Bicycle Race

"Bicycle Race"
Single by Queen
from the album Jazz
A-side	Fat Bottomed Girls
Released	October 13, 1978
Format	7"
Recorded	1978
Genre	Rock
Length	3:01
Label	EMI, Elektra
Writer(s)	Freddie Mercury
Producer	Queen and Roy Thomas Baker
Queen singles chronology
"It's Late" (1978) "Bicycle Race" / "Fat Bottomed Girls" (1978) "Don't Stop Me Now" (1979)
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"Bicycle Race" is a single by the English rock band Queen. It was released on their 1978 album Jazz and written by Queen's frontman Freddie Mercury. The song is unusual for a Queen single in that it shows off the band's humorous side. Among other comic moments it has a middle eight which features bicycle bells. Fans would often replicate this at Queen concerts with their own such bells.

To release this song Queen staged a bicycle race with 65^{[citation needed]} naked women. The video was originally banned and subsequently re-edited with added special effects to censor the offensive imagery.

It was released as a Double-A side with the song "Fat Bottomed Girls". A crudely retouched photograph of a naked cyclist from the bicycle race was used for the single cover (now sporting a bikini bottom).

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (August 2008)

• This song was released as a double-A side with "Fat Bottomed Girls" and contains the line "Fat Bottomed Girls, they'll be riding today/ so look out for those beauties, oh yeah". For its part, "Fat Bottomed Girls" contains the line "Get on your bikes and ride!"

• The video featured a collection of naked models riding around a race track on bikes hired from British cycle shop chain Halfords. When returned, Queen was ordered to pay for all the seats as Halfords wouldn't accept them knowing what they had been used for.

• During a show at Madison Square Garden the band had numerous topless women on stage riding bicycles.

• The song makes numerous references to pop culture from the 1970s, including Jaws, Star Wars, Watergate, Peter Pan, Frankenstein, Superman, and the Vietnam War, among others.

• This song is performed on episodes of The Great Space Coaster and an episode of American Dad! entitled Jack's Back (2009).

• The song appears in the movie "How High".

• Mercury came up with the idea while on holiday in France when the Tour de France went past his hotel room window.

Cover versions

• This song was covered by the German dance artist Blümchen (1996). Her version contains samples from Queen's original recording.
• The song was covered in 2002 by Upsilon Acrux on Queen tribute album released by Three One G records.
• The song was covered by Lemon Demon and was released on the bonus tracks to his Damn Skippy album in 2005.
• The song was covered again in 2005 by Be Your Own Pet on a Queen Tribute album.
• The song was covered again in 2006 by Between the Buried and Me on their covers album The Anatomy Of.

Alternate artwork

Bicycle Race/Fat Bottomed Girls

Back cover

A bicycle race with nude women was held to promote the single.[1]

References