Bicycle Race by Queen

The last memory I have of the banana seat bike from yesterday’s post was going over the handlebars and scraping up my nose on the sidewalk in front of the laundromat on Bald Eagle Street in Lock Haven. The absurdity of it. A buddy of mine came running to help, and it just so happened that he was in his Boy Scout uniform, probably getting ready to go to a club meeting. The memory is better than a scene from That Seventies Show, me trying to wave him away, crying but embarrassed and wanting to be left alone, not rescued.

Aside from being pushed off my bike by a bully once, the only other memory I can summon about tiger-striped banana seat cycle is getting stung by a yellow jacket that had been resting under the handlebar when I grabbed hold of it. Ouch. I’ve hated bees and anything with a stinger ever since.

Eventually, after we moved to Charlton, I remember having a ten-speed bike. I can’t say that I ever really got the hang of working those gears because it always felt so tough to pedal, but we did have a lot of fun racing downhill past a church and onto River Road. Had there been any cars coming, it could have gotten ugly. Those were the days before safety helmets too. Somehow we all survived. Isn’t that the Gen X mantra?

And for our finale this week, this song needs no introduction.

Half Crazy for the Love of You

I wonder how well that kind of line works today. Have you ever told someone you’re crazy about them? Or in the song for today’s case, “I’m half crazy, all for the love of you.” Maybe in modern lingo we might say, “I’m going nuts thinking about you.” That’s pretty intense when you think of it that way. I can’t say anyone has ever said those words to me. It might be endearing, but it might also set off some red flags that maybe this person is a little too obsessive.

Technical difficulties slowed us down again this morning, but the wheels keep turning here on Jeff’s Song of the Day. Specifically, we seem to be on a bicycle theme this week. Monday it was in the band’s name, yesterday, it was in the title of the song, and today, it’s in the lyrics. The original title is “Daisy Bell,” but most of us know it by the repeated refrain, “a Bicycle Built for Two.”

This tune goes back to 1963 from Columbia records, and since it’s so short, Nat King Cole seems to get a l a wee bit polygamist about things in this video because the person who uploaded it added the song “Goodnight, Irene,” which has in common with “Daisy Bell,” the subject of a new marriage. Good ole Nat, he got around, and not just on his bike!

Any bicycle related music or bands you can think of that we should include this week? Let me know! Meanwhile, get your foot off the brake!