Fat Bottomed Girls

"Fat Bottomed Girls" is a hit single by the English rock band Queen. It was released in 1978 on the album Jazz. The 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". The lyrics express the axiom "Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder", albeit done in a humorous and overtly sexual tone. The song is also considered ironic due to the ambiguous sexuality of lead singer Freddie Mercury.

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 harmonised 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 May performs the lower harmony. In the chorus, May has lead vocals.

The single version (which can be found on Greatest Hits) omits the extended guitar interludes between the verses.

"Fat Bottomed Girls" was released as a Double A-side with the song "Bicycle Race." This cut includes the line "Get on your bikes and ride". Bicycle Race also contains the line "Fat bottomed girls, they'll be riding today, so look out for those beauties, oh yeah", completing a double cross-reference between the two songs.

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.

Live recordings

• Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl
• Return of the Champions
• Super Live in Japan

Cover versions

• The band Antigone Rising covered the song on the 2005 tribute album Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen.
• Hayseed Dixie covered it in bluegrass style on their 2002 album A Hillbilly Tribute to Mountain Love, where it's back to back with Spinal Tap's parody Big Bottom.
• The Feeling are performing this song on their current 2007 UK tour.
• Kevin Fowler covered the song on his 2002 album High On The Hog.
• On the Ozzfest 2006 tour Atreyu used the intro to open their set. As well as using it during their European tour in November 2007.
• Eric Church uses this song now as his intro to "I Pledge Allegiance To The Hag" in his live performances.

Featured appearances

• The song was used as the opening theme for Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary Super Size Me.
• The song was also played during a surgery on episode 40 of Nip/Tuck (2005) and was also featured during an episode of "My Name is Earl" (2007)
• This song was mentioned in the song 'Mix Tape' from the Broadway musical Avenue Q.
• Part of the song is sung at the end of the Father Ted episode, The Mainland, by Fr. Noel Furlong, when he is trapped in a cave under a large pile of rocks, with only his hand showing.
• Russian producer/DJ Roman Pushkin sampled this song in 'Fat Bottom Girls'