# Big Legged Women **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 5, 2001, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621 "2001-10-05T16:57:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yue\_Han](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/eada6e/32.png) [@Yue\_Han](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yue_Han)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/1 "2001-10-05T16:57:59Z")
I was listening to Led Zep’s Black Dog, and there’s a line: “A big legged woman ain’t got no soul.” I didn’t worry about it, it’s a Zep thing, I thought. Like “a bustle in your hedgerow.” So I’m listening to blues on webcast, and I hear this: “She ain’t no big legged woman; she’s just my plump bottomed girl.” Hmm, seems to be a trend. Apparently big legged woman are evil. Not because of their big-leggedness- after all, a plump bottomed girl probably has largish legs as well- but just incidentally. A Google search turns up a lot of songs that indicate, yeah, a big legged woman is a beautiful but evil woman who will cheat on you, give you no loving, and is basically low down. My question is, what’s the etymology of this phrase? Why are big legged women evil? If Cecil can solve ‘pompatus of love’, surely we can figure this out. –John ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/2 "2001-10-05T17:05:39Z")
I always figured Zep was referring to what was probably left of a large woman’s shoe… ain’t got no sole. I’ll come back and read with interest when a more enlighted poster arrives (which shouldn’t be long). ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/3 "2001-10-05T17:37:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*Originally posted by Yue Han \*\* > _So I’m listening to blues on webcast, and I hear this: > “She ain’t no big legged woman; she’s just my plump bottomed girl.” Hmm, seems to be a trend. Apparently big legged woman are evil. Not because of their big-leggedness- after all, a plump bottomed girl probably has largish legs as well- but just incidentally._ Plump bottomed ladies are not necessarily evil according to [Spinal Tap](http://web.stargate.net/soundgarden/cgi-bin/lyr.cgi?ly=bigbo). ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/4 "2001-10-05T17:44:46Z")
And we all know, fat bottom girls, they make the rockin’ world go round. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/5 "2001-10-05T17:58:49Z")
The earliest instance of the BLW archetype I know of is Brownie McGhee’s _Big Legged Woman_ from 1945: > [@](#): > > Big legged woman now, where have you been? > I ain’t had no lovin’ now since God knows when > Aah big legged woman tell me where have you been > I ain’t had no lovin’ yeah since God knows when > > Big legged woman now put on your negligee > I wanna find out what you got that’s getting me > Aah big legged woman please put on your negligee > I just wanna find out what you got that’s killin’ me > > All my life big legged women’s all I crave > I believe to my soul they gonna carry me to my grave > All my life big legged women’s all I crave > I believe to my soul they gonna carry me to my grave > > When I was kid going to school > ‘T was a big legged woman made me break mama’s rule > Oh when I was kid goin’ to the public school > It was a big legged teacher made me break my mama’s rule > > You got a big legged woman boys, pin 'r to your side > She holds up her thumb now, I’m bound to let her ride > You got a big legged woman, please pin her to your side > Now she holds up her thumb, I’m bound to let her ride Yeah! “Throw your big leg over me mama, I might not feel this good again.” - Professor Longhair ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/6 "2001-10-05T18:03:37Z")
It seems to be a blues device that goes far back into the sands of time. [Brownie McGee](http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/2541/blbmcghe.htm#big) recorded a song by the same name near the year 1945, and from the lyrics, it can be judged that the woman is to be admired, but is not inherently evil. My best guess is that ‘big legged’ refers to some sort of Reubenesque ideal, and bluesman have been borrowing this device for decades. The idea that attractive women may also be the vehicles of a man’s downfall is also common; IMOH you have a mating of these two themes. ---
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/7 "2001-10-05T18:05:08Z")
Your one stop big legged evil devil chicks shop. [http://www.coopstuff.com](http://www.coopstuff.com) Sorry I can’t offer anything else. ---
**Author:** ![shell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@shell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shell)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/8 "2001-10-05T18:19:30Z")
Hmmm, I always interpreted “big-legged” to mean “long-legged” and that for a die hard leg man, the women possessing long legs would have been irresistable. Looks like I have some research to do. ---
**Author:** ![ThisYearsGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@ThisYearsGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisYearsGirl)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/9 "2001-10-05T20:35:28Z")
The funniest Onion article of all time (which isn’t archived) is “Blues Singer’s Woman allowed to tell her side of the story” and the article is done like a blues song. The lady is described as a “Big-legged, short-dressed, brown-skinned woman”. So I think Led Zep was ripping off earlier blues artists with that phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/10 "2001-10-07T13:24:48Z")
Wow. I always thought the Zeppelin line was “been-laid woman”, meaning an experienced and perhaps jaded woman rather than a sweet innocent virgin, and that the lyric was just hard to hear correctly (like CCR’s “bathroom on the right”). Was I the only one fooled? ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/11 "2001-10-07T15:18:28Z")
**Yue Han** , think [Kegels](http://sexuality.about.com/library/weekly/aa022801.htm), all the way to the knees… I, of course, got all the Led Zepplin lyrics right. \<\<-:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Bluesbreaker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bluesbreaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluesbreaker)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/12 "2014-09-10T00:09:39Z")
Quite a timely reply after 13 years ) Urban Dictionary says: Big Legs To “do the big legs” is to eat at a restaurant and run away without paying. So to my understanding, in blues lyrics the term “big legged woman” means a woman who shows off very promising behavior to a man to make him pay for her, but after she does not let a man get any closer. Here where I live in Ukrainian/Russian such women are called “dynamo” -don’t know why btw ) ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/13 "2014-09-10T01:14:02Z")
zombie or no Big Leg Emma was wonderous. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/14 "2014-09-10T03:35:18Z")
On _West, Bruce, and Laing,_ Jack Bruce sang, "Big leg women’s/ All I crave/Big leg woman gonna carry me/ To my grave. And of course Frank Zappa sang: I got a big dilemma 'bout my Big Leg Emma, uh-huh, uh-huh. I got a big dilemma 'bout my Big Leg Emma, uh-huh, uh-huh. She was my steady date until she put on weight, uh-huh, uh-huh. Another singer, Joe Tex, did a song called _Skinny Legs And All,_ which ridiculed girls with skinny legs. > [@](#): > > One of the last songs Tex did was a novelty type of song he had composed on the spot titled “Skinny Legs and All” in which he poked fun at a man who unwittingly arrived his date who apparently had skinny legs. Tex advised the woman to dump her lover because “someone out there will take you, Miss skinny legs and all”. > **[Skinny Legs and All (song)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinny_Legs_and_All_(song))** > > "Skinny Legs and All" is a song composed and recorded by soul singer Joe Tex and released in 1967 on the Dial label in 1967. The single was later featured on Tex's "live" album, Live and Lively a year later in 1968. > By 1967, Joe Tex had been recording for over a decade but started reaching his commercial peak in the mid-1960s with the releases of R&B hits such as "I Want To (Do Everything For You)", "A Sweet Woman Like You" and "Hold What You've Got", which became the first song in the Southern ... ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/15 "2014-09-10T08:05:45Z")
Johnnie Temple recorded _Big Leg Woman_ in 1938, so it goes back at least that far. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/16 "2014-09-10T14:48:02Z")
Brother Taj Mahal explains it all for you here. (BTW, this is off his incredible album \*The Real Thing\* which has not only a the greatest rhythm section that includes a (former) NY Congressman but also FIVE TUBAS all at once, all of 'em making the Fillmore ring like a bell. Just saying.) ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/17 "2014-09-10T14:52:11Z")
See here **(MAY NOT BE SAFE FOR WORK!!!)** [https://www.google.com/search?q=r+crumb+big+legged+woman&safe=off&espv=2&biw=911&bih=397&tbm=isch&imgil=wgjkFvzvjO9XHM%253A%253B4cZlP-xK\_KGVEM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.berkshirefinearts.com%25252F02-02-2009\_r-crumb-exhibit-at-mass-art-and-design.htm&source=iu&fir=wgjkFvzvjO9XHM%253A%252C4cZlP-xK\_KGVEM%252C\_&usg=\_\_BKiFD1wQzLR5gnvqNXEBQ9JwziQ%3D&sa=X&ei=82QQVIe7BtLJggTywoGIDQ&ved=0CCIQ9QEwAQ#facrc=\_&imgdii=\_&imgrc=wgjkFvzvjO9XHM%253A%3B4cZlP-xK\_KGVEM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.berkshirefinearts.com%252FuploadedImages%252Farticles%252F944\_Robert-Crumb-Exhibit948047.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.berkshirefinearts.com%252F02-02-2009\_r-crumb-exhibit-at-mass-art-and-design.htm%3B407%3B600](https://www.google.com/search?q=r+crumb+big+legged+woman&safe=off&espv=2&biw=911&bih=397&tbm=isch&imgil=wgjkFvzvjO9XHM%253A%253B4cZlP-xK_KGVEM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.berkshirefinearts.com%25252F02-02-2009_r-crumb-exhibit-at-mass-art-and-design.htm&source=iu&fir=wgjkFvzvjO9XHM%253A%252C4cZlP-xK_KGVEM%252C_&usg=__BKiFD1wQzLR5gnvqNXEBQ9JwziQ%3D&sa=X&ei=82QQVIe7BtLJggTywoGIDQ&ved=0CCIQ9QEwAQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=wgjkFvzvjO9XHM%253A%3B4cZlP-xK_KGVEM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.berkshirefinearts.com%252FuploadedImages%252Farticles%252F944_Robert-Crumb-Exhibit948047.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.berkshirefinearts.com%252F02-02-2009_r-crumb-exhibit-at-mass-art-and-design.htm%3B407%3B600) ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/18 "2014-09-11T01:16:36Z")
> [@ThisYearsGirl](#): > > The funniest Onion article of all time (which isn’t archived) is “Blues Singer’s Woman allowed to tell her side of the story” and the article is done like a blues song [blues-singers-woman-permitted-to-tell-her-side](http://www.theonion.com/articles/blues-singers-woman-permitted-to-tell-her-side,472/) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/19 "2014-09-12T22:31:25Z")
Although the question is on etymology, since nearly all the references are to songs let’s move this to Cafe Society (which didn’t exist when this thread was started 13 years ago). Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621/20 "2014-09-13T02:46:28Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Brother Taj Mahal explains it all for you here. > > (BTW, this is off his incredible album \*The Real Thing\* which has not only a the greatest rhythm section that includes a (former) NY Congressman but also FIVE TUBAS all at once, all of 'em making the Fillmore ring like a bell. Just saying.) Oh yeah! Taj Mahal likes his women big! Listen to him sing about those[Big Legged Mommas!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNpSWby1cwQ)“Gimme some wd40 gonna oil my spring. My back is made of whalebone I’m gon’ make you sing.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-legged-women/85621.md?page=2)