Bike

Lyrics:

I've got a bike, you can ride it if you like.
It's got a basket, a bell that rings
And things to make it look good.
I'd give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it.

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, everything if you want things.

I've got a cloak it's a bit of a joke.
There's a tear up the front. It's red and black.
I've had it for months.
If you think it could look good, then I guess it should.

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, everything if you want things.

I know a mouse, and he hasn't got a house.
I don't know why I call him Gerald.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, everything if you want things.

I've got a clan of gingerbread men.
Here a man, there a man, lots of gingerbread men.
Take a couple if you wish. They're on the dish.

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, everything if you want things.

I know a room full of musical tunes.
Some rhyme, some ching, most of them are clockwork.
Let's go into the other room and make them work.

 

"Bike" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, which is the final track featured on their debut studio album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967).

Background and lyrics

In the song, Syd Barrett's lyrical subject shows a girl his bike (which he borrowed), a cloak, a homeless and aging 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. The heavy reverb from these bangs immediately cuts out when the following verse begins. 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 laughing which was then sped up and reversed. 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); it serves as the closing track on both albums.

Cover versions

• P-Model covered the song for their 1984 album Another Game. The lyrics were adapted by bandleader Susumu Hirasawa, who focused on Japanese lyrics that sounded similar to the English version rather than a direct translation, turning it into a parodic version. It features a toy piano sound played by a Yamaha DX7.
• The Hotrats covered the song on their 2009 album Turn Ons.
• Phish has performed this song at (to date, Nov. 2023) 42 of their shows, often with drummer Jon Fishman playing a baby blue Electrolux vacuum cleaner.
• The song was played by Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets.[9] A recording is included on their 2020 live album Live at the Roundhouse. "The interesting thing is how complex Syd's writing was," Mason observed. "I think we'd all agree that one of the most challenging songs is 'Bike', which has a very curious feel."