Though the creator of the bicycle is a forever mystery, on this day in 1819 a man named W.K. Clarkson Jr. in New York did slap a patent on a contraption called a ‘velocipede’. And long cycle story short, the freewheelin’ lifestyle was born. To which we can’t help but fast-forward and honor one of the greatest lyrical sentiments to the joy, Queen‘s “Bicycle Race,” cut in the fall of 1976.
Operatic howler Freddie Mercury purportedly was enamored with a leg of the Tour de France, and etched out a pop-artish chorus that you just can’t help elbow along to: “I want to ride my bicycle/I want to ride my bike/I want to ride my bicycle/I want to ride it where I like.” While the trademark Broadway sonics of the rest of Queen stock enough progressive time changes to fuel some of the best non-sequiturs in the band’s catalogue: “You say shark, I say ‘hey man’, Jaws was never my scene.” And the best part of all – the 50 naked women who took part in the cover art and official video:
Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like
