BIG FAT WOMAN (Get Your Fat Legs Off
of Me)
arr. by Eric von Schmidt
Say, Big Fat Woman get your fat legs off of me
Now you Big Fat Woman get your fat legs off of me
Now it feels so good, scare the hell out of me
Oh, Big Fat Woman with the meat shakin' on her bones
Yes Big Fat Woman with the meat shakin' on her bones
Ev'ry time she dance, skinny gal'll lose her home
She got great big legs, she got wanton thighs
Big Fat Woman got wanton thighs
Ev'ry time she moves, make my temp'rature rise
She's a fine lookin' woman, got great big legs
Big Fat Woman got great big legs
Ev'ry time she moves, move like a soft boil'd egg
I love you mama, goin' get me kill'd
Big Fat Woman goin' get me kill'd
Lovin', lovin', lovin' get this poor boy kill'd
__________________________
Copyright 1963 by Minglewood Music Inc., 1964 by WPVC
Music Publishing Co. (ASCAP)
Note: von Schmidt, a Cambridge (MA) folk singer,
assembled
this song from a distillation of many different blues lyrics
dating back to the 1920s. Tommy Johnson is believed to
have originated the melody and key stanza (ca. 1928):
Cryin' big fat mama, meat shaking on her bones,
Ev'ry time the meat shake, it's a skinny woman lose a home.
Variations on the theme include this verse by Mississippi
John Hurt (ca. 1929):
Wake up woman, get your big legs off of mine
They're so heavy, make a good man change his mind
this lyric credited to Jabo Williams:
Said I'm goin' away mama, and I'm goin' to stay
Them big legs, baby, gonna keep me away
and this version of the key stanza performed by a blues quar-
tet in Atlanta, GA in 1936, recorded by the Lomax brothers:
Big fat woman with the meat shakin' on her bones,
Every time she wibble, a poor man's dollar gone.
Recordings (Von Schmidt
arrangement):
1. Jim Croce, on the LP "Facets" (Croce Records 101, 1966)
2. Jim Croce, on the LP "The Faces I've Seen" (Lifesong ECDSP
900, 1975)
Related recordings:
1. Tommy Johnson, "Big Fat Mama" (Victor V38535, Aug. 31,
1928), re-released on the LPs "Blues Roots/Mississippi"
(RBF 14, ) and "Canned Heat
Blues: Masters of the
Delta Blues"
2. Mississippi John Hurt, "Big Leg Woman" (
1929)
3. Best-selling record by Johnny Temple, "Big Legged Woman"
(Decca 7547, 1938)
4. Roosevelt Holts, "Big Fat Mama", on the LP "South Mississippi
Blues" (Rounder 2009, )
5. Houston Stackhouse, "Big Fat Mama", on the LP "Robert
(Nighthawk/Houston Stackhouse" (Testament T-2215,
)
6. Arzo Youngblood, "Big Fat Mama", on the LP "The Legacy of
Tommy Johnson" (Matchbox SDM 224,
)
7. Lead Belly (Huddie Ledbetter), "Big Fat Woman", on the LP
"Leadbelly"
( Jan. 1966), and the CD
"Lead
Belly: Where Did You Sleep Last Night? (The Lead Belly
Legacy, vol. I)" (Smithsonian/Folkways SF CD 40044,
1996)