Fifty Plus (50+) - Bike related music thread, if you'd be so kind

I'm listening to Taj Mahal. 'Further on down the road. I don't remember any cold days, just the warm ones with you'.

I can't help but relate that to biking with main squeeze.

Any others? Fire off.

Loves me some Taj. :thumb:

Here is a new one. Kirsten Thien's "Please Drive".

For me it's always been the Eagles "Take it Easy".

Well, I'm running down the road
tryin' to loosen my load
I've got seven women on my mind,
Four that wanna own me,
Two that wanna stone me,
One says she's a friend of mine
Take It easy, take it easy
Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can don't even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand
and take it easy...


OH WOW.... how could I forget the other one that's been running around in my head the last few weeks for riding..... Charlie Hunter's "Mitch Better Have My Bunny"; it's got a really nice groove.

Being the age I am, I always go back to the overture to Rossini's The Barber of Seville and Mendelssohn's 4th symphony. ;)

Bike related music thread, if you'd be so kind


I'm listening to Taj Mahal. 'Further on down the road. I don't remember any cold days, just the warm ones with you'.

I can't help but relate that to biking with main squeeze.

Any others? Fire off.
My cycling playlist of about 250 songs that I enjoy while riding is available for viewing on my profile page. Three come to mind with specific “road” connotations and vivid cycling memories:

Take Me Home County Roads (John Denver):
“Almost heaven, West Virginia
“Blue Ridge Mountains
“Shenandoah River…”

Heard in a little West Virginia diner on the second to last day of our eight week cross-country bike tour in 1977 from Los Angeles to Washington DC, as we were two days away from those Mountains and that River, and three days from DC.

Take it Easy (The Eagles)
“Running down the road tryin' to loosen my load
"Seven women on my mind...”

This song came to mind on the first day of that cross-country trip as we sped down the first switchback mountain pass I had ever ridden, into Lake Elsinore, CA, after finishing my first mountain climb, over the Ortega Highway.

Running on Empty (Jackson Brown)
“Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
“Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields…”

Heard while driving to the first century ride I was doing in about five years away from long distance cycling.

Born to be Wild!

Get your motor Runnin,
head out on the highway.

A life philosophy for me, but works well to motivate more riding:

Fiona Apple's "Better Version of Me" from the "Extraordinary Machine" CD

Bicycle Built For Two
(Daisy Daisy) late 19th/early 20th century

There is a flower
Within my heart,
Daisy, Daisy!
Planted one day
By a glancing dart,
Planted by Daisy Bell!
Whether she loves me
Or loves me not,
Sometimes it's hard to tell;
Yet I am longing to share the lot -
Of beautiful Daisy Bell!

Daisy, Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I'm half crazy,
All for the love of you!
It won't be a stylish marriage,
I can't afford a carriage
But you'll look sweet upon the seat
Of a bicycle made for two.

We will go 'tandem'
As man and wife,
Daisy, Daisy!
'Peddling' away
Down the road of life,
I and my Daisy Bell!
When the road's dark
We can both despise
P'licemen and 'lamps' as well;
There are 'bright lights
In the dazzling eyes
Of beautiful Daisy Bell!

Daisy, Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I'm half crazy,
All for the love of you!
It won't be a stylish marriage,
I can't afford a carriage
But you'll look sweet upon the seat
Of a bicycle made for two.

I will stand by you
In 'wheel' or woe,
Daisy, Daisy!
You'll be the bell(e)
Which I'll ring you know!
Sweet little Daisy Bell!
You'll take the 'lead'
In each 'trip' we take,
Then if I don't do well,
I will permit you to
Use the brake,
My beautiful Daisy Bell!

Daisy, Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I'm half crazy,
All for the love of you!
It won't be a stylish marriage,
I can't afford a carriage
But you'll look sweet upon the seat
Of a bicycle made for two.

No Queen Bicycle Race fans? Or is that too easy?

Bob Seger Roll Me Away Lyrics
Words and music by bob seger

Took a look down a westbound road,
Right away I made my choice
Headed out to my big two-wheeler,
I was tired of my own voice
Took a bead on the northern plains
And just rolled that power on

Twelve hours out of mackinaw city
Stopped in a bar to have a brew
Met a girl and we had a few drinks
And I told her what I'd decided to do
She looked out the window a long long moment
Then she looked into my eyes
She didn't have to say a thing,
I knew what she was thinkin'

Roll, roll me away,
Won't you roll me away tonight
I too am lost, I feel double-crossed
And I'm sick of what's wrong and what's right
We never even said a word,
We just walked out and got on that bike
And we rolled
And we rolled clean out of sight

We rolled across the high plains
Deep into the mountains
Felt so good to me
Finally feelin' free

Somewhere along a high road
The air began to turn cold
She said she missed her home
I headed on alone

Stood alone on a mountain top,
Starin' out at the great divide
I could go east, I could go west,
It was all up to me to decide
Just then I saw a young hawk flyin'
And my soul began to rise
And pretty soon
My heart was singin'

Roll, roll me away,
I'm gonna roll me away tonight
Gotta keep rollin, gotta keep ridin',
Keep searchin' till I find what's right
And as the sunset faded
I spoke to the faintest first starlight
And I said next time
Next time
We'll get it right

America
Simon And Garfunkel

"Let us be lovers we'll marry our fortunes together"
"I've got some real estate here in my bag"
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies
And we walked off to look for America

"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
"Michigan seems like a dream to me now"
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America

Laughing on the bus
Playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said "Be careful his bowtie is really a camera"

"Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat"
"We smoked the last one an hour ago"
So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field

"Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all gone to look for America
All gone to look for America
All gone to look for America

I like this one when I'm riding, but it probably works best when riding my particular bike...

Whoa-oh Black Betty
bam-ba-lam
Whoa-oh Black Betty
bam-ba-lam

Spinning Wheels by Blood Sweat and Tears is great, but my current fav is Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams, from American Idiot. In my mind I change the lyrics to these:

I ride a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I ride alone

I ride this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
and I'm the only one and I ride alone

I ride alone
I ride alone
I ride alone
I ride a...

My shadow's the only one that rides beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I ride alone

Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah,
Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah

I'm riding down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line
Of the edge and where I ride alone

Read between the lines
What's f'd up and everything's alright
Check my vital signs
To know I'm still alive and I ride alone

I ride alone
I ride alone
I ride alone
I ride a...

My shadow's the only one that rides beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I ride alone

Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah
Ah-ah, Ah-ah
I ride alone
I ride a...

I ride this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one and I ride a...

My shadow's the only one that rides beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I ride alone...

I just checked "Bike" from Pink Floyd's first album (Piper at the Gates of Dawn) but it seems it was only included in the UK and not the US release. It's probably on one of the later "Best of" albums. Doesn't really have a beat you can ride to.

For current motivation Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" is pretty good.

No Queen Bicycle Race fans? Or is that too easy?
I had that as a ring tone for a while.

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

Foghat "Slow Ride"
AC/DC "Highway to hell" "Thunderstruck"
Deep Purple "Hush"
Nashville teens "Tobacco Road"
Edgar Winter "Free Ride"

All of these will get your Cadence up.

Is this cycling related titles or stuff we listen to for motivation on the road?

There's only one for the latter... Freeway Jam

For the former, I'll have to think on it and get back to you. Hm.

I had that as a ring tone for a while.

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

+1! :thumb:

I sing on a long tour ride when I am by myself and just cruisin the country side - there's nothing better than
Arlo Guthrie - City of New Orleans

Ridin' on the City of New Orleans
Illinois Central, Monday mornin' rail
15 cars & 15 restless riders
Three conductors, 25 sacks of mail

All along the southbound odyssey the train pulls out of Kankakee
Rolls along past houses, farms & fields
Passin' graves that have no name, freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of rusted automobiles

Good mornin' America, how are you?
Don't you know me? I'm your native son!
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done

Dealin' cards with the old men in the club car
Penny a point, ain't no one keepin' score
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
And feel the wheels rumblin' neath the floor

And the sons of Pullman porters & the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers' magic carpets made of steel
Mothers with their babes asleep, rockin' to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel

Good mornin' America, how are you?
Say don't you know me? I'm your native son!
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans.
I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done.

Night time on the City of New Orleans
Changin' cars in Memphis, Tennessee
Halfway home, we'll be there by mornin'
Thru the Mississippi darkness rollin' down to the sea

But all the towns and people seem to fade into a bad dream
And the steel rail still ain't heard the news
The conductor sings his songs again
"The passengers will please refrain:
This train got the disappea rin' railroad blues

Good night America, how are you?
Say don't you know me? I'm your native son!
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans.
I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done.

A Thousand Summers by John Tesh. This was used in ABC's Tour de France television coverage in the 1980s, so I can't help but associate it with cycling:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18K9DQ_5NCc

I sing on a long tour ride when I am by myself and just cruisin the country side - there's nothing better than
Arlo Guthrie - City of New Orleans

I know it makes no difference for the purposes of our discussion, but I loved Steve Goodman and always feel it necessary to give him credit whenever I can (he wrote the song).

The Stones "Don't Stop"

I know it makes no difference for the purposes of our discussion, but I loved Steve Goodman and always feel it necessary to give him credit whenever I can (he wrote the song).

Yes - I recall that. But nobody did as good a job singing the song as Arlo.
Willie Nelson cut it to ribbons as he did with a lot of great songs.

Elvis Costello - Pump I Up

Great song for getting your heart rate up.

For variety, especially out in the COUNTRY...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSICoacOT60

Tommy Sand's "I'm going back on the bicycle (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3xvcG60swQ)." It's about bicycling and it has a catchy tune. I might add that it is perhaps even more relevant now than when it was released in 1985.

No Queen Bicycle Race fans? Or is that too easy?

"Fat bottom girls you make the rocken world go round. - Get on your bikes and ride!"

No Queen Bicycle Race fans? Or is that too easy?

-1
So many good Queen songs, but not that one.

If you like classical music, try the second movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony - somewhere I've heard it referred to as the "Suicide Scherzo" (maybe in Clockwork Orange?) Anyway, if you want to be encouraged to ride at a frenetic pace it may inspire you.

When I was a kid I used to put on a record of John Phillip Sousa marches when I was cleaning my room. It would inspire me to get it done quickly. (I was a weird kid!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPowpIRVOuY

...When I was a kid I used to put on a record of John Phillip Sousa marches when I was cleaning my room. It would inspire me to get it done quickly. (I was a weird kid!)
"The Stars and Stripes Forever" is on my cycling playlist. A couple of years ago I started a thread, “Cycling Playlist Exchange,” and noted:


… I was particularly gratified to see that someone else had a John Phillip Sousa March. :thumb:...

and then got this reply:


… the inclusion of a John Philip Sousa song in that list surprises, nay, astonishes me! Not so much that it is there, but that a JPS song is found in both forum posted playlists!!!!!

…When my children were in marching band, I used to pray they would play a Sousa set instead of the intolerable "Salute to Billy Joel" we were forced to withstand. But I cannot imagine listening to Sousa while riding unless I had first woven red, white and blue crepe paper through the spokes of my wheels and attached miniature flags to my handlebars! We all have our own taste in music, but Sousa on the bike? Is there a sect of cycling fife enthusiasts that I am not aware of? :p
:lol:

Well, leave it to me to be different. I really like "Enigma", an instrumental (for the most part) project
from Europe. Official website. (http://www.enigmamusic.com/index.shtml)

You may have never heard of Enigma, but you have surely heard the music. Their material us frequently used as ambient, or background music in lots of movies and non-mainstream TV programs.

"Love, Sensuality, Devotion: The Greatest Hits" is a good album to start with. Videos may be seen on Youtube. The Album cut version of "Mea Culpa" is here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itkzaT9yk9Y&feature=related) Best to have in your head for hot summer night riding.

To me, Vivaldi is about as stirring as it gets!

How the devil do you embed youtube here? If the embed doesn't work, link lower.

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9BLfaQ98FbM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://youtu.be/9BLfaQ98FbM

To me, Vivaldi is about as stirring as it gets!

How the devil do you embed youtube here?

You copy the the URL of the item from the address box at the top of your browser. On BF you "Go Advanced" and choose the video icon along the top of the box if it's a video (fourth from the right) click it, paste in the address, click OK and Voila!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BLfaQ98FbM

"The Stars and Stripes Forever" is on my cycling playlist.

One of the truly great march Trombone parts. God I used to love ripping that one off back in the day. Sousa understood playing the sections off each other with contrapuntal melodies. Stars and Stripes embodies that, as does his arrangement of the Star Spangled Banner, which, if we ever designated an "Official National Anthem Arrangement" would have to be the one, Jimi Hendricks and Stan Kenton notwithstanding.

One of the truly great march Trombone parts. God I used to love ripping that one off back in the day. Sousa understood playing the sections off each other with contrapuntal melodies... Well said, especially since my son plays the trombone, though not Marches. I think the piccolos (fifes) are pretty impressive in that piece ("Stars and Stripes Forever") too, don'cha think, Miss Kenton? :innocent:


...We all have our own taste in music, but Sousa on the bike? Is their a sect of cycling fife enthusiasts that I am not aware of? :p

If you like classical music, try the second movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony - somewhere I've heard it referred to as the "Suicide Scherzo" (maybe in Clockwork Orange?) Anyway, if you want to be encouraged to ride at a frenetic pace it may inspire you.

A great suggestion. That insistent beat (6/8 if I remember correctly) is great for mashing pedals, if that's your style.

Of course there are those of us here who will remember it mainly as the closing theme music to the old Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC News.

Thanks Asposo, used to be just paste the embed code. I see the video just next to the "insert image".

I sing this song and think about the meaning of the words often.

I think my father sang it once or twice to me one I was wee one.

What I think of as my babydays...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZqRL7nJB48

And my L8R days...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I555U5wGns

Don't ever play "Radar Love" by Golden Earring on a steep decent with plenty of tight turns. It just drives you to take the corners faster and faster!

Well said, especially since my son plays the trombone, though not Marches. I think the piccolos (fifes) are pretty impressive in that piece ("Stars and Stripes Forever") too, don'cha think, Miss Kenton? :innocent:

Well Jim, I do find Stars and Stripes Forever a rousing piece of music and I am always up for a good parade, however, my stance on Sousa as bike riding music remains the same. There would be safety issues at play. How would I contain myself from twirling my frame pump like a baton? Moreover, it would be difficult to maintain cadence wearing majorette boots.;)

I'm with Chadrider's choice of Costello's "Pump it Up"; it has been on my playlist since I started riding. I am also motivated to ride harder by the Allman Brother's "Jessica" or the Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow!"

Don't ever play "Radar Love" by Golden Earring on a steep decent with plenty of tight turns. It just drives you to take the corners faster and faster!
"Radar Love" is on my cycling playlist in a subset called “Hill Country,” specially selected for climbing uphill. I have about 150 songs in that hill country group, and FYA, sort of like trying to choose my favorite child, I selected 10 songs that I would consider “dangerous downhill” tunes :eek::

I Like the Nightlife (Alicia Bridges)
Bugle Call Rag (Benny Goodman)
Burnin’ Love (Elvis Presley)
Stumblin’ In (Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman)
At the Hop (Danny and the Juniors)
Hold on Tight (ELO)
Love Train (O’Jays)
Gimme Shelter (Rolling Stones)
My Old School (Steely Dan)
Legs (ZZ Top)

My musical preferences are Big Band and Golden Oldies. :D

For climbinmg a long very steep hill - "Tied to the whipping post"

For climbinmg a long very steep hill - "Tied to the whipping post"

+1 uphill
"One Way Out" downhill!

I am also motivated to ride harder by the Allman Brother's "Jessica"


Which reminds me of a funny little story...

After Duane's untimely accident, my buddies and I started calling them the Allman Brother's Band instead of The Allman Brothers Band. The difference an apostrophe can make.

OK, maybe not so funny, really, but you have to understand our frame of mind at the time, being 17 and all.

Ok I'll play. Here are couple from my playlist.

Love to Ride Jimmy Thackery
Ride till I'm satisfied Walter Trout

Did a lot of tour-camping on bikes, with female S.O. Spent quite some time in slight inclement conditions singing Rider In The Rain by Randy Newman. I especially liked the third verse:

Well my mother's in St. Louis
And my bride's in Tennessee
So I'm goin' to Arizona
With a banjo on my knee

And for non-pop evocation of halcyon days riding in the pleasant soft summer countryside of sunny old Endland, The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan-Williams, especially as rendered by Sir Neville Marriner directing the Orchestra of St. Martin-in-the-fields. Magic!

I don't listen to music when I am on my bicycle. But I do have songs that go through my head from time to time.

A couple of months ago it was the theme song to Green Acres -- I was surprised that I figured out all the lyrics after all these years. But then I couldn't get it out of my mind.

Last night it was the theme song to Sponge Bob Square Pants, which I hardly know any of the lyrics for, but which I also could not get out of my mind.

Why do the cycling gods torture me so?