| "Fat Bottomed Girls" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Queen | ||||
| from the album Jazz | ||||
| A-side | Bicycle Race | |||
| Released | 13 October 1978 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1978 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length |
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| Label | EMI, Elektra | |||
| Writer(s) | Brian May | |||
| Producer | Queen and Roy Thomas Baker | |||
| Queen singles chronology | ||||
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"Fat Bottomed Girls" () is a song by the English rock band Queen. Written by guitarist Brian May, the track featured on their 1978 album Jazz, and also appears on the band's compilation album, Greatest Hits.[1] When released as a single with "Bicycle Race", the song reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart, and number 24 in the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.[2][3]
The song is based on an open tuning guitar riff that is both bluesy and metallic, and the song begins with its chorus.[4] It was one of the few Queen songs played in an alternative guitar tuning, being played in drop D tuning.[5] The song's music video was filmed at the Dallas Convention Center in Texas in October 1978.[6]
Queen performed "Fat Bottomed Girls" in concert between 1978 and 1982.[7][8][9] Since its release, the song has appeared on television and film, and has been covered by a number of artists.
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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 on the verses are sung by Freddie Mercury, while Brian May sings lead on the chorus.
The single version (which can be found on Greatest Hits) omits the extended guitar interludes between the verses as well as fading out before the ending.[10]
"Fat Bottomed Girls" was released as a double A-side with the song "Bicycle Race", and includes the line "Get on your bikes and ride".[10] Bicycle Race contains the line "Fat bottomed girls, they'll be riding today, so look out for those beauties, oh yeah",[11] completing a double cross-reference between the two songs.
| Chart (1978) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Singles Chart | 21 |
| British Singles Chart[3] | 11 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 7 |
| French Singles Chart | 7 |
| German Singles Chart | 27 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 10 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 7 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[2] | 24 |
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