I first heard this song in the seventies and then owned it when I got Queen’s greatest hits and I wore the grooves out in the vinyl. The guitar tone and Freddie’s voice are perfect.
This 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. The year before, Queen released “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions” as a double A-side. They are still usually played together by radio stations.
For the song Bicycle Race they had an all nude female bicycle race…ahhh the 70s
The cover of the single featured a nude woman riding a bicycle, and was altered after many stores refused to stock it. The new version was the same image with panties drawn over the woman…kill joys.
The song peaked at #24 in the Billboard 100, #17 in Canada, #20 in New Zealand, and #11 in the UK in 1978.
The song was on their 1978 album Jazz.
From Songfacts
Queen guitarist Brian May wrote this song, which is about a young man who comes to appreciate women of substantial girth. 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.”
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.
This song was covered by Antigone Rising for the 2005 Queen tribute album Killer Queen.
The song was used as the opening theme for Morgan Spurlock’s 2004 documentary Super Size Me.
This was used in episodes of the US TV shows Nip/Tuck and My Name is Earl, and also in the UK show Father Ted.
A funny incident involving this song occurred on the Daily Politics show on UK TV in January 2014, when respectable political editor Nick Robinson’s iPad suddenly started to play the song midway through a panel discussion between several politicians. Robinson hastily turned the device off before – in his words – “the really embarrassing lyrics start.”
This is one of a very small number of Queen songs composed and performed in an alternative tuning to standard. Brian May used a Dropped D tuning for this song.
Surprisingly for such a popular song, it only features on one Queen live compilation from the original lineup: On Fire Live at the Bowl, from Milton Keynes 1982. On the Queen + tours, it has been a regular staple, with both Paul Rogers and Adam Lambert handling the lyrics with gusto. Versions featuring Paul Rogers on vocals appear on Return of the Champions (2005), Super Live in Japan (2006) and Live in Ukraine (2008).
Kevin Fowler did his rendition of the classic Queen song on his 2002 album High on the Hog. Fowler’s version is a lighthearted take and encourages the crowd to partake in the fun.
Fat Bottomed Girls
Okay, okay!
This is called, uh
Fat Bottomed Girls!
(One, two, three, four!)
Are you gonna take me home tonight?
Oh, down beside your red firelight
Are you gonna let it all hang out?
Fat bottomed girls
You make the rockin’ world go ’round
Hey!
I was just a skinny lad
Never knew no good from bad
But I knew life before I left my nursery, huh
Left alone with big fat Fanny
She was such a naughty nanny
Big woman, you made a bad boy out of me
Hey! H-h-h-hey! Ah, yeah
C’mon, yeah alright
Fat bottomed girls
Do-do-do-do, hey
Yeah
I’ve been singing with my band
Across the wire, across the land
I seen every blue eyed floozy on the way, hey
But their beauty and their style
Went kind of smooth after a while
Take me to them dirty ladies every time
C’mon!
Are you gonna take me home tonight? Hey!
Oh, down beside your red firelight
Oh, when you give it all you got
Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin’ world go ’round
Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin’ world go ’round
Now I got mortgages and homes
I got stiffness in my bones
Ain’t no beauty queens in this locality, I tell you
Oh, but I still get my pleasure
Still got my greatest treasure
Big woman, you done made a big man of me
Now, hear this!
Oh, (I know) you gonna take me home tonight? Hey!
Oh, down beside your red firelight
Are you gonna let it all hang out?
Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin’ world go ’round, yeah
Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin’ world go ’round
Get on your bikes and ride!
Like a cowboy, oh, come on, hey, go, aw yeah
That’s the way I like it, yeah
Yes, yes! Them fat bottomed girls
You ride ’em, you ride ’em, hey hey! Alright
Ooh! Ooh yeah, ooh yeah
Alright
Oh yes, fat bottomed girls
One more time girls, yeah, yeah
Alright, yeah
More, more
…
Take me to them dirty ladies every time.
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I liked that album- that album and the singles from it kind of flew under the radar.
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Would have been more above the radar if TV had arrived in time for it! People would’ve been saying “who needs ZZ Top” by ’83!
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LOL… in Europe it no one probably batted an eye…what a promotion!
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Those huge stacked harmonies sound amazing. No one else has really achieved that sound.
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It would take some patience. I read when they did Bohemian Rhapsody that the tape was almost translucent when they finished. That is some overdubbing.
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Having high voices (Taylor, plus Mercury could get pretty high too) really helps the vocals to sound huge.
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I love how it starts out and I love it to the end. It’s about time someone in song gave a nod to us fat bottomed girls!
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LOL…
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I love this line: “Big woman, you made a bad boy out of me”
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Great track and and a great pic on the 45 sleeve! lol
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Now that is why I loved the seventies!!!
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Bam! You hit the nail on the head Max!
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Funny, just this morning a Facebook friend of mine posted something saying take any song with the word “girl” and change it to “squirrel”. She said “Waiting for a squirrel like you”. I immediately thought about this song and posted it.
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Fat Bottom Squirrels! Weird Al needs to do that!
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OMG! LOL!
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Like that do ya? lol
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I could see Weird Al doing that. Or, Ray Stevens…
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Or us…lets make a duo recording and go for it! lol
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That would be fun.
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Yes it would…with todays recording things anything is possible.
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I have to agree with Graham here, the vocals are really amazing. I think I like “Bicycle Race” even better. Queen definitely did have a unique sound.
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Heh. Naked women bicycle race. I miss the 70s.
Now, I have Sir Mix A Lot’s “I like big butts and I cannot lie…” stuck in my head.
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LOL… those were the days Vic!
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Classic. I hate censors. When was a naked butt a bad thing!! I haven’t gotten to Jazz yet in my Queen series. I am only on A Night At the Opera (none of have posted yet, so you haven’t missed anything LOL!!). I am looking forward to Jazz as I’ve never spent time with that one. I know the songs from the Greatest Hits set.
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LOL…I didn’t have Jazz when it was released either…I had News of the World, The Game and then the greatest hits…I later got Jazz.
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Love it all. Queen at their best!
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Queen 😍love the song
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I didn’t know that they ad altered the cover photo. Thanks for the info!
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