36D is a song written by Paul Heaton

Paul Heaton

Paul David Heaton is an English singer-songwriter. He was a member of The Housemartins, who disbanded in 1988, and a member of The Beautiful South, who disbanded in 2007. He is currently pursuing a solo career....

 and Dave Rotheray

Dave Rotheray

David Rotheray is a British musician, best known for being the lead guitarist for The Beautiful South.Rotheray was born the fifth of five children. His parents were both intellectual and had met through the Young Communist League...

 and performed by The Beautiful South

The Beautiful South

The Beautiful South were an English alternative rock group formed at the end of the 1980s by two former members of Hull group The Housemartins, Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway. The duo were initially joined by Sean Welch , Dave Stead and Dave Rotheray , all of whom stayed with the group throughout...

. The song was originally found on the album 0898 Beautiful South

0898 Beautiful South

0898 Beautiful South, released March 1992, was The Beautiful South's third album. The album reached number 4 on the UK charts, unlike their previous two albums which reached number 2; the record company blamed this on the cover which showed ladies' faces on the back of terrapins' shells.The full...

and later appeared on two greatest hits compilations, 1994's Carry on up the Charts

Carry on up the Charts

Carry On up the Charts: The Best of The Beautiful South is The Beautiful South's fifth album and first greatest hits collection.It was released in the same year as the Miaow album, with the album's only single, "One Last Love Song", was released in October 1994, only two months after "Prettiest...

and 2007's Soup

Soup (The Housemartins and The Beautiful South album)

Soup is an album released in November 2007 by The Housemartins and The Beautiful South on Mercury Records. It is in effect a greatest hits album for both of the bands, the first seven tracks bracketed together as "The Housemartins Condensed" and the remaining fifteen as "The Cream of The Beautiful...

. As a single it reached #46 in the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

, spending two weeks in the Top 75 in 1992. The album version ran for 5 minutes 15 seconds.

The song starts as a ballad and it appears singer Dave Hemingway

Dave Hemingway

Dave Hemingway , is a British musician and songwriter, and was a lead vocalist for the Hull-based band The Beautiful South until they disbanded in 2007...

 is singing fondly to a woman, telling her she doesn't have to make an effort with her looks for him to appreciate her. However as the more upbeat chorus, sung by Hemingway and Heaton, comes in it becomes clear that the woman is the object of Heaton's scorn. The main cause of their disgust is that she uses her 36D

Brassiere measurements

Brassiere measurement refers to determining what size of bra a woman wears and mass producing bras that will fit most women....

 breasts to have lots of meaningless sex and turns herself into media sex object

Sexual objectification

Sexual objectification refers to the practice of regarding or treating another person merely as an instrument towards one's sexual pleasure, and a sex object is a person who is regarded simply as an object of sexual gratification or who is sexually attractive...

, and maybe even a prostitute. Heaton is clearly unimpressed by her ("36D, so what?") and "You cheapen and you nasty every woman in this land" along with "Your picture's hanging pretty on the squaddie's walls, You're Steven's, Andy's, you're Iain's, you're Paul's" shows his feelings perfectly.

The overtly sexual content of the song may be a reason it did not chart highly as a single as opposed to many of their other tongue in cheek songs like "Song For Whoever

Song For Whoever

"Song for Whoever" is a song by The Beautiful South, written by band members Paul Heaton and David Rotheray. The first and highest-charting single from their debut album, Welcome to the Beautiful South, it peaked at number 2 in the UK charts in 1989...

" and "Don't Marry Her

Don't Marry Her

"Don't Marry Her" is a song by The Beautiful South, which was the opening track from their album "Blue is the Colour". Vocalist Jacqui Abbott begs a man to run away with her from the woman he is going to marry, and attempts to sway him by describing what she thinks married life with the other...

". The song was one of the catalysts for Briana Corrigan

Briana Corrigan

Briana Corrigan is an Irish singer. She was the first female singer for The Beautiful South, from 1988 to 1994.She was born in Northern Ireland, her family moving from Belfast to Portstewart, County Londonderry when she was eleven, but her love for the theatre made her move to Newcastle upon...

 leaving as she thought it painted glamour models, especially Page 3 girls in a bad light when the media who put them there should be blamed instead.