Sure, we all love Queen. And yes, we all anxiously await the Freddie Mercury bio-pic starring Sacha Baron Cohen. But there are many songs about bikes other than Queen’s Bicycle Race.
Two reggae artists come to mind: Early B and Jah Thomas. Early B’s Bicycle Bicycle and Wheely Wheely. Sadly, Mr. B, also known as The Doctor, was shot in Dorchester Massachusetts in 1994.
Jah Thomas tore up the charts (maybe) in the 80s with the aptly named Bicycle Skank. Aptly because Mr. Thomas says both bicycle and skank in the song.
In Japan, three women, Naoko Yamano, Ritsuko Taneda and Emi Morimoto go by the name 少年ナイフ or Shonen Knife. One of the truest songs ever written, Cycling is Fun, is theirs. Does the fact that the song is true mean it is good? In this case yes.
The cycling song that is second only in popularity to Queen’s Bicycle Race is Kraftwerk’s Tour De France and many versions thereof. As you no doubt recall, Kraftwerk’s productivity waned and a band member left when the band became obsessed with cycling.
Which naturally brings us to Will Glahe’s Tour de France.
Stop Me if You Think You’ve Heard this One Before by the Smiths may not be overtly about cycling but there is a heck of a lot of cycling in the video.
Midnight Bicycle Mystery is a typically disjointed joint (that’s slang for song) by Deerhoof.
Pink Floyd did what we think could be correctly described as a “ditty,” called Bike.
And what about John Tesh?