Fat Bottomed Girls Killer Queen Queen

Killer Queen Album: Sheer Heart Attack (1974)
Fat Bottomed Girls Album: Jazz (1978)
Queen

Killer Queen it was stated in the New Musical Express November 2, 1974, the song's writer Freddie Mercury elucidated: "It's about a high class call girl. I'm trying to say that classy people can be whores as well. That's what the song is about, though I'd prefer people to put their interpretation upon it - to read into it what they like."

Regarding the line, "'Let them eat cake' she says, just like Marie Antoinette," according to legend, Marie Antoinette (the Queen of France) said "Let them eat cake" after hearing how the peasants had no bread to eat. It's more likely that the phrase was written by a French philosopher/historian, not Antoinette.

The first single from Queen's third album, Sheer Heart Attack, "Killer Queen" was their first song to chart outside their native UK, where "Seven Seas of Rhye," from their previous album Queen II, reached #10. Their breakthrough to superstardom came with their next album, A Night At The Opera, which has the epic "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the tracklist.

The Sheer Heart Attack album cover was shot by Mick Rock, who did the famous cover of their previous album, Queen II, showing the four band members in darkness with their faces illuminated. Freddie Mercury typically drove the visual direction of the band, but it was drummer Roger Taylor who came up with the concept for the Sheer Heart Attack cover. "He said, 'I want us to look like we're thrown up from a shipwreck on some distant shore,' so that's what I shot," Mick Rock told Songfacts. "Of course, they were soaking wet and there was a lot of spraying going on."

This was one of the first songs recorded at The Quadrangle, a studio opened at the Rockfield Studios complex in Wales in 1973. The following year, Queen recorded much of their Sheer Heart Attack album at Rockfield, and in 1975 they did the bulk of "Bohemian Rhapsody" there.

In Ben Elton's musical We Will Rock You, Killer Queen is an evil matriarch who controls the music industry.

Brian May said in Q magazine March 2008: "This is a perfect pop record and one of Freddie's greatest songs. It's beautifully constructed and it's also got one of the solos I'm most proud of."

He elaborated further on it in the Days of our Lives documentary: "Every slice of that record is pure pop perfection. Little things that visit once and come again, like the little bell in the second verse."

Nevertheless, he was a little reticent at first about releasing it: "I was a little hesitant; I was thinking are we setting ourselves as something very light?" He relates this back to how initially the band were very heavy and rock-orientated, and "Killer Queen" was a major departure from that sound.

Californian pop princess Katy Perry named one of her fragrances after this tune. She told Women's Wear Daily the song's lyrics really spoke to her when she was a teenager. "Killer Queen has been in my vocabulary since I was 15," Perry said. "Freddie Mercury painted the lyrics of this woman who I wanted to be. She seemed very powerful, and she captivated a room when she walked in."

In the video game Guitar Hero 3, one of the unlockable guitars called the "Card Sharp Special" can have a finish called "Killer Queen." In the description it says: " Something about dynamite and laser beams? what's that all about? and who am I to deny it?", which is a reference to the song lyrics.

Fat Bottomed Girls was written by guitarist Brian May, 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."

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.

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.

The cover of the single featured a nude woman riding a bicycle, and was altered after many stored refused to stock it. The new version was the same image with panties drawn over the woman.

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).