom”, a prominent feature in the 1984 mockumentary, This is Spinal Tap. It has appeared as part of the soundtrack of movies, including getting covered in the musical series Glee. Also, the song has been covered by more than 60 artists over the years, including Adam Lambert, Paul Rodgers, Kevin Fowler, and The Fargone Beauties.
Final Thoughts
The lyrics of the song aren’t necessarily provocative. In fact, some might call it empowering for women with big backsides who have had to see themselves as not beautiful enough. The song has become an anthem for “fat-bottomed girls” all over the world because it appreciates their beauty and reminds them that there are a lot of people out there who would go crazy at the sight of them..
Photo by Express Newspapers/Getty Images
