This is a list of songs about bicycles or cycling.
Bicycles became popular in the 19th century as the new designs of safety bicycle were practical for the general population, including women. By the end of that century, cycling was a fashion or fad which was reflected in the popular songs of the day. The most famous of these was "Daisy Bell",[1] inspired by the phrase "a bicycle made for two".[2] The vogue for cycling songs continued into the Edwardian era and modern examples continue to appear in the 21st century.[3]
List
edit| Title | Author | Year | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| "The Acoustic Motorbike" | Luka Bloom | 1992 | |
| "Amsterdam" | Riblja Čorba | 1986 | From the album Osmi nervni slom |
| "An Elegy for Baby Blue" | The Wonder Years (band) | 2008 | From "Won't Be Pathetic Forever" EP |
| "Apology Song" | The Decemberists | 2001 | From the 5 Songs EP |
| "A Bicicleta" | Toquinho | 1983 | Album Casa de brinquedos.[4] |
| "La Bicicleta" | Carlos Vives & Shakira | 2016 | [5] |
| "Bicicleta" | Marcos Valle | 1985 | [6] |
| "Bicycle" | BC Unidos feat. Shungudzo | 2017 | From the EP Bicycle[7] |
| "Bicycle" | Chungha | 2021 | From the album Querencia |
| ”Bicycle” | Masters of Reality | 2002 | From the album Sunrise on the Sufferbus |
| "Bicycle" | Nico Touches the Walls | 2011 | From the album Humania |
| "Bicycle" (feat. klei) | filous | 2018 | [8] |
| "Bicycle" | Xdinary Heroes | 2023 | From the album Deadlock (EP) |
| "Bicycle, Bicycle, You Are My Bicycle" | Be Your Own Pet | 2006 | From the album Be Your Own Pet |
| "Bicycle Episode" | J. M. Richards | 1897 | [9] |
| "The Bicycle Girl" | Avery Oddfellow, F. W. Meacham | 1895 | [9] |
| "Bicycle Race" | Queen | 1978 | [10] |
| "Bicycle Song" | Red Hot Chili Peppers | 2006 | |
| "Bicycles Are Red Hot" | TV on the Radio | 2002 | From the album OK Calculator |
| "La Bicyclette" | Yves Montand | 1968 | [9] From the album La Bicyclette |
| "Les Bicyclettes de Belsize" | Engelbert Humperdinck | 1968 | From the movie Les Bicyclettes de Belsize |
| "Bike" | cLOUDDEAD | 2004 | From the album Ten |
| "Bike" | Pink Floyd | 1967 | [11] |
| "Bike Messenger Diaries" | ApSci | 2005 | B-side of the single "See That?" |
| "Bike Rider" | Mungo's Hi Fi feat. Pupajim | 2014 | From the album Serious Time |
| "The Bike Song" | Mark Ronson & The Business International | 2010 | [12] |
| "Biking" | Frank Ocean | 2017 | Featuring, JAY Z and Tyler the Creator |
| "Black Mags" | The Cool Kids | 2008 | From the album The Bake Sale |
| "Brand New Key" | Melanie | 1971 | |
| "Bravo Eddy!" | Jean Narcy | 1969/1970 | |
| "C'mon Let Me Ride" | Skylar Grey feat. Eminem | 2012 | |
| "La complainte de l'heure de pointe (À vélo dans Paris)" | Joe Dassin | 1972 | From the album Joe |
| "Cycles to Gehenna" | Aesop Rock | 2012 | From the album Skelethon |
| "Cycling Is Fun" | Shonen Knife | 1984 | From their album Yama-no Attchan |
| "Daisy Bell" | Harry Dacre | 1892 | [9] |
| "Death Of An Old Bike" | The Rosebuds | 2014 | [9] |
| "Dora Brown" | Nelly Burt | 1897 | [9] |
| "Eddy Est Imbattable!" | Pierre-André Gil | 1971 | |
| "Eddy Is Niet Te Kloppen!" | Frankie | 1971 | |
| "Eddy Prend Le Maillot Jaune" | Pierre-André Gil | 1969 | |
| "Fahrrad" | Bläck Fööss | 1982 | [13] From their album Morje Morje |
| "Fahrrad fahr'n" | Max Raabe | 2017 | From the album Der perfekte Moment... wird heut verpennt[14] |
| "Fahrrad Fahrn" | Achim Reichel Oh Ha! | 1996 | [15] |
| "Fahrradfahr'n" | Sternhagel | 1982 | |
| "Fahrradlied" | Binder & Krieglstein | 2012 | [16] |
| "Fahrradsong" | Christoph Busse | 1976 | [17] Aired in the German Sesame Street in 1978 |
| "The Girl That's Up To Date" | Edward Harrigan, David Braham | 1894 | [9] |
| "The Great Velocipede" | Frank Wilder | 1869 | [9][18] Sung by W. F. Collins of the British Christy Minstrels |
| "Hadron Collision" | Propagandhi | 2012 | [19] |
| "Handlebars" | Flobots | 2005 | |
| "Happy Cycling" | Boards of Canada | 1998 | From the album Music Has the Right to Children |
| "Have You A Wheel?" | O. A. Hoffmann | 1895 | [9] |
| "Helter Smelter" | Fifteen | 1994 | [20] |
| "In Bicicletta" | Riccardo Cocciante | 1982 | From the album Cocciante[21] |
| "It's a Beautiful Day" | The Beach Boys | 1979 | |
| "The Kickstand Song" | Darren Hanlon | 2002 | From the album Hello Stranger[22] |
| "The Latest Fad" | A. A. Condon | 1895 | [9] |
| "Let's Have a Ride on Your Bicycle" | Max Miller | 1953 | [23] |
| "A Lilac Harry Quinn" | Half Man Half Biscuit | 1991 | From McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt |
| "Mein Fahrrad" | Die Prinzen | 1992 | [24] |
| "My Bike" | The Bennies | 2013 | From the Better off Dread EP[25] |
| "My Bike" | Y.N.RichKids | 2013 | [26] |
| "My 'Cycle Gal" | Philip Wales | 1899 | [9] |
| "My White Bicycle" | Tomorrow | 1967 | About the Provos'. And a UK hit for the cover from Nazareth in 1975.[27] |
| "New Bicycle Hornpipe" | Norman & Nancy Blake | 1985 | From the album Lighthouse on the Shore |
| "The New Columbia Wheel" | George Lowell Tracy, James C. Dunn | 1898 | [9] |
| "The New Velocipede" | E. H. Sherwood | 1869 | [9] |
| "Nine Million Bicycles" | Katie Melua | 2005 | [28] |
| "On My Bike" | Bikeride | 1997 | From the album Here Comes the Summer. |
| "Op Fietse" | Skik | 1997 | From the album Niks is zoas 't lek |
| "Pedal Your Blues Away" | Earl Rouse and Brothers | 1936 | [29] |
| "Physics Of A Bicycle" | cLOUDDEAD | 2001 | B-side of the EP "The Peel Session"[30] |
| "Poppin' A Wheelie!" | The Aquabats | 2011 | Hi-Five Soup! |
| "The Pushbike Song" | The Mixtures | 1970 | And a cover by Mungo Jerry (1990, UK). |
| "Rennrad" | Dota | 2016 | [31] |
| "Riding Bikes" | Shellac | 2014 | From the album Dude Incredible |
| "Riding on My Bike" | Madness | 1982 | B-side and reworking of "Driving in My Car" |
| "Riding on My Bike" | Sia | 2020 | From the album At Home with the Kids |
| "See That My Bike's Kept Clean" | Half Man Half Biscuit | 1997 | From the album Voyage to the Bottom of the Road |
| "Shimano XTR" | Ćelo & Abdï | 2017 | [32] |
| "Silver Machine" | Hawkwind | 1972 | A UK hit about Robert Calvert's silver bicycle. |
| "Stadtrad" | Binder & Krieglstein | 2018 | From the album Trommeln der Nacht[33] |
| "Ten Speed (Of God’s Blood & Burial)" | Coheed and Cambria | 2005 | |
| "Terry Keeps His Clips On" | Vivian Stanshall | 1981 | |
| "Tour de France" | Kraftwerk | 1983 | From their cycling concept album for the centenary of the Tour de France in 2003 — Tour de France Soundtracks.[34] |
| "Vas-Y Eddy" | Jean Saint-Paul | 1967 | |
| "Velocipede Jimmy" | O. H. Harpel, Henry Atkins | 1869 | [9] |
| "Two on a Bike" | Six Hits and a Miss | 1942 | |
| "Two Wheels" | Wax | 2011 | Scrublife |
| "Yellow Bike" | Pedro the Lion | 2019 | From the album Phoenix |
| "Bicycle"[35][36] | RM | 2021 | Unofficial Release[37] |
| "Bicycle Wheels" | Ugly Kid Joe | 1996 | |
| "Training Wheels" | Melanie Martinez | 2015 | From the album Cry Baby |
| "Bicycle Song" | Monkey (band) | 2015 | From Bananarchy[38] |
References
edit- ^ Marian Klamkin (1975), Old sheet music, Hawthorn Books, pp. 31–32
- ^ Hazel Butler, I Know a Young Woman Who Swallowed a Lie, p. 40
- ^ Andrew Horrall (2001), "Bicycles", Popular culture in London c. 1890-1918, Manchester University Press, pp. 54–64, ISBN 978-0-7190-5783-0,
cycling songs remained popular until the mid-Edwardian era
- ^ "Circuito Musical. Toquinho: Casa de Brinquedos". Archived from the original on 2016-09-14. Retrieved 2016-09-04.
- ^ "Where to Watch Vevo Music Videos".
- ^ Youtube
- ^ BC Unidos Release Debut Single 'Bicycle' from Past Santigold Collaborators, June 19, 2017
- ^ Youtube
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Jon W. Finson (1997), "Popular views of technology", The Voices That Are Gone: Themes in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Song, Oxford University Press, pp. 144–145, ISBN 978-0-19-511382-2
- ^ Ken McLeod (2011), We Are the Champions: The Politics of Sports and Popular Music, Ashgate Publishing, pp. 30, 122–123, ISBN 978-1-4094-0864-2
- ^ Zack Furness (2010), One Less Car: Bicycling and the Politics of Automobility, Temple University Press, p. 144, ISBN 978-1-59213-613-1,
Bike riding and bicycles are prevalent in the lyrics and imagery of dozens of active and defunct punk bands such as Fifteen ... Syd Barrett's psychedelic musings on Pink Floyd's "Bike"
- ^ Charlotte Heathcote (September 26, 2010), "Mark Ronson & The Business International Record Collection", Daily Express
- ^ Youtube
- ^ Youtube
- ^ Youtube
- ^ Youtube
- ^ Youtube
- ^ Frederick Alderson (1972), Bicycling: a history, Praeger, pp. 33–34
- ^ Listen to Propagandhi’s Failed States, read the band’s track-by-track insights http://music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2012/9/Listen-to-Propagandhis-Failed-States-read-the-bands-track-by-track-insights Archived 2016-03-01 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Youtube
- ^ Youtube
- ^ Youtube
- ^ Youtube
- ^ Youtube
- ^ Youtube
- ^ "My Bike, by Y.N.RichKids".
- ^ Nick Pas (2011), Between Prague Spring and French May, Berghahn Books, pp. 168–169, ISBN 978-0-85745-106-4
- ^ Historical Dictionary of Cycling, Scarecrow Press, 2011, ISBN 978-0-8108-7175-5
- ^ Randy Noles (2002), Orange Blossom Boys: The Untold Story of Ervin T. Rouse, Chubby Wise and the World's Most Famous Fiddle Tune, Hal Leonard Corporation, pp. 48–49
- ^ Youtube
- ^ Youtube
- ^ Youtube
- ^ Youtube
- ^ M.McGuinness (2009), Sporting sounds: relationships between sport and music, Taylor & Francis, p. 187, ISBN 978-0-415-44367-8
- ^ "RM - Bicycle". BANGTAN BLOG. 2021-06-07. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- ^ RM - Bicycle #2021BTSFESTA, retrieved 2022-03-15
- ^ June 07, rea Towers; EDT, 2021 at 10:19 AM. "BTS' RM releases new solo single 'Bicycle' - listen now". EW.com. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Bicycle Song - MONKEY". Bandcamp. 2022. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
Further reading
edit- Justin Daniel Belmont (2005), The Art of Bicycling, Breakaway Books, ISBN 978-1-891369-56-8
- S. Conant Foster (1884), Wheel Songs, White, Stokes, & Allen
- Labann (2008), Bike&Chain: The Ultimate Guide to Bicycling Culture
External links
edit- Bike Radar — songs about bicycles
- Guardian readers recommend — songs about bicycles
- Bike&Chain — 2,300 Songs directly related to bicycling, most definitive list.