Brian May on the Queen song he considers “pansexual”
For lack of a better term, Queen operated during a time that would probably be termed “heteronormative” in modern nomenclature. Far from the first non-straight man to sing about loving women, Freddie Mercury didn’t ever seem bound by his sexuality when it came to bringing songs to life. The key was that Mercury wasn’t always the one writing the lyrics. Songwriting duties were shared among all four members of Queen, and for one of their horniest songs, Mercury didn’t pen the words.
Guitarist Brian May was the one who was responsible for ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’, Queen’s salacious 1978 hard rock classic. A perfectly cheeky tale of sexual awakening, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ celebrates those women who happened to be more… gifted in the posterior region. While it makes sense that May would be the one who wrote the song, the guitarist actually cited Mercury as being the song’s primary inspiration.
“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,” May told Mojo in 2008. Despite the song being directed at women, May didn’t see Mercury’s more ambiguous sexual orientation as holding the song back.
“On the face of it, it’s a heterosexual song because it’s called ‘Fat Bottomed Girls,’ but I was totally aware of Freddie’s proclivities and the fact he was going to sing it,” May added. “Plus, some of the inspiration for the song came from stuff that I saw in Freddie’s life as well as my own. So it’s actually not so much of a heterosexual song as you might think (laughs). It’s a sort of pansexual song. There are so many ways you can take it.”
When it was first released as a single in 1978, along with ‘Bicycle Race’ as a double A-side, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ rode its horny riff-rock all the way to number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. While it failed to reach the same heights as previous singles like ‘We Are The Champions’ and the band’s follow-up, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ earned its place among Queen’s most celebrated songs.
Mercury dutifully belted out ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ throughout the band’s live shows between 1978 and 1982. The track was revived once Paul Rodgers took over lead vocal duties in 2004, and since 2011, Adam Lambert has been singing ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ at nearly every Queen show. Even though recent controversy surrounding the track, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ remains one of Queen’s most beloved songs.
Check out ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ down below.
