ER
QUEEN released their single “Bicycle Race” on October 13, 1978. The song was released on their 1978 album Jazz and was written by Freddie Mercury. The song was released as a double A-side single along with the song “Fat Bottomed Girls”. The song is best known for its videos featuring bicycle races with naked women at Wimbledon Stadium, which were edited or even banned in some countries.
The song was inspired by watching the 18th stage of the 1978 Tour de France passing through Montreux, where the band recorded Jazz at Mountain Studios. It starts with a chorus without an instrument. The chorus is followed by two stanzas connected by a bridge, both of which are followed by a chorus.
In the middle of the song is a solo played with many bicycle bells. The song features an unusual chord progression with lots of modulation, meter changes (from 4/4 to 6/8) in the bridge, and multi-track vocal and guitar harmonization.
The lyrics were topical for the time and contained social, political and pop culture references, such as religion, the Vietnam War, Watergate, drugs, fictional characters (Peter Pan, Frankenstein and Superman), and the films Jaws and Star Wars. The song also mentions actor John Wayne. The lyrics also mention the interjection “Hot dog!” and the idiom “Cool it, man!”
Brian May said that the song is not an autobiographical portrait of Mercury and that Mercury did not particularly enjoy cycling, also noting that despite its lyrical content, Mercury was a Star Wars fan.
The song references the band’s song “Fat Bottomed Girls” with the lyrics “fat bottomed girls, they’ll be riding today”. “Fat Bottomed Girls” hit back with the lyrics: “Get on your bikes and ride!” Both songs were released as a double A-side single.
The song’s video is notable for having 65 naked women, all professional models, race at Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium. The video was filmed by Denis de Vallance. The group rented a stadium and several dozen bicycles for one day to shoot the scene; However, when the rental company became aware of the way their bicycles were used, they requested that the group purchase all the bicycle seats. The original video uses special effects to hide the nudity. However, because of the nudity, the video is age-restricted on YouTube and banned in some countries.
The song was released as a single and also included in the following albums and box sets: Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, 15 of the Best, Queen Live in Concert, Greatest Hits and The Singles Collection Volume 1.
The single was mostly distributed in 1978, on 7-inch vinyl records, with “Fat Bottomed Girls” on the B-side and the record label EMI. In Argentina, the titles are translated as “Carrera de Bicicletas” and “Chicas Gordas”, respectively. The labels were changed to Pepita in Hungary and Elektra in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
Polish circulars have the Tonpress and “Spread Your Wings” labels on the B-side or none. Both 7-inch and 12-inch tapes were issued in the US; there it also appeared in 1979, on the B-side of the single “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”. In most countries, the cover features a back photo of a naked woman on a race bike, with a red bikini painted over the original. A bra was added to the US cover.
Personnel: • Freddie Mercury – lead and backing vocals, piano, bicycle bells, • Brian May – electric guitar, backing vocals, bicycle bells, • Roger Taylor – drums, backing vocals, bicycle bells, • John Deacon – bass guitar, bicycle bells
The song was covered by: • Blümchen (1996) in a sampled version of the original, • Upsilon Acrux (2002) on the Queen tribute album released by Three One G records, • Lemon Demon (2005) on the bonus track to his album Damn Skippy, • Be Your Own Pet (2005) on a Queen Tribute album, • Between the Buried and Me (2006) on their cover album The Anatomy Of, • Mamas Gun (2011) as a bonus track on their second album The Life and Souls. The chorus of the song was sampled in “C’mon Let Me Ride” by Skylar Gray featuring Eminem.
A bicycle race with naked women was held to promote the Jazz album, this single and the single “Fat Bottomed Girls”. This photo was included as a fold poster with the Jazz album. This photo was also included as an alternative single cover. [sources/photo special]
