What is the title of Queen's 1978 single that features a bicycle bell?

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What is the title of Queen’s 1978 single that features a bicycle bell? Bicycle Race. Written by Freddie Mercury, the song appeared on Queen’s 1978 album Jazz and includes a distinctive bicycle-bell solo near its middle.

Mercury was inspired after watching the 18th stage of the 1978 Tour de France pass near Montreux, Switzerland, while Queen were recording Jazz at Mountain Studios. The song’s arrangement is unusually busy, featuring vocal and guitar harmonies, several key changes and a shift from common time into triple metre during the bridge.

“Bicycle Race” was issued as a double A-side single with Brian May’s “Fat Bottomed Girls,” rather than as a completely separate release with an ordinary B-side. The pairing reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and number 24 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

The song’s bicycle theme also shaped its controversial promotional campaign. A race involving nude women was staged at Wimbledon Stadium, and the original cover image was altered or censored in several markets.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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