"Bike" is a song by British psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd, featured on their 1967 debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.[1][2] It is one of two known songs of Pink Floyd that has a backmasked message, the other being Empty Spaces. When played backward, it produces a nonsense poem.[3]
Information
In the song, Syd Barrett's lyrical subject shows a girl his bike (which he borrowed), a cloak, a homeless mouse that he calls Gerald, and a clan of gingerbread men—because she "fits in with [his] world." With each repetition of the chorus, a sudden percussive noise is heard similar to the firing of two gunshots. Towards the end of the song, he offers to take her into a "room of musical tunes". The final verse is followed by an instrumental section that is a piece of musique concrète: a noisy collage of oscillators, clocks, gongs, bells, a violin, and other sounds edited with tape techniques, apparently the "other room" spoken of in the song and giving the impression of the turning gears of a bicycle. The ending of the song fades out with a tape loop of the band members laughing reversed and played at double speed. The song was written for Barrett's then girlfriend, Jenny Spires. She is also mentioned as "Jennifer Gentle" in the song "Lucifer Sam", which is also on The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
Other album appearances
The song also appears on two Pink Floyd compilation albums: Relics (1971) and Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd (2001);[4] it serves as the closing track on both albums.
Cover versions
- P-MODEL covered this song for their 1984 album ANOTHER GAME.;[5] The song's lyrics were adapted by P-MODEL bandleader Susumu Hirasawa, who focused on Japanese lyrics which sounded similar to that of the English version rather than a direct translation of the song's lyrics, turning it into a parodic version; the cover also features a toy piano sound played by a Yamaha DX7.
- The Hotrats covered this song on their 2009 album Turn Ons.[6]
Personnel
- Syd Barrett - guitars, double-tracked lead vocals, laughing, tape effects
- Richard Wright - organ, piano, double-tracked backing vocals, laughing, tape effects
- Roger Waters - bass guitar, laughing, tape effects
- Nick Mason - drums, percussion, laughing, tape effects
References
