Released in 1978 on the album Jazz, “Fat Bottomed Girls” is a song was written by Queen guitarist Brian May and was one of the few Queen songs played in an alternative guitar tuning commonly called “drop D tuning”, a style in which May only used a handful of times. It is mainly about a young man who comes to appreciate women of larger sizes, hence the title “Fat Bottomed Girls”. The lyrics express the truth in the saying: “Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.” Albeit this wasn’t portrayed in the song as gracefully as the quote itself does, but instead it is done in a humorous and overtly sexual tone.
May told Mojo magazine October 2008: “I wrote it with Fred in mind, as you do especially if you’ve got a great singer who likes fat bottomed girls… or boys.” The song is considered ironic due to the ambiguous sexuality of lead singer Freddie Mercury. May also remarked that the song was also a good-natured jab at the groupies that hang onto bands and musicians. May expressed a lot of his personal beliefs when commenting on the song’s lyrical content; once musing, “Why does everybody love the idea of having casual sex with people that they, otherwise, would not want to be with?” This, my friends, is a question I’m still asking about society today.
A fun part about the release of this song is how it became synonymous with another Queen hit called “Bicycle Race” (Which was my absolute favorite Queen song when I was growing up!). The songs was released as a double A-side single with “Bicycle Race.” The songs ran together on the album, and were often played that way by radio stations. Each song has a reference to the other in the lyrics: in “Bicycle Race,” a lyric runs: “Fat bottomed girls, they’ll be riding today, so look out for those beauties, oh yeah.” In “Fat Bottomed Girls” the closing call shouts “get on your bikes and ride!” linking the two songs together.
Vocal arrangements are quite different between the studio version and the live version. In live performances, the lead vocals during the chorus were sung by Freddie Mercury and harmonized with an upper voice (Roger Taylor) and a lower voice (Brian May). In the studio version, there is no higher harmony. The lead vocals are sung by Freddie Mercury, while Brian May sings lead on the intro and choruses.
The original single cover featured a nude woman riding a bicycle. When many stores refused to stock the single because of the cover, the label altered the image so that the woman was wearing panties.
Listen here!——> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMnjF1O4eH0
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