Baleful Wain

“I see you got your list out. Say your piece and get out. Yes, I get the gist of it, but it's alright. Sorry that you feel that way. The only thing there is to say, ‘Every silver lining's got a Touch of Grey.’ I will get by... I will survive.” - Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, 1987

To stay authentic and topical today’s writers must surf ahead of a tsunami of social insanity within a tyrannical tube of factuality. They have to assess advertisements, arts, blogs, books, broadcasts, documentaries, edicts, interviews, manifestos, movies, music, newscasts, podcasts, poetry, posts, rap, speeches, TikTok, tweets, videos, vlogs, and what’s not even on this Sisyphean list while investigating in person both an artificial and natural world, specific spaces at times, either eager to commit murder and devour your corpse. No bubble or force field, only cloth, grey matter, leather, or lycra to protect, it’s hard for anyone to say for sure, if at all, what preserves one’s inner self from threats out there. While being absorbed, ingested and inhaled, world in turn swallows you whole, simultaneously bestowing and taking, crucifying and forgiving, furnishing and suffocating, punishing and rewarding.

Labann’s mission has always been to encompass all of bicycling culture, monitor sources as new examples emerge, and show how items interconnect. Too often lately that involves baleful reports of political smackdowns, such as a POTUS proclamation trying to reverse NYC’s smart and successful Congestion Tolls. For GOP, state sovereignty only applies when it suits their own hypocritical lies. Often here cited public datasets are disappearing; all hail fascist efficiency that funnels public treasures to billionaire parasites! Low class cowards and thugs attacked Palestinian Muslims during Ramadan, then extorted neighborly Canadians because they think they can. No Russian mobsters have been deported. Gitmo has no promised alien detainees. Government services are disappearing. Inflation worsens daily. Stock shares are tanking. Poles are doubling their army expecting a Russian incursion. Is WWIII on its way? News you can lose? All deter civilian bicycling.

Anyway, The Douche is in the White House, and Duffer’s on vacation, golfing again, while true men from founding fathers to honored patriots are rolling angrily in their graves. What FDR said echoes loudly, "Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds." Cruel and devious modus operandi define criminal sociopathy. Farm wains upon which they loaded Black Death casualties and fallen soldiers (“sold yer” out with huge cuts to veteran benefits and jobs) have been superseded by flat beds and trailer trucks for next inevitable Grey Death. Wailful days upon us warrant brown study and frown melancholy.

About time for a direction reversal: Hope of renewal springs eternal, thus perennial Easter festival. “Those trips a-wheel before the break of day, the pause to hear the morning songsters sing, the break of fast on berries by the way, the thirst assuaged by kneeling to the spring; The drill, the race, that memorable run, Quixotic like, in search of conquests fair - Each ‘joyed event returns like Summer sun, to warm the chillness of the Winter air.” - S. Conant Foster, A Midwinter Reverie, Wheel Songs, Poems of Bicycling, 1884

Not all bicycling memories melt into gratitude or warm your soul. How about brand new leather saddles before broken in or frozen fingertips throbbing as if seared by molten steel? Always attempted a last spin before weather set in for real, especially in winter when snowfall chases you home to stay until sun and wind strip streets of black ice and white depth, then watching out window day to day for another chance while trying to judge which bits of apparel will work under an ever varying conditional array. It’s an anniversary worth celebrating when single-ply short sleeve jersey and spandex shorts suffice. But paying the price panting between baking sun and grilling asphalt that waft watery mirages and wondering if you’ll complete course before wholly exhausted still haunt and menace, what Rachel Meltdown does to your typical MAGA clown. Self’s amuse abuse, or folly hobby, seems bombastic onanistic or depressive obsessive to someone else’s mentality.

Mary Mensana (Amanda Seyfried) is pregnant widow of a would-be environmental terrorist and rueful parishioner at First Reformed (Paul Schrader, dir., 2018), on eve of rural church’s 250th anniversary, where Reverend Toller (Ethan Hawke) serves as pastor to whom she rides her bicycle for emotional support. As an aside, a man does say Fred in reference to stodgy cyclists devoted to riding classic but outdated steel models such as a Peugeot Super Competition or Schwinn Varsity. This grim drama about climate despair, doctrinaire politics, hollow ceremony, and reproductive rights won Critic’s Choice Male Lead award for Hawke; screenplay was nominated for an Oscar.

Not finding a lot of new bicycle songs from dispirited Americans, composing still on wane, as previously described. Do note Europeans compiling abridged Youtube playlists, such as one from Germany of which only some of those not previously mentioned are listed below chronologically by release date. Interesting how France and Germany now stand together backing Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s aggression after USA’s betrayal of democracy despite interwoven diversity and widespread mutiny of its citizens.

John Manchester, French Bicycle Music [piano instrumental], Blue Sky, Omnimusic, 1985

Beppo Küster, Ich fahre Rad [German pop], Bitte nach Ihnen, Amiga, 1986

Wolle Kriwanek Band, Mike (Mit dem Mountain-Bike) [German rock], Hot Wollé, Bell Records, 1992

M. A. Numminen, Fahrradfahren ist Notwendig [German, “Riding Bicycle Is Necessary”], soundtrack from short film Polkupyörällä ajaminen on tarpeellista (Sökö Kaukoranta, dir., 2000); commemorates 450th anniversary of Helsinki, Finland. Depicts a grey day with Numminen singing song beside riding on back of a bicycle being pedaled along a slushy roadside.

Spieltrieb, Fahrrad fahrn [German pop], Ohrrangement, self, 2008
“How do I feel? Of course, it rhymes with free. Whatever comes and happens can't touch me, because I have my song... There are a thousand ways to ride a bike, whether endurance, fast, downhill, or on the track. One thing is certain: you'll burn calories, and next summer you'll shine with a dream figure. Only what you eat is your fuel, and you're gliding along.”

Pat C, Klapprad [German], single video, self, 2010
“I ride a folding bike around the area; no reason to get upset”

Pratterino, Bicycle Song, Old Bicycle, Pär Strandberg, 2011

Souljah, Was mein Fahrrad angeht [German], single video, self, 2011
Bikecentric remake of the autocentric MoTrip song similarly named; if you sold God’s benefices, ecclesiastical privileges, or pardons it was once condemned as heretical simony, but now it’s the sole jam of Christian Nationalists loyal only to opportunist oligarchy.

Kommando Zurueck, Velociped [German hip-hop], Back from Out of Space, self, 2012

KraftKlub, Mein Rad [German], In Schwarz, Universal Music Group, 2014
Americans can related to this angst of loss plentiful evidenced, “My bike is no longer here, it's gone, that's what happened. But why is it now with an idiot like you... who sees things and just takes them like a stupid child?” Answer: Kleptocrats addicted to greed.

Anthony’s Putsch, King of the World, single video, self, 2014
“Won’t you grab that bike, please take me for a ride, and see that I’m King of the world! There is nothing I'm afraid of, mama, only the howling of the wind.” Right! Citizens of a democracy are collectively king, not some orange shellacked combover thing.

Infallet, Cykelhjälm Cykelhjälm [Swedish in English; group name means a “Sudden Whim”], single video, self, 2014
A helmet is stylish, the ultimate swag, no? “No pain, no gain. It’s a place to put your brain.”

Binyo, Fahrrad [German], Der Steg ist das Ziel [“The jetty is the destination’], self, 2015

The Rotaries, Bicycle Girl, On the Outs, self, 2015

Dota Kehr, Rennrad [German pop], Keine Gefahr, Kleingeldprinzessin Records, 2016

Maybebop, Lust auf Fahrrad [German], single, BMG, 2016

Moop Mama, Die Erfindung des Rades, M.O.O.P.Topia, self, 2016
“You are a miracle of nature on a miracle of technology, your round body contour, carefree and casual. They talk, and shout, and gesticulate, hands off the steering wheel. Sirens and horns are only for you, because you roll like a gangster.”

D.U.M. Enterprises, Fahrradtrack [German hip-hop], single video, self, 2018

Peelander-Z, Bike Bike Bike, Go PZ Go, Chicken Ranch Records, 2018

Günter Nüssle, Das Liegerad [German], single video, 2019

Nico Suave, Von Hamburg bis zum Meer [German pop], single video, Hamburg Marketing, 2019
“So many corners, so much to discover, on my bike... I’m never stuck in traffic. I pass you with a big smile.”

The Dirty Nil, To the Guy Who Stole My Bike, F*ck Art, Dine Alone Records, 2020
“I hope it serves you well. I hope the brakes don’t seize, when you’re riding down the hill to hell.”

Mr. Rose, Radfahren [German pop], single video, Problembär Records, 2020

Requisite, Bicycle, Rusty BBQ Demos EP, 1943896 Records DK, 2020
“Next time you offer me a ride, I might decline. I’d rather ride my bicycle.”

Severin Groebner, Rentner auf E-Bikes [German for “Retirees on E-bikes”], single video, self, 2020

Estéban Cortez, La-La-Lastenrad [German, “Cargo Bicycle”], single video, self, 2021
Going backwards by pedaling? Isn’t fuel too expensive?

Kadeja, feat. DieZelle, Bike, single video, PZK, 2021

Treptow, Nachts auf dem Fahrrad [German heavy metal], single video, self, 2021
“On the bike at night in Berlin... There’s room for you on my luggage rack; I'll gladly take you anywhere. Who needs a taxi?”

IFHT fea. Matt Dennison, New Bike Day, single video, self, 2022
“Got kicked out, got fired; wanna do stuff but I’m too tired. At least my mother’s proud of me (no, she’s not). But it’s new bike day, and I can’t be broken... I get to ride. I might be broke and alone, but there’s rubber and chrome... I feel alive... Can’t afford to fix my car, but I got shiny handlebars.”

Mike Ständer Band, Fahrradfahrn [German], Zweites, self, 2022

Blondie & Iris Wallaschek, Mein Rotes Fahrrad [German, "My Red Bicycle”], single video, Chromatics Entertainment Studios, 2023

Alex & Lukas (A. Diosegi and L. Brennecke), Radlerhymne [German hip-hop, “Cycling Anthem”], Schiffbruch, self, 2024
“Leather saddle padding and the pedal crank made of gold! The chrome rims measure an impressive twenty-six inches. Yes, then annoy a few passers-by with your exhaust. Hey, we'll pass you if you look out at us while you're filling up.”

E-Aldi, Fahrrad-Punks Not Dead, single, self, 2024

Vielleicht Emma, (Ich und mein) Fahrrad, (Ich und mein) Fahrrad, self, 2024

Hanker Sane

“They say that, ‘Patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings.’ Steal a little and they throw you in jail; steal a lot and they make you king. There's only one step down from here, baby. It’s called the land of permanent bliss. What’s a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?” Bob Dylan, Sweetheart Like You, Infidels, 1983

None can predict what might occur with certainty, though irrational behaviors often bring harm and ought to be avoided if possible. Don’t expect genius decisions from brains afflicted with dementia, parasites or syphilis. Legally and politically, ignorance is no excuse, but insanity does provide a lame defense. Madmen can be entertaining, about the only reason anyone nowadays acquires a name, evades blame, gains fame, or stakes a claim. One ought to hanker defining reality over sane washing absurdity. But as a criminal regime dawns, exemplary service in society’s interests secures yawns.

Andrew Wyeth (1930 to 2006) watercolor on board; artist is known for painting scenes from native Maine to Pennsylvania brimming with intense surrealism and magic realism.

“The truth knocks on the door and you say, ‘Go away, I’m looking for the truth.’ and so it goes away. Puzzling.” “When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion.” Quality maniac Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (HarperCollins, 1974, 448 pp.), 50th anniversary

Before 2024 election, couldn’t get enough of Strike Force Five and their hilarious criticisms of sick cultists in diametric contrast, and sparkling wits such as John Stewart and Tim Miller (shown below in parent’s basement flanked by bicycle posters). Now they are too sad and tragically targeted to merit same attention. Entertainers and journalists who champion truths and expose lawmakers will always be the enemies of tyrants.

Compulsions to create authentic content instead spread fallacy pollution. You can read lies daily in salacious headlines drawing audiences to another dull presentation meant to meet deadlines. Social media uses artificial intelligence to score influence, and, since purchased by privileged immigrants, sift out disloyal or dissident participants. All you can legitimately do is avoid trolls, boycott nonsense, buy nothing, ignore clickbait, and resist despots. Meanwhile, the exact opposite coexists, modest titles fronting indispensable testimony, intangible religiosity, and nontaxable charity.

Robert Isenberg, Mile Markers (Last Picked Books, 2024, 220 pp.), “A bicycle isn’t just a piece of sports equipment or a fun hobby. It is the purest innovation, a tool of liberation, the antidote for a million human woes.”

Complex phenomena come from random insufficiencies. Situations greatly vary. Seldom does one size fit all. Ice Road truckers don’t benefit as much from bicycle transportation as crosstown office commuters. Bicycles are labor saving devices compared to walking, but not while hauling tonnage. Who wants to be forced arbitrarily to do something more difficult than necessary? Jacques Derrida warned of torturing poets on a Procrustean Bed which sacrifices context for conformity. Old farts who plot violence and proceed unhinged against those they swore to serve will themselves, “Be hoisted with their own petard,”poetic justice of ironic outcomes, unintended suicides during terrorist bombings, not to be confused with pittards, leather gloves that protect well until outdoor winter trips trigger frozen fingertips.

After a year in America that saw historic investment in bicycling infrastructure and reciprocal equipment purchases, you’d naturally expect books, films, and songs to acknowledge and celebrate, and a dozen sparked recognition. Never underestimate the power of visual stimuli to shape perceptions and sway behaviors. Pick for yourself which one promotes prudent conduct. 

Alcoholic divorcee Michael (Brian Stillar), known locally as Bike (Terrance Odette, dir., 2024), resorts to collecting bottles, raiding dumpsters, running errands, scrounging beers, and stealing bicycles. One assignment has him arduously messengering a mystery envelope up a steep escarpment. His one hope, to jumpstart a relationship with his teenage daughter, runs into a detour when he witnesses a drive-by shooting.

Camera Corner (Josh Weinberg, dir., 2024) documents Wende Cragg’s archive of thousands of photos of early mountain bikes and Marin County’s MTB community circa 1974.

In uplifting fact-based feature film Hard Miles (Daniel Hannah, dir., 2024), social worker Matthew Modine ushers juvenile delinquents serving soft sentences on an epic bicycle tour to Grand Canyon, aided by sag driver Cynthia Kaye McWilliams and wrench tech Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee in LOTR). Everyone tumbles at least once on first attempt at using cleats.

Heretic (Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, dirs., 2024) follows Mormon sisters Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Paxton (Chloe East) blithely biking about, imposing their beliefs door to door, while seeking converts, until they arrive at the home of atheist psychopath Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), lock up bikes, and shuffle indoors. Resembles empty promises and fraught visits on political campaigns. This grim film received 2 dozen award nominations.

Rebel Ridge (Jeremy Saulnier, dir., 2024) shows ex-special forces marine Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre) run afoul of corrupt police in rural South. After they knock him off his mountain bicycle and confiscate cash with which he was planning to bail out his cousin, random Rambo mayhem commences.

Souleymane’s Story (Boris Lojkine, dir., 2024, in French) is portrayed by Abou Sangare, who delivers food in Paris by bicycle. To qualify for asylum, he must prepare an autobiography prior to a state inquiry. Was nominated for 10 awards and won 7.

Tess Parks - Some Days: The Bike Song From Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros. Pictures, Tim Burton, dir., 2024), “I don't like anything, but I love everyone some days... when the sun is out and good people are about it restores my faith.” Lydia Deetz’s psychic heir Astrid (Jenna Ortega) avoids colliding her bike with carelessly driven trucks but crashes through fence into the yard of Jeremy Frazier (Arthur Conti), who secretly designs her unsolicited destiny for his own expediency. Despicables dupe innocents, especially during elections. Living free is wondrous, withstanding afterlife monstrous. 

We Are Rock n Roll (Justin Balog, dir., 2024) is a documentary of the American Criterium Cup, a series of up to 10 races for points for purses totaling $500,000.

Bicycle Film Festival is currently and virtually presenting BFF Classics, short films previously introduced during its 25 year history, through 31 March 2025. There will also be physical exhibitions of new works at various global locations including Copenhagen.

Pandemic doctor Daniela Schwendener gets revitalized by gravel bicycling on her Days Off (Liam Higgins, dir., 2022), an overlooked short from a few years ago promoting Cotic Bikes shot on location in England’s Peak District National Park.

Project A (Jackie Chan, dir.,1983) casts himself as Sergeant Dragon Ma Yue Lung and performs in martial arts battles including a frenetic bicycle scene set in Hong Kong alleys. What’s the goal of that silly slapstick sound at every kick?

Patricia Taxxon, Big Wheel, Bicycle, self, 2024 - Rambling aural experiment eventually gets around to lyrics: "The big wheel in the sky, he arcs o’er miles and miles... We can see the whole town from up here, feel the wind sail past our ears, the whistling noise it makes, so frigid and so fierce.”

Suspect Tramontane

Looking for redemption from a cycling obsession and stumbling through a universe two-wheeled, you never know what will be revealed, sometimes resembling a suspicious blast of northerly wind from Alps that brings disease and excises convenience. Reserve right to refuse any mention, though exclusion has never been Labann's intention.

Called out, woke, then canceled: Practically describes how society dealt with Labann specifically. How do distaff cousins, mistreated mothers, and significant others organize during a pandemic to counter crooked officials, misogynists, nazis, patriarchs, and whoever else wants to overturn hard won civic rights? Make no mistake, what’s at stake are common sense, licensed licentiousness, power lust, privileged status, treasury rape, wealth dominance, and world influence. So no big deal, and not cancel culture, to skip extraneous references, so songs that actually capture culture can inspire independence, as do the following two baker’s dozens.

Eek a Mouse, aka Ripton Joseph Hylton, Peeni Walli [Jamaican reggae], Peeni Walli EP, Gorgon Records, 1983
“Riding on my bicycle got knocked down by a motorcycle in front of a motor vehicle. Luckily, I was Jah Jah disciple. I lay on the ground. I was so injured... did not know what to do... Yeah, man! When the bike really hit me I see stars and peeni walli [fireflies]. Beddameng [akin to Valetudinarian]! Pain all over me, me tink [sic] me get shocked by electricity... Crowd gather around like it was a funeral, ‘ey! Some say it accidental.”

Robert Palmer, Pride, Pride, Island Records, 1983
Addressing a body building obsessed girlfriend, “Roller skates and vitamins and diet plans, academic discipline will ruin your hands. We used to ride tandem and have lots of fun, but bicycles for exercise are made for one.” Perhaps the late pop artist, often surrounded by supermodels, might have lived into his sixties with own spin regimen.

Josh Rouse, Sweetie, Country Mouse City House, Bedroom Classics, 2007
“Life in circles and we dream of some place to go. [Chorus] We’ll sleep on roof tops. We’ll ride on bicycles. Baby, we'll get married. Don’t you want to, Sweetie?”

Jonathan Mann, Song #121: To: Sarah and Mike From: Meredith and Adam re: Sorry about your bikes, Song a Day: Year One, self, 2009

Jonathan Mann, Song #203: Bike Love, Song a Day: Year One, self, 2009

Jonathan Mann, Song 249: Bicycle Blvd., Song a Day: Year One, self, 2009

Jonathan Mann, Song #280: Hey Mr. Bike Thief, Song a Day: Year One, self, 2009

J Prozac, A Boy and His Bike, Here Is My Heart, self, 2013

Julian Bach, Ride [South African], Man on The Bicycle, self, 2013
“We’ll ride into the source of the night... into forever where nobody has ever gone.”

Julian Bach, Man on The Bicycle [South African], Man on The Bicycle, self, 2013
“Man on the bicycle now rides a luxury car miles away from his bicycle... Come back to your roots.... Get your bike into gear.”

Kids On Bikes, A Boy Needs A Bike, Transference EP, self, 2014

Me for Queen (Mary Erskine), Bike With No Name, Iron Horse, self, 2014

Me for Queen (Mary Erskine), Freewheel, Iron Horse, self, 2014

Me for Queen (Mary Erskine), Traffic Light Crush, Iron Horse, self, 2014

Me for Queen (Mary Erskine), Wheelie, Iron Horse, self, 2014

Me for Queen (Mary Erskine), White Bike, Iron Horse, self, 2014
The Guardian said, “Iron Horse: an album [crowdfunded] inspired by cycling in the city will give 5% of all sales to RoadPeace, a UK charity for road crash victims, and 20% of anything over its target.”

Owen Pallett, Soldier’s Rock [Seattle indie], In Conflict, Domino, 2014
Interesting dissonant use of lead violin. “Out on a bicycle a reflection left behind, behind. The desires of your daughters they will never be defined, defined. Wild pedal wild energized by the stolen vodka and triple-sec. Wheels spurting up the flecks of mud on your blue jeans and your turtleneck. I'm out on a bicycle feeling God is on my side. My mother didn't believe in discipline or the unconscious mind... Somewhere between the road and the ever-darkening sky, ooh, the greediness of our hearts will not be satisfied.”

Alexander & Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, fea. Dan Moriyama (piano), A Woman Wearing Bloomers on a Wheel, single/video, Andagio, 2015

“There’s nothing quite as splendid as a bloomer; for riding bicycles they’re perfectly ideal.” And while they’re at it, organizing with suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst to force men to let them cast ballots. After 150 years of women citizens exercising their born right to vote, begun in State of Wyoming, and 100th anniversary of the ratification of Nineteenth Amendment, none of all those specious objections against manifested. In fact, quite the opposite, enfranchised women actively and successfully fought fascism during WWII. These days, either gender is just as apt to vote foolishly or wisely. State of Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp has again disenfranchised blacks and women with vicious new Jim Crow laws based upon the Big Lie, despite Trump’s actively and illegally trying to distort results there, and due to Rudy Giuiani’s false claims of a stolen election. As the minority party, GOP knows it has to resort to electoral redistricting, exclusionary ballots, low turnout, and restrictive measures to creep into office and only represent privileged creeps including themselves. Such an outrage should never be tolerated, and those who try ought to be recalled or voted out.

Hip-Hope Buster, À bicyclette [French], single, self, 2015
Hip hop homage to old Yves Montand song.

Slabs, Brian Pulva [space jazz], Ballena Solitaria, self, 2015
“That man, the man with a beard, in a skirt, on a bicycle... Lumbering internal combustion. Wildering images distinct from, lumbering internal combustion. Slabs form in tarmac. Smog is scattered. And in the dust all our friends will rot.”

Jackal & the Wind, Finding Home, Finding Home, CD Baby, 2017
Concludes with, “A bicycle with nowhere to go. I’m on my bicycle, and I can’t find home.”

David Haerle, Glendale, Garden Of Edendale, Edendale Records, 2018
“Well, I had, had a love, and she lived there way up high above Kenneth Road, and I rode, yeah, my bicycle there, and she showed me how it felt to feel like a man, a man in love with a girl and with the whole wide world. In Glendale it all began.”

Geotic, Swiss Bicycle [electronica instr.], Traversa, self, 2018

Ghost Suns, Cards on a Bicycle [English synth], single, Fierce Panda Records, 2018
“Something like a new machine ready to be turned on... It’s been a long time since I’ve been down on this road... Cards on a bicycle marking time and space, keep moving forward, never looking back.”

Hawksley Workman, Italy [Canadian], Median Age Wasteland, Isadora Records, 2019
“Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle days. Riding through the hayfields, riding through the haze, just giving into summer, giving yourself away. We never came here looking to dispel any notions, looking to mop up any oceans. but just to see the sun upon your face.”

Kamuflauge, Bicycle [reggae], single/video, 2186113 Records DK, 2020

Abide Vicereine

“Odd Jobs has ridden on... the little girl from in back of the clothesline cast a shadow like a crow. It’s beak spoke open. ‘Why doesn’t old Odd Jobs come around anymore?’ He used to ride his form-a-heap bike, and his basket was a whole candy store. He used t’make Xs from door to door. All the women and the young girls around here ask why old Jobs don’t come anymore, why old Jobs don’t come on home. And the gate without its paint on danced and creaked and moaned. Here he comes peddlin’ up on his form-a-heap bike, a bag of skin and bones. Spokes were scraping two rust fenders. Oh.”
Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) & His Magic Band, Odd Jobs [1976], Grow Fins - Rarities 1965 - 1982, Revenant, 1999

Had an elderly pal Joe, since passed, who was keen on political debates for what they really mean, legislative tactics that affect lives unseen. Having stormed Iwo Jima for liberty and life, Joe would be offended at strife with which America has become rife. A dyed-in-the-wool Democrat due to their one time staunch support of labor, would be hard to imagine degree of his rage vis-à-vis GOP’s gun proliferation, oil profits, power lust, self service, and standing shoulder to shoulder with a sociopathic loser. After introducing so many tax cuts for wealthiest few, none in Congress cast a single vote for latest relief law, even one without a minimum wage hike. They’ve made it clear who they like: Billionaires, businessmen, and corporations they fear, never those in need and suffering from want. Repeats historic mistake, “Let them eat cake!”

Ideologues mustn't assume a party stays the same; members and platforms change, and policies get strange. Both major parties say whatever might sway votes their way, and sell influence to the highest bidder, so tacitly pass along trickle up swindles to enrich every supporter. Token pittances aren’t going to make eligible individuals solvent, but will pay any advancement and wend through economy, unlike bank bailouts and tax cuts that wind up in some offshore balance statement. Lots of bills make billionaires, who seldom seem to pay own loans, rather lash costs on backs of worker drones.

Ghost bike for a 6-year-old mowed down during a family outing on a bike path by a motorist.

Examples set indirectly cause fatal consequences. GOP’s disrespect for laws and stance on guns goad domestic terrorists. Self proclaimed patriots and white supremacist separatists indiscriminately kill those to whom they have access simply because they are heavily armed and mentally defective. How many bystanders and children have died in US gun massacres? According to official figures cited by Congressman Desaulnier, more than soldiers in Vietnam War, over sixty thousand in last 5 years alone! They'll massacre innocents, then crucify dissidents.

Recently, six women were murdered in what appears to be a hate crime against Asians, in part from frustration over coronavirus. News media exaggerates an incident as trending, but this regrettable splinter only reinforces a global constant of targeting unarmed, vulnerable and weak, sometimes by those in positions of authority. So many Americans own ammo and guns, no army would stand a chance of ground conquest. Only biological and nuclear weapons would work, which creates a dilemma over what would be left to seize. America’s strength had been its diverse people and their work ethic. Power is only worth possessing as long as you don’t use it indiscriminately.

Furthermore, news denounces sudden mistreatment of women. Would be laughable if not so shortsightedly pathetic. For millennia, patriarchs backed by popes put women down, reckoned them third class chattel, sometimes sold them as slaves. Consequently, femininity focused on charms to manipulate machismo morons. Longing to attract right mate, Americans, more women than men, now spend $50 billion each year on cosmetics and $2 trillion on fashion apparel. Toss in crowding, ego, hormones, peer pressures, and stereotypical behaviors, what should you expect? Mixed messages sent, so begins series of events that result in Thelma and Louise tragedies everyone resents.

One cannot be the voice of abandoned, disappointed, disenfranchised, disillusioned, or dismissed and not anger those so delusional to believe themselves in control. Human reality has both concrete external and emotional internal elements. A great deal of life’s experience depends upon how they interact. Both demand expert handling, but rank amateurs stand in, so make for a comic or melodramatic mess. Only those with intact shreds of self esteem can expect success. Every woman wants to be treated at least like a vicereine, if not queen. Lust is the vice through which she's supposed to reign and you abide. After years of neglect of her lowly subject, who’s left to deliver respect?

Biggest myth of all is that you receive commensurate with what you contribute. Doesn’t take into account grifters, malingerers, taxmen and thieves, who laugh up their sleeves at what your hard work achieves. Doesn’t matter, because you’re stuck with whatever defective programming you were born, dealt or nurtured into. Behooves a person to test self and skills against many challenges to find a role in which one can prevail, and foresee a fall back once equipment begins to fail. Even so simple a formula can never be assured in an unreliable world with rugs pulled out from beneath your feet, savings reduced by inflation, and threats strewn upon your sweet cheat.

Pandemic and recession proof industries meet basic needs. Certain manufacture, farms, mines, pharma, ranches, state services, and supermarkets haven’t laid anyone off. Home deliveries have expanded due to personal distancing. But minimum pay hasn’t risen in decades and wealth disparity is worse than ever. You’re neither entitled nor owed anything for sure. If wages matched growth in productivity, minimum would be $24/hour, though $15/hour would preserve jobs and raise 32 million families from poverty. If neocons won’t permit, unions might see to it.

Enormity and extent of problems crush individuals; only through consensus and teamwork does anything important get accomplished. Yet you’re surrounded by gross incompetence and oppositional defiance that says, “Makes no sense, so let’s do it.” Nation will never truly appreciate how close it came to totalitarian rule. Whatever you think works won’t once universe ceases bestowing and commences reclaiming. Gravity’s a bitch, but there it is, always dragging or slowing you down.

Captains like to impart groans of hate and indignant insights, since they're so easy to relate. Art forms that resonate draw audiences, but efforts to produce soon become drudgeries that no longer elate. Bicycling humbles one, instills doubts, reveals fatal flaws that cannot be resolved, such as inevitable mortality, needs to pursue what’s unpopular and unprofitable among dopes, and support systems built on slippery slopes. Closest you’ll ever be to literally free is out bicycling apart on lonely back roads or where sky meets the sea.

Warren Buffet’s life hacks say be positive, don’t overthink, do play and sleep more, and exercise outside today. Bicycling will forever fill that bill unless you're suicidal. TOMORROWS might be the heaviest 3 syllable word in English language, heavier, say, than manifestos (often go unread), braggadocio (rolls off tongue), or simply future (some unspecified date). Tomorrows has bulky, wavy, wide letters that occupy space, and oppresses procrastinators with its imminence and inevitability. Waking up to a new tomorrow with hope treats every cell in body to universe's pure energy. 

Both book and reader were sprinkled throughout with easter eggs that revealed facts too personal outside context. Writers write to be read, a one-way dialogue. Offered an option to comment, which is why so many debatable perspectives were presented. One can only assume too few readers or too much truth limited. Either way, B&C in totality was never worth the effort, so intend to end. Thus concludes suffering while resurrection awaits.

Silk Grosgrain

Forebears fought fiercely for freedoms few today don’t take for granted, while rights quietly erode and fall into fascist compliance and futile conformance. Meriting authority and taking license will be fraught with self delusion over worth of own contribution. Only those of privilege ever get to know a bowtie that goes with a tuxedo is made of satin silk grosgrain to match suit lapels just so. And “what’s a cummerbund” is a Jeopardy answer that stumps vast majority, who rarely attend black tie social events and ritzy fund raisers and rather pull down a wool beanie on a winter jaunt. Asphalt byways are black swaths unlike original highway, The Silk Road. Music is a grosgrain ribbon from a homespun past, not at all a tenuous thread unlikely to last. Finding and tracing origins of the following two dozen bike songs wasn’t as much a drudge as some might dread, but it does get increasing hard to find unique examples, since so many were already collected.

Mal Webb, Djembe, Trainer Wheels, Independent Records, 1999 Overlooked Australian folk from among original albums cited underscores how it’s all right in front of you as long as you don’t assume or give up too soon. “There’s too many djembes in the village. You’ve got to get a bicycle instead, ’Cos to the local ladies a bike is a Mercedes, and you cannot ride a djembe home to bed.”

Arkells, Country Boy, single, Dine Alone Records, 2008
“Replace the podium with your coffee table. Replace the microphone with a bottle of beer... And we can talk and talk and talk about your career. Just try to be a strong country boy... Now won't you ride your bicycle away from Queen Street? Now won't you take that highway road straight out of the city? Won't you meet the morning sun with an honest handshake? 'Cause work's gotta get done.”

Culcha Candela, La Bicicleta [dancehall], Next Generation, UMG/Sony, 2009

Peppertones, Bike [Korean pop], Colorful Express, M-Net Media, 2009
"A secret bicycle race on a sunny afternoon in midsummer... You and me, getting closer to sun. The scenery of the passing streets cheerfully...”

Radiopilot, Fahrrad [German], FIFA 09 [soundtrack]. SME-Sony, 2009
Defunct German indie pop band had a Kantian moment: “Get rid of your f-ing fear. No, it's not possible. And we ride our bikes around the square. I ask myself: what if this bike didn't even exist, and I'm standing at the traffic lights, looking up at the stars. I ask myself: what if we didn't even exist in reality. Oh, oh, in reality.”

Zebra Tracks, Bicycles, Collective Guilt, Limited Fanfare Records, 2012
“Bicycles go, what's with the bikes, chained to the racks, railings and signs? And I lost mine. Bicycles go, you’re on your own over the bridge... story unfolds. You had a fine day. Look at your face as it radiates.”

Donnerbalkan, Bicycle Song [German in English], Reime, Beats & Bläser, self, 2013
Beer hall self identified Balkan thunder world music. “Take a bicycle and save the world today.”

Frank Ocean, feat. Jay Z & Tyler, The Creator, Biking [explicit hip-hop], Biking, Stem Distributions LLC/Blonded/Warner Chappell, 2013
“I’m biking uphill and it’s burning my quads. I’m biking downhill and it sounds like a fishing rod.” “My tire’s smoking when I stop.”

Maid Of Ace, Bone Deth [English metal/punk], Maid Of Ace, CD Baby, 2014
Eliot sisters - Abby, Alison, Amy and Anna - embark on a must-see BMX rampage in hometown Hastings. Bone Deth PH48 frames and wheels are designed for use by riders who abuse bikes. Brand also alludes to a line of fan apparel.

Petunia, Bicycle Song [Canadian neo-hillbilly], Inside of You, Trapline Productions, 2014

Love & Logic, Bicycle Seat [hip hop], Bicycle Seat, Concentrated Music, 2015

Alkilados, La Bicicleta [Columbian], La Bicicleta, Universal Music, 2016
In official video an elderly couple reconnect over a teal tandem. “Where do you get so much perfection? You have me pedaling. I don't know where I'm going anymore... And where you tell me I go... There are more stories to tell you, Mamacita, give it, let's try... We are two identical crazy people. You spin my pedals... It's easier to cross Niagara by bike. I have a bike that won't stop to roll to your house.”

Jank, This Is A Song About My Bike Ralph, Versace Summer, self, 2017
Love affair with a beater white Raleigh ten-speed, never locked because nobody would want to steal: “Your feet fell off a couple of times and almost sent me flying into a stop sign. Your hands were brittle and breakin' down, and no amount of duct tape would ever suffice, but you'll always be mine.”

Matt Hulse, Biketown YYJ [Canadian], video single, self, 2017
Celebration of bicycling culture in Victoria, British Columbia, the bicycling capital of Canada. Hulse merely modified lyrics of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis song Downtown.

Max Raabe, Fahrrad fahr´n [German], Der perfekte Moment… wird heut verpennt, We Love Music, 2017
“Sometimes life goes well, assuming you have a bike. Then the thoughts fly, and you don't need to refuel either. The police say in a friendly manner, ‘Hello!’ because I always do everything right. Should you be without a bike, I could lend you mine. Cycle: Nothing is as beautiful as riding a bike. I can't give a damn about the car.”

The Proclaimers, Angry Cyclist [Scot], The Proclaimers, Cooking Vinyl, 2018
Critics say, “If you can trust one band to put a spoke in the wheel, it would be Scottish twins Charlie and Craig Reid. Their 11th album in 31 years reads you the riot act while still chasing romantic ideals.” These erstwhile Edinburghers sing, “For me I feel this era has been kissed, kissed by the aura of an angry cyclist. List black loathing so sincere, red anger born of fear. There’s nothing half as queer as today... Old prejudice hasn't gone; new energy drives it on... Watch bigotry advance. Give ignorance a chance. With fascists we now dance. My, oh, my.” A video message adds, “You stole our future.”

Gayantha Wijerathna, Bicycle Song [Sri Lankan], single, self, 2018

Rostam, Bike Dream, Half-Light, Nonesuch Records, 2018

atitude 67, magrela [samba], Casa 67, Universal Music Group, 2019
“Ah, she takes me anywhere. Ah, it's so nice when we go out for a walk. It’s a declaration of love for my bicycle. I love everything in it so much, every skinny tire, on asphalt, sand or dirt. It’s a declaration of love. It was while cycling that I discovered the simple things in life.”

Jitensha, Under Control [Canadian folk], Periscope, self, 2019
“Don’t get emotional. You’ve got to ride it out. You got a long way to go. Relax. You got it under control... With every mile that passes, you start to understand. What once looked like a mountain can fit inside of your hand.”

Juli, Fahrrad [German], single/video, UMG-Polydor, 2019
You’d fear for these young adults riding BMXs in middle of street without helmets if roads weren’t totally deserted. At least they have headlights.

KEES, Lekker Fietsen (Nice Biking) [Dutch], single, self, 2019
Well produced send up of stationary cycling as a metaphor for life in a rut.

Bazzi, Young & Alive, Young & Alive, WMG-Atlantic Records, 2020
One of the few songs about bicycling ever to win a Grammy Award, its chorus repeats thrice: “Ridin' my bike like I'm too young to drive, careless and free like it's 2005. Had to chill the **** out, take a trip outside, to have fun with my friends like I'm young and alive.”

Laureen Bicyclette, Trocyclette [Parisian techno], Techno Connecting People EP, self, 2020
All 27m, 21s of this is click glitch and head-splitting thump celebrate title invention, aka trottinette, by Louis-Georges Bogrand in 1944, which combines a bike and foot scooter. Seems to be making a comeback as an urban knockabout, though more complicated than traditional scooter, which they’ve lately electrified for loans.

Solstice Quatorzain

Bicyclists consider seasons and segments with interest and reverence. A segment that one is willing to tackle often depends upon conditions at different times of year. Autumn strews bike paths with leaf and twig litter, so streets might be preferable. Icy winter might preempt slippery climbs and descents, so slight rolls appeal. Even muddy spring can reroute you from potholes hidden by puddles. You can choose as you go, but can’t certify what terrain might reveal. Cyclists think in terms of what it will take to begin and end any bit of a ride, perhaps turn aside. Am I steering into a hazards headache? Are my knees up to it? How much exertion will it take? Is there any fuel left in tank? Rather go long way around a towering obstacle, to be frank.

When it comes to urban transportation, BBC Life Project asks. “Maybe the car doesn’t have to be the default?” So many people are stuck in cages because of palpable fear, perceived convenience, and physical weakness, bicyclists are deemed a crank minority as long as gasoline remains available, prejudice against pedaling persists, or price of e-vehicles hover above grasp of masses. Society marginalizes cyclists because they act singularly. Critical Mass did raise awareness and inspired planning that led to action, in this case, cheap paint designating bike lanes in some cities where mayors understood. Labann has even painted own bike lanes at neglected sites and pointed out pavement oversights on bikeways by circling them with temporary highlights.

Like city planners, composers, craftsmen and wordsmiths assemble elements. Artists and authors, on the other hand, derive visions out of interactions in moments, new memes, and old tropes. Literary artists cannot create from nothing, take tiny fragments of own life to weave into narratives without, necessarily, malicious intents. Though developed experientially, B&C extrapolated logically and passed along input from sportifs who learned the ropes. Companion Reader complements referentially and expands upon appendices. Believe it wise to advise whence text derives rather than simply let readers surmise. Barely acceptable products are an amalgam of many components and contributors. Anything of value comes from cooperation and distribution in tandem with individual determination.

Fabric of life benefits from varying strands, from emotionally intelligent to physical strong to spiritually pliant. Never beloved and seldom liked is anyone who shocks others awake with heartfelt honesty. A poet can capture vibrant insights though likely stands to be dismissed, hated or ignored until all goes wrong and policies fail to go along. No system withstands very long, not even quatorzain sonnets 14 stanzas strong. You can tolerate incompetence in many fields, but not government. Unfortunately, that’s where it’s most prevalent. There's nothing quite like song as a sweet caress to soothe wounds endured while meeting demands in shifting sands; audiences devote short segments of their lives to those they choose to hear.

Eric Knight’s orchestral piece The Great American Bicycle Race never made it onto B&C’s song list because no recording had been found. But according to a contemporary New York Times article, The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra recorded it in 1983. Knight, who was principal pops conductor of the orchestra, was commissioned to write “music to bike by” to commemorate the United States Professional Cycling Championship won by David Phinney that year. Performed live only once since by Philharmonisches Orchester Würzburg in 2014, can only imagine how its 6 minutes of bassoons, clarinets, piccolos, strings, and timpani sound. Knight described it as a rousing American fanfare, followed by a polka or galop (a duple time dance from 1820’s Paris) that represents movement. “It has a slow, bluesy middle section - I imagined this to represent them going very slowly uphill - and then it ends with a puff of smoke.”

John Farnham, Break The Ice, Rad [Soundtrack], Curb Records, 1986

Thanks go to Dinnos Demian, who recently updated an impressive 181 bicycle song list on Youtube. Majority were already listed in B&C, but found these 14 hitherto unknown on-point tunes below, more later. Not conversant in Greek, did not know ποδήλατο (podilato) meant bicycle. Further investigated best and cogent, skipped obscure, though worth a look. Historic wonderworker Saint Nicolas of Bari and Myra was a Greek, known now as jolly elf Santa so closely associated with holiday season. Foolish to forget how popular bikes could be on Greece’s 227 inhabited islands among 6000, especially given economic downturn over last decade. Another nation archipelago, Japan’s 6852 islands are likewise infested with jitensha, where Santa begins to unload all those wished for bicycles on his westward itinerary.

Kostas Makedonas, To podilato [Greek], Pame gia orthopetalies, Sony BMG Music, 1996

Aya Hisakawa, Ashita mo mata Jitensha (Bicycling Again Tomorrow) [Japanese], Sailor Moon [Soundtrack], Toei Animations Company, 1996
Hopeful personality image song depicting character Ami Mizuno, who becomes Sailor Mercury in hit TV anime series which spawned a media universe. Sailors are teens who become warrior defenders against evil villains. “Handles - Pedals - Brakes - Tires - Chainz: It’s all exceedingly logical. He's coming to show me his new trick on the bike he loves. What is it about it that appeals to him so much? Bicycle - Marvelous magic. It’s a little frustrating... I’m losing my breath... squeezing out my last bit of strength. The sky unfurling... The sun setting in the city below...  It was the first time I'd started riding downhill! Bicycle - Melting into the wind... His smiling face, the scenery around me... Bicycle - Wondrous magic!”

Aqua Timez, Jitensha (Bicycle) [Japanese], 「七色の落書き (Seven-colored Graffiti), Epic Records Japan, 2006 “Bicycle, my bicycle, I'll put you on it. The dream that we had... is for us. It ’s brilliant.”

Eleni Vitali, Το ποδήλατο (The bicycle) [Greek], Epta... Kai Na Prosecheis, Melody Maker, 2008

Pavlos Pavlidis & B Movies, Το ποδήλατο [Greek], Ayto to Ploio Poy Olo Ftanei, Archangel Music, 2010
“I saw you by chance riding your bike, You looked as if the world was made to be yours... Paradise is like a road that reaches you.”

Too Dumb To Die, Little Bike, single video, self, 2008
When this European band on a world tour by bicycle arrived in Japan, chance acquaintance Moku Teraoka shot a video.

Serafim Tsotsonis, Bicycles On Hudson (no bike lyrics), So This Is Heaven, Klik Records, 2011

Sisterkingkong, The Glory Is Lost [German in English], She Sees Wolves, VierSieben Records, 2011
No bike lyrics, band slow rides bikes throughout official video.

Giorgos Dimitriadis & Lakis Papadopoulos, Pare Podilato (Get a Bicycle) [Greek], single live, Minos-EMI SA, 2012

Killo Killo Banda, My Bike [Serbian reggae], Amongst the People, Phonofile Balkan, 2012
“I like to ride my bike... It gives me inspiration, a kind of meditation. It gives me comfort, the only way of transport... in this concrete meadow... You can never get me down. I’m the king of the clowns with a wheel as my crown.” Catchy.

Lucas Santtana feat. Féfé, Diário de uma bicicleta [Portuguese], Sobre Noites e Dias [About Nights and Days], No Format!, 2014
“You, me, us and our friends. Sun, grass, bicycles and whatever happens... My life on the pedal, slowly... Don't try not to overtake, friend. Face the gap. Here comes the bus. They don't scare me, but without experience and caution they’ll devour you.”

Sotiris Alexakis, The girl with the bicycle [Greek instrumental], single/video, self, 2018
Simple pleasures of pedaling seaside promenades into town at night.

Konstantinos Angelopoulos, Μπλε Ποδήλατο (Blue Bicycle) [Greek], single, self, 2017
“With my old blue bike, I'm looking for an unguarded border to escape the downhill, because its cost is unprofitable... wheel and my durable tire, life short or a quatrain?”

Jitensha, Under Control [Canadian folk], Periscope, self, 2019
“Don’t get emotional. You’ve got to ride it out. You got a long way to go. Relax. You got it under control... With every mile that passes, you start to understand. What once looked like a mountain can fit inside of your hand.”

Voting Grein

Any internet search sends you around globe for another dozen examples of songs relating to bicycling from everywhere, listed below by year of release. Makes you wonder whether they care what happens here. They ought to. Bad US policy has a chilling effect on many countries.

Bicycling moves so slowly you take in everything: Business, environment, money, planet, politics and religion. Most distressing has always been conservatives who are anti-green, bio-hostile, coal enamored, fossil fuelish, science denying self serving shams obligated to oil oligarchs and pleonectic plutocrats. Just about everything wrong with bikenet and roadside roulette can be blamed on their political threat. Liberals say straight out they’d accommodate everyone independent of their transportation choice, though they fail to convince neocons, who want to keep trillion dollar revenue stream for themselves, so stifle your voice. In America barely enough excess is spilling to make life a success for those willing to overlook mess and withstand stress.

On Election Day in America, networks predictably run relevant films, such as comedy The Campaign, or horror The Purge: Election Year. Included among them was Attack of the Giant Leaches, which better describes candidates. Used to be that citizens were passionate about casting ballots, voted grein yearning to be surrounded by things green in all senses they mean. But government’s been rigged so whoever gets in does the same, keeps those on top in control, while working slobs pay the toll.

Toquinho no Mundo da Criança, A bicicleta [Brazilian], Toquinho e suas canções preferidas, Paradoxx Music, 1996
Tracked down original details and recent video. “B-I-C-I-C-L-E-T-A. I’m your bike friend. I'm the one who keeps you company around, between, streets, avenues, at the edge of the sea. I go with you to buy and help you enjoy popsicles, gum, figurines and comic books. I spin the wheel and time turns and it's time to go back. For that to happen you just have to pedal me.” Goes on to explain how adults adopt bikes for other reasons, like weight loss.

Colin Meloy made a recent video that acts out lyrics of 2001 ballad Apology Song, previously listed under his Portland band’s The Decemberists. “I'm really sorry Stephen, but your bicycle's been stolen. I was watching it for you til you came back in the fall. I guess I didn't do such a good job after all... bet she's on the bottom of the Frenchtown pond rudely abused on some hesher's joyride.” Interestingly, recently reviewed a film called Hesher, a term that describes an anarchist who only wants to burn and trash world.

Spinvis, Bagagedrager [Dutch, Luggage Rack], Bagagedrager EP, self, 2002
"...no matter how you hold your handlebars, the wind comes through your gloves, your fingers are numb. There’s always something that paralyzes you... It keeps haunting your head. It was a long time ago, an eternity, you were riding on the Afsluitdijk [a long seaside causeway atop a dike in Holland], and I don't know how you feel about it now.”

The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, Topsy Turvy, I Bet You Say That To All The Boys, Fashion Brigade, 2003
“You're in two minds; you can't decide... She wants you all to herself. She won't share, and everyone is pulling you, pulling on your hair... I know this world is topsy turvy. I know this world has lost its mind. You’re riding your bicycle through town. You’re riding your bicycle across town. You’re riding your bicycle. Don't fall! If I tell you how I worry... 'Cause I know this world is topsy turvy.”

Ketchup Mania, Bicycle [J-pop], Just in Lust, Groove Drunker Rec., 2004

Vanessa da Mata, Bicicletas, Bolos e Outras Alegrias [Brazilian, Bicycles, Cakes and Other Joys], Bolos e Outras Alegrias, Sony Music Ent., 2010
Brazilian star known as just Vanessa offers up a little sympathetic magic for emotional ills of contagion. “Go, Didi, go buy milk and sugar at the nearest grocery store. Want cornmeal cake, but it doesn't help. Go by bike, by bike... Who said that sugar and affection cannot cure? Grandma said it was perfection, tradition and evolution. It was the cake that everyone liked... Brings love in three days or your money back.”

Adrian Lux, Strawberry (Radio Edit) [Swedish in English], Strawberry EP, Merlin - Ultra Music, 2008
Character voiced by Rebecka Rolfart rides a bike nearly throughout, except when plastering Adrian with title fruit.

Zoe Boekbinder, Typewriter Girl, Artichoke Perfume, self, 2010
Portrays a short productive life of cycling office worker: “...a typewriter girl born on the first day of summer in 1928... rides into work on her bicycle every day. She types out every letter of every word that everybody did say... on the first day of summer in 1948... under the wheels of a cable car did break.”

BC Unidos, Bicycle feat Shungudzo (Carli Remix), single, self, 2017
“Set the street on fire, all I need is two tires on my bicycle. Riding on my bicycle... I don’t plan stopping for the traffic light... If I reach a curb I’ll just bunny hop... There’s no place in the world I won’t cycle to."

Tequila e Montepulciano Band, La bicicletta [Traditional Italian], Viva l'Italia, Vol.7 (La bottarella), Musicomania Produzioni Discografiche, 2017

Ani DiFranco, Do or Die, Do or Die, Righteous Babe Rec., 2020
Anti-petroleum, politically active DiFranco has no bicycle lyrics in new album title track, but bikes a considerable amount in official video. Shaving her head means mama’s gone to war with a timely message. “Do or die, cuz yankee doodle dandy didn’t feel free once, so he used his pen to pick the locks. And yankee doodle dandy did some doosey kinda carpentry when he fashioned that ballot box. And if you think your vote doesn’t matter, then you’re not paying attention. Yes, everything they do, they do to keep you from their invention.” Given her consistent activism, Ani was sought out for an interview by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now.

Burning Bicycles, Moonlight, single, self, 2020
No bike lyrics, but video is entirely about bicycling around Queens, NYC at night.

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

Jive Enplane

Influential American impressionist painter Childe Hassam, early in his career, did these bicycling illustrations that appeared in a Scribner’s article by Philip Hubert, Jr., “The Bicycle: The Wheel of To-Day” (Vol. 17, No. 6, June, 1895). The author, “Having always had this mild mania for flying,” was impressed when told, “If you want to come as near flying as we are likely to get... learn to ride a pneumatic bicycle.” Hubert gave a detailed account of cycling issues of the time, such as swapping sweaty woolen clothing and washing in streams, nothing you’d dare risk these days, probably get arrested or infected, wear wick-y fabrics to avoid.

Halfway through, this year’s handful of emerging books likewise involve history, usually fantastic fables or stately dances seen though rose colored spectacles. Uncovering bicycling culture seems child’s play when you focus on yesterday.

As explained by David McCullough, The Wright Brothers (Thorndike Press, 2015, 320 pp.), most people forget that these autodidactic bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio were the ones who produced the first airplane to actually move from point to point of no less height, which means flying not gliding. The path from locomotive to automotive had to go directly through bicycles because they afforded safer opportunities to test all sorts of technologies: bearings, cabling, chain drive, framework, gearing, paving, spoked wheels, tires. A small $1000 seed from selling safety bikes started up The Wright's entire aerospace enterprise. Appreciate the fact they are known collectively as a family, including sister Katherine, without whom they may never have succeeded, rather than individual inventors, seldom the case; employee Charlie Taylor (an important surname in cycling circles) built flyer’s engine. Reviewers suggest a stodgy admiration for one dimensional workaholics with no love lives or scandals to speak of, but Mccullough is practically a neighbor nestled into bicycle infested Martha’s Vineyard, so merits a mention, plus his book hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Robert McCullough, Old Wheelways, (The MIT Press, 2015, 384 pp.) gives Nineteenth Century wheelmen the props they deserve. He describes efforts by cyclists to build “asphalt ribbons” and wheelways out of aqueduct corridors, canal towpaths, and trolley rights-of-way, fights with park planners, including Olmsted, who opposed separate paths, and marathon tours of the Northeast recounted at the time in such defunct magazines as Bicycling World and The Wheelman Illustrated.

Over a century ago, before anyone ever imagined indoor spinning parlors with patrons jumping pedal jive to pounding jazz, uptown in New York there was Michaux Club (also shown in Scribner’s article cited). So exclusive, you had to be like Rockefeller among The Four Hundred to gain admittance. Women awheel would perform gymkhana and synchronized dancing to some Virginia reel. Carlton Reid, Roads Were Not Built for Cars (Island Press, 2015, 340 pp.), further notes that at least 64 carmakers began by manufacturing bicycles.

Tim Moore, Gironimo! Riding the Very Terrible 1914 Tour of Italy (Pegasus Books, 2015, 368 pp.) tells how only eight intrepid cyclists finished history’s most difficult bike race. Consider it a Giro d’Italia follow-up to his 2002 book, French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France (St. Martin’s Press, 2002, 277 pp.), where he recounts riding for himself the route of 2000 Tour.

Max Leonard, Lanterne Rouge: The Last Man in the Tour de France, (New York : Pegasus Books, 2015, 264 pp.) Commentators give this moniker, from the red lantern on a train’s caboose, to the last rider to finish individual stages or whole of Le Tour. Leonard explains this doesn’t belittle but confers a badge of honor considering that over 2,500 miles in 3 weeks there’s seldom much difference in time between first and last, measured in mere hours. Even front runners and past champions might post a DNF after later crashing out or enduring endos.

Hollie McNish & Inja: Why I Ride: Because a Bike Pedal Lasts Longer Than a Gas Tank (Green Writers Press, 2015, 96 pp.): Slim compilation by London poetess collaborating with rap rhymer for the Cambridge Cycle of Songs art project was the basis for ReSound’s a capella song, Why We Ride. “This is why I ride; I like to fly... freewheeling... Life is much more fun, riding on my bike: Park or school or home, anywhere I like! I ride for one slice of freedom; walking seems so slow. Wheels fly in motion, and I’m ready to go!”

Marginally related to riding glorious French countryside, Nina Solomon, The Love Book (Kaylie Jones Books, 2015, 320 pp.), has 4 divorcees on a singles' bike tour of Normandy discovering a book that takes them on an journey to unexpected romance. Reflects a personal history of 30 years without finding a soulmate suddenly reversed by enplaning and riding elsewhere.