For your listening pleasure...
05 Bicycle Race.mp3
For your reading pleasure...
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
Chorus
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
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
Cos all I want to do is
Chorus
For your Interpretive Pleasure…
The song is primarily about going against the mainstream from Peter Pan to Superman. He takes what is expected and popular for the time, and rejects it. Released in 1978, much of the content is temporally contextual, specifically the noted distaste for the Vietnam War and Watergate. The bicycle is the basis for the song and a representation of this liberation from the norm. The bicycle allows for a freedom where “I want to ride it where I like” and there are no boundaries.
Inspiration for this song is said to come after Freddie Mercury, lead guitarist for Queen, watched the Tour de France ride by his hotel. The witnessing of a large bike race provokes ideas of lack of constraint and the freedom of choice associated with the less mainstream. After the release of the song, the band held a race of 65 naked women, the photo which appears on the album art. Again, this represents the release from social ties as well as the feeling of liberation that can be seen in the World Naked Bike Ride in Community Programs. This song had an unexpectedly large effect on communities. Many stores sold out of bike bells so people could ring them during the song. It represents another phase of the popularization of the bicycle into society and popular culture.
