Big, Blonde And Beautiful Lyrics
Big, Blonde And Beautiful
MOTORMOUTHOnce upon a time
Girl i was just like you
Never let my extra large
Largesse shine through
Hair was brown and nappy
Never had no fun
I hid under a bushel
Which is easier said than done!
Then one day my grandma
Who was big and stout
She said you gotta love yourself
From inside out
And just as soon as i learned
How to strut my funky stuff
I found out that the world at large
Cant get enough so...
Bring on that pecan pie
Pour some sugar on it
Sugar don't be shy
Scoop me up a mess
Of that chocolate swirl
Don't be stingy,
I'm a growing girl
1 offer big love
With no apology
How can i deny the world
The most of me
I am not afraid
To throw my weight around
Pound by pound by pound
Because i'm
Big, blonde and beautiful
There is nothin' 'bout me
That's unsuitable
No one wants a meal
That only offers the least
When girl we're servin' up
The whole damn feast
Slice off a piece
Of that hog head cheese
Then take a look inside
My book of recipes
Now, don't you sniff around
For something fluffy and light
I need a man who brings
A man-size... Appetite
I'll use a pinch of sugar
And a dash of spice
I'll let ya lick the spoon
Because it tastes so nice
I'll keep it in my oven
'Til it's good and hot
Keep on stirring til it hits the spot
Because i'm...
Big, blonde and beautiful
And Edna girl, you're lookin' so
Recruitable
Why sit in the bleachers
Timid and afraid
When Edna,
You can be your own parade!
TRACY
So? How 'bout it, Mama?
EDNA
Well, I am big, I am blonde... ish, and if you say
I'm beautiful, I guess I'm beautiful. OK, I'll do it!
ALL
Yeaaa!
Look out old Baltimore
We're marching in
'And we ain't shufflin'
Through that old back door
EDNA
And Tracy, i will join the fight
If i can keep up this pace
WILBUR
And girls, i'll be right at your side
If i can find some space
MOTORMOUTH
So you can
Hold your head up
Just as big as ya please
You know they'll hear me knockin'
With the two of these!
MOTORMOUTH & ENSEMBLE
Tomorrow, side by side
We'll show the world what's right
EDNA
Looks like i'm touchin' up my roots tonight!
MOTORMOUTH & ENSEMBLE
Then we'll be
Big, blonde and beautiful
It's time to face the fact
It's irrefutable
Can't ya hear that rumbling?
That's our hunger to be free
It's time to fin'ly taste
Equality
COUNCIL MOTHERS & DAUGHTERS
On mother/daughter day
Where thin is in,
We're white as wool
MOTORMOUTH
Well ladies, big is back!
And as for black, it's...
MOTORMOUTH & ENSEMBLE
...Beautiful!!
MOTORMOUTH
All shapes and sizes, follow me
EDNA
Let's bust their chops!
VELMA
Quick, cali the cops!
MOTORMOUTH & PROTESTERS
We're gonna dance our way to victory!
And get us on TV!
PROTESTERS
2...4...6...8...TV'S got to integrate!
COUNCIL MEMBERS
Stay away! This isn't Negro Day!
(Police sirens wail. Whistles blow.
As the protesters continue their march, they are loaded into the addy wagon.)
MOTORMOUTH
You bet i'm big!
EDNA (pulling on Velmas hair)
This blond is gray!
LINK
Tracy, this was beautiful!
MOTORMOUTH
Big, blonde, and beautiful leads the way!
ENSEMBLE
No one's getting on TV today!
Song Overview
“Big, Blonde and Beautiful” lands at Motormouth Maybelle’s record shop and flips the show’s thermostat from cute to catalytic. It starts as a swaggering self-love sermon and ends as a street-level call to integrate the airwaves. On the 2002 cast album, the cut sits mid-Act 1 and clocks in at 4:37, with Mary Bond Davis fronting a tight R&B-colored pit under Marc Shaiman’s hand. The groove is big, the message bigger.
Review and Highlights
Review. This is Motormouth’s house and her bandwidth. The band rides a backbeat with tambourine shimmer and horns that stab like punctuation. Davis phrases with the ease of a soul emcee, inviting Edna into the light and daring Baltimore to object. The writing keeps the verses compact and the hooks communal so the crowd can roar with it on first pass.
Highlights.
- The extended food metaphors aren’t novelty - they reframe appetite as pride and permission.
- Edna’s “I’ll do it” turns a private body image battle into public momentum.
- The final section pivots from body politics to desegregation, cueing the protest chant that follows.
Creation History
Music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman. The number appears as track 9 on Hairspray (Original Broadway Cast Recording), released by Sony Classical on August 13, 2002. Marc Shaiman produced; Lon Hoyt conducted.
The song carries into screen adaptations: Queen Latifah tears into it in New Line’s 2007 film, which also adds a snarling reprise, and Jennifer Hudson headlines the NBC Hairspray Live! performance in 2016.
Song Meaning and Annotations
Plot
Tracy and friends step into Maybelle’s shop, a dance floor where rules loosen. Motormouth preaches radical welcome, aims it at Edna, and rallies everyone toward the TV studio. The ensemble swells, the council mothers panic, and the lyric snaps into protest: “TV’s got to integrate!” It’s not just a pep talk - it’s a recruitment drive that spills into the next scene’s confrontation.
Song Meaning
The piece collapses two revolutions into one groove: body liberation and civil rights. Appetite stands in for agency. The band’s 60s pop-soul vernacular - handclaps, brass, stacked harmonies - keeps it party-ready, but the text underlines who’s been allowed to party on camera and who hasn’t. The mood starts flirty, turns rallying, and ends with a plan.
Style and production
Arrangement-wise, it’s classic Shaiman: R&B chassis, Broadway chrome. The pit book doubles reeds for color, trumpets and trombone punch phrases, guitars and keys glue the pocket, and percussion keeps the dance floor honest. The cast album mix pushes diction over drive, so wordplay lands without blurring momentum.
Key Facts
- Artist: Mary Bond Davis with Original Broadway Cast of Hairspray
- Composer: Marc Shaiman
- Lyricists: Scott Wittman, Marc Shaiman
- Producer (album): Marc Shaiman
- Conductor: Lon Hoyt
- Release Date (album): August 13, 2002
- Label: Sony Classical
- Track #: 9
- Length: 4:37
- Genre: Showtune with 1960s soul and pop inflection
- Language: English
- Instruments: reeds, trumpets, trombone, guitars, keyboards, electric bass, drum kit, percussion, strings
Questions and Answers
- Who produced “Big, Blonde and Beautiful” on the Original Broadway Cast album?
- Marc Shaiman.
- When did it appear on the cast album?
- August 13, 2002.
- Who wrote it?
- Music by Marc Shaiman; lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman.
- Who sings the prominent screen versions?
- Queen Latifah in the 2007 film; Jennifer Hudson in the 2016 live broadcast.
- Where does the number sit in the show?
- Act 1, at Motormouth Maybelle’s record shop, just before the integration protest heats up.
Awards and Chart Positions
The cast album won the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
U.S. charts: the album peaked at no. 131 on the Billboard 200 and later rose to no. 3 on the U.S. Cast Albums chart.
Additional Info
Screen rewrites and additions. The 2007 film trims and alters several stage lyrics and adds “Big, Blonde and Beautiful (Reprise)” as a barbed duet for Edna and Velma - part of the movie’s broader reshuffle of material for camera.
Alternate recordings and key live versions. The Original Broadway Cast audio is available on official YouTube topic uploads; notable screen counterparts include Queen Latifah’s film take and Jennifer Hudson’s live broadcast rendition.