Little Feat -- "Fat Man in the Bathtub" (1973)

I put my money in your meter, baby 

So it won't run down, 

But you got me in a squeeze play 

On the cheesey side of town. 

Throw me a line, 

Show me a sign 

'Cause there's a fat man in the bathtub 

With the blues 

I wasn't planning to post about two Little Feat songs until I noticed a billboard in the subway station nearest my office recently.

The billboard was one of a number that advertised Living Social, which is a "deal-of-the-day" service that e-mails discount coupons to some 40 million people a day.  (Most of their offers seems to involve reduced-price massages, yoga classes, weekday comedy club tickets, and meals at restaurants that no one wants to eat at.)

A typical Living Social ad

Each of the billboards presented some obscure and mildly amusing fact -- like the fact that a quarter has 119 grooves in its edge.  The one that inspired this post noted that President William Howard Taft -- who is believed to have weighed as much as 335 pounds -- got stuck in the White House bathtub on his inauguration day, and had to be pulled out by servants.  (He had a larger tub installed shortly thereafter.)

This song came in a close second to "The Fan" when I was mulling over which Little Feat song I was going to feature on 2 or 3 lines as part of my "Records I Listened to in Law School" series.  Once I saw that billboard, I knew I had to do both songs.

(Taft's the fat one)

Here's a live performance of "Fat Man in the Bathtub."  (Lowell George has no clue where that first note was, did he?)

Here's a link you can use to buy the song from Amazon: