Happy #SongLyricsSunday. Today’s prompt is to find a song with a sport in the title or lyrics. The song I choose is Queen’s 1978 song “Bicycle Race” from the album Jazz. This isn’t my first time coming across the tune. I used it in a stop-motion project for media production in high school some years ago. It is a fun song to create a video for because the tune mentions many pop culture references. However, that isn’t the only thing that is mentioned in Queen’s “Bicycle Race”. Let’s explore “Bicycle Race” more in detail below to find out what else.
On Your Marks, Get Set, Go
Queen’s “Bicycle Race” was released as a double A-side single with “Fat Bottomed Girls” on October 13, 1978. You can hear references to “Fat Bottomed Girls” in the lyrics for “Bicycle Race”, with such lyrics as ” Fat bottomed girls, they’ll be riding today “. In turn, the lyrics “Get on your bikes and ride!” in “Fat Bottomed Girls” references the bicycle song. A clever way to reference both tunes in each other.
Freddie Mercury wrote the song while watching the 18th leg of the 1978 Tour de France. The race passed by Montreux, where the band recorded Jazz (as they recorded there for a tax break). The song uses some unusual musicality. Listeners can hear bicycle bells, unusual chord progressions, numerous modulations, multitracked instrumentation and vocals, and shifts in time signature (from 4/4 to 6/8). My favorite part of the song is Brian May’s guitar parts as I love that kind of style of guitar playing (the same with Queen’s “Flash’s Theme”).
But, what else makes this song unique is the various pop culture, political, and social references. There are references to Star Wars, drugs, Watergate, Vietnam War, Peter Pan, Frankenstein, religion Superman, and Jaws. Although Freddie sings “I don’t like Star Wars”, he was actually a Star Wars fan. But, Mercury wasn’t a particular fan of bicycling.
“Bicycle Race” by Queen may be a short tune, clocking around three minutes. But, it is a really fun tune with unique musicality and so many references that many can relate to. Make sure to listen to Queen’s “Bicycle Race” down below and let me know what you think!
While researching this song, I came across some interesting trivia about the music video. It was shot at Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, with 65 female models riding bicycles nude. The original video used special effects to hide the nudity. However, because of the nudity, the video is banned in many countries like China. It is also age-restricted on YouTube. The one above is, I believe, the edited version.
Lyrics for Queen’s “Bicycle Race”
Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle, bicycle, bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like
You say black, I say white
You say bark, I say bite
You say shark, I say hey man
Jaws was never my scene
And I don’t like Star Wars
You say Rolls, I say Royce
You say God give me a choice
You say Lord, I say Christ
I don’t believe in Peter Pan
Frankenstein or Superman
All I wanna do is
Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle, bicycle, bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle, races are coming your way
So forget all your duties, oh yeah
Fat bottomed girls, they’ll be riding today
So look out for those beauties, oh yeah
On your marks, get set, go
Bicycle race, bicycle race, bicycle race
Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle, bicycle, bicycle, bicycle
(I want a) bicycle race
You say coke, I say ‘caine
You say John, I say Wayne
Hot dog, I say cool it man
I don’t wanna be the President of America
You say smile, I say cheese
Cartier, I say please
Income tax, I say Jesus
I don’t wanna be a candidate
For Vietnam or Watergate
‘Cause all I want to do is
Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle, bicycle (c’mon), bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like
The Rules for #SongLyricsSunday
(This challenge is currently hosted by the generous Jim Adams.)
Anyone can participate in #SongLyricsSunday, even if you aren’t a music blogger! If you want to participate, here are the rules:
- Post the lyrics to the song of your choice, whether it fits the theme or not.
- Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due.
- Make sure you also credit the singer/band and if you desire you can provide a link to where you found the lyrics.
- Link to the YouTube video, or pull it into your post so others can listen to the song.
- Pingback to this post will eventually work, as long as you are being patient, but you can also place your link in the comments if you don’t like to wait.
- Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
- Feel free to suggest future prompts.
- Have fun and enjoy the music.
