Jazz – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

I’m not a huge jazz aficionado, but sometimes it hits the spot. On Christian’s blog on Sundays, he usually features a jazz song on his Sunday Six. I often enjoy that more than the rock songs. I was looking through YouTube, and I instantly fell for this song. I picture a smoky black and white bar at 3am in the 40s or 50s, with Holiday giving her all for each song.

I’ve heard other versions of this song, and some are slick and radio-friendly. Holiday’s is not slick, it’s real and as close to authentic as you can get. What I hear in this song is a weariness in Billie’s voice that feels older than the song itself. She doesn’t belt it, and she doesn’t show off. She just leans into the melody like someone savoring the last dance of the night.

When I listen to her songs, I have a feeling like I’m eavesdropping on something intimate. Only a few singers have made me feel that way; she will always be special. In this song, she gave pain a voice, and it’s still being felt.

This song was released in 1936 and peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. One stat that I found floored me. Out of the 38 singles she released, 35 of them were in the top 20. It was written by Ralph Rainger and Howard Dietz in 1929. popularized in the revue The Little Show, where it was sung by Libby Holman. It’s been covered 66 times by artists such as Dinah Shore to Hot Sugar Band & Nicolle Rochelle in 2020.

The live version below is near the end of her tragically short life, but like always, she gives her all.

Moanin’ Low

Moanin’ low, my sweet man, I love him soThough he’s mean as can beHe’s the kind of man needs the kind of a woman like me

Gonna die if my sweet man should pass me byIf I die where’ll he beHe’s the kind of a man needs the kind of a woman like me

Don’t know any reason why he treats me so poorlyWhat have I gone and done?Makes me troubles double with his worriesWhen surely, I ain’t deserving of none

Moanin’ low, my sweet man is gonna goWhen he goes, oh LordyHe’s the kind of a man needs the kind of a woman like me

…

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

…

Tag: Jazz

Billie Holiday – Moanin’ Low

Queen – Fat Bottom Girls