Circus et Pane

Excerpt from Joe Meno's novel Office Girl, Bohemians and Young People on Bicycles Doing Troubling Things (Akashic Books, 2019, 224 pp.): "Odile Neff, art-school dropout, age twenty-three, rides her green bicycle along the snowy streets of the city that evening at five p.m., arguing with herself. She is wearing one gray sock and one black sock and her faint-pink underwear, hidden beneath her long gray skirt, is dirty. It is January 1999, one year before the world as everyone knows it is about to end. Communism, like God, is already dead.”

No matter how much you tout its benefits and joys, bicycling bundles in adversity and pain. It’s a circus guaranteed to annihilate or entertain. To inveigle rabble and snow job mob, Roman Empire would stage deadly contests and toss loaves of bread into stands. Not much has changed. These days, instead of gladiators, bloodlust demands sacrifices of drivers on highways, while distressed DOTs wring hands over safety delays; you supply bread. In fact, pro-cycling change (avoids as much per mile, 70 cents, as it costs to enable motoring) is already mandated by law and easy to accomplish given legitimate leadership. But it only takes one aged alcoholic with Alzheimers in high office to screw hundreds of millions. If you think things in USA couldn’t be worse, last week in Pakistan an American was executed for blasphemy, defined as disrespect for a totalitarian religion. Unless you are going to live by your own code of conduct based on proven equations, you settle for probabalism of clerics’ ethics and experts’ persuasions.

A two minute burst ages ago from a drug addled narcissist seems hardly worth noting for posterity, yet there are thousands of them on record, more than a score below, evidence of longstanding oppression. Usually the more effort one puts in, the better final products satisfy, but not always. Of nation’s 250,000 plus known musical groups, only a small percentage summits. However, to neglect revealing any from anywhere as they appear would be inappropriate. Plus you might find one that actually resonates with you. It’s one reason B&C was begun, as much about culture as cycling. Virtuous generosity of mere mention or unsolicited praise could be its own reward. Disgust articulated assists those whose patience has been stretched beyond reasonable limits.

Riccardo Cocciante, In bicicletta [Italian], Cocciante, RCA, 1982
“Cycling unhurriedly on Sunday morning, while I'm falling in love.” 

Katrina and The Waves, Riding My Bike, Shock Horror!, Aftermath Rec., 1983

Half Man Half Biscuit, A Lilac Harry Quinn, McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt, Probe Plus, 1991
Cryptic lyrics summed up with, “Sturmey-Archer Campagnolo on my mind.” A love attraction gets triggered by someone holding a bike while standing in line.

Nemo, Bicycle Called Love [Belgian], Bicycle Called Love, Brinkman Rec., 1993

Cruiserweight, Elephant, This Will Undoubtedly Come Out Wrong, self, 2001
“I was taken just the other night to the circus show... and what a magnificent sight it was. But inside my heart, the glamour was fading. What the world needs now is to take this blindfold off. Was I lied to? 'Cause this question's been suspended but it's catching up with you. I can't believe it... Was I betrayed? Oh, to my dismay! So confined, he confided that nothing ever made his eyes shine at the circus show - where did all the happiness go? And if you think the world is a bicycle built for only you, well, brother, this big top, no, it never seemed so low.” Maybe a minor reference, but major relevance about what’s happening right outside your door, where you hesitate but long to go.

Tahiti 80, Open Book [French in English], Wallpaper for the Soul, Minty Fresh, 2002
“Looking back, it's always the same vicious circle: You fall in love like you'd fall from a bicycle. And everybody's walking in slow motion. You don't, you can't control your reaction. You should try, because you may burn your wings and crash to the ground. It makes you wish you were lost and never found. But you feel your face is blushing now. Your eyes are like an open book. One can tell everything from the way you look.”

Hot Chip, You Ride, We Ride, In My Ride, Coming on Strong, Moshi Moshi Rec., 2004
“Bicycle tire to guide me, a light in the night I can't walk towards the street has a dark end that's ours no more, a light in the night we can't walk towards.”

Woods, Kid’s Got Heart, How to Survive + In The Woods, Release the Bats Records, 2007
"I got time. Let me take a ride to the county line and get high away from all the prying eyes. I got a bicycle, and I got some time to kill, and I got a hundred reasons to make a living will, and tell a lie to make myself feel good inside. But no one needs to know the kid's got heart and his heart smarts. No one really cares who you are or who you think you are. Well these be sad times and we got real fears. It’s a bad time for ringing in a new year."

Peter And The Wolf, The Bike of Jonas, The Ivori Palms, Whiskey & Apples Records, 2007
“Nothing to talk about. I'm just gonna ride to work it out on Jonas' bicycle. Just cruising with the wind in your hair, when you ride this machine you truly are the mare. Flying down the road and dodging all the drunks left over from the night before.”

Bye Bye Bicycle, Meridian, Compass, Bonjour Recordings, 2009

Gerry Dempsey I’ll Cycle My Bike [Brit], single, self, 2009
“I'll cycle my bike wherever I like, under the radar, and over the dyke.... We’ll thread through the traffic, cut up the cars. We'll ride over the pavement and under the stars... We’ll perform loops and wheelies in the British Museum. We'll play Wall of Death round the Coliseum... We'll cycle in silence over glistening sands, over cities and forests in strange foreign lands. We'll gaze at our children, our parents and friends. And we'll wave to our loved-ones,’Look Mum, no hands!’"

Binder & Krieglstein, Fahrradlied [Stryian in German], New Weird Austria, Essay Recordings, 2010
“If I want to go somewhere, I ride my bike. That brings me to my destination faster... I love my bike. Cycling is low in pollutants... There are far too few wheels pollutant-free and low-emission. We cycle against traffic jams... I save a lot of time. Unlike the police, I prefer to go free of fine dust. If you overtake us, keep a minimum distance...”

Mirel Wagner, No Hands, Mirel Wagner, Friendly Fire Recordings, 2011
“I have been riding my bicycle all day long up and down the old dusty dirt road. Look, mother, no hands. See the sun filter through the trees. I am happy. Feel the wind and the speed, can’t see the danger. Look, mother, no hands.”

Binder & Krieglstein, Die Jungs [Stryian in German], Jugend, Earcandy Recordings, 2012

Joel Rosenberg & The Funnzies, The Bike Song, Come ride with me, single/video, self, 2012

Bibanu (Dan Popescu) feat. Carlito, Bicicleta [Romanian hip-hop], single, DopeFILM Records, 2017

Binder & Krieglstein, Stadtrad [Stryian in German], Trommeln der Nacht, Cooks Records, 2018

Jan Paternoster, Chef Van De Peloton [Flemish], single, Studio Brussel, 2018
Comedy on the Pavé, a stationary cyclist sings a chorus with attitude: “In Mijn wiel houde Gij dat geen uurke vol, ’K Zen de Chef van de Peloton Op souplesse Rijd ‘K ik recht naar de horizon.” [On my wheel didn’t keep up for a full hour full, K Zen, Head of the Peloton, on my flexibility ride straight to the horizon.]

Peirson Ross, Bicycle Song, The Alchemy of Fire - Songs to Benefit The Ojai Valley, Helpful Humans, 2018

Anna Anawalt, Bicycle Brent Song [Christian folk], single, self, 2019
Tribute to friendly bicyclist Brent Carpenter of Logan, Idaho.

Kruegers Randgruppe, Fahrradsong [German], Bonanza deluxe, Timezone, 2019