Tomorrow - White Bicycle

Artist: Tomorrow

Song: My White Bicycle

Album: Tomorrow, 1967

"My White Bicycle" was written by Tomorrow in 1967 and is included in their one and the same name lp of 1969. Tomorrow was a psychedelic english-band in which they are grown people like Steve Howe (later guitarist of Yes) and John Alder, aka Twink, drummer with Pink Fairies and Pretty Things (he played in the fantastic "SF Sorrow") , and tell us this curious story inspired by a beautiful idea of a group of anarchists, the Dutch Provos. Attention, we are in the homeland of the bicycle, the Netherlands, and we're in the legendary '60: the white bikes are bicycles made in common, whoever needs it and then take a leave there, ready for anyone to want it! Beautiful also the text from which an excerpt paradigmatic sentence for those who love cycling race: "moving fast everything looks great"

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John C. Alder of Tomorrow writes:

"My White Bicycle" was written out of what was actually going on in Amsterdam. One of the owners of Granny Takes a Trip, Nigel Weymouth, had gone there and come back with a Provos badge which he gave to me. They were kind of like a student anarchist group that believed everything should be free. In fact, they had white bicycles in Amsterdam and they used to leave them around the town. And if you were going somewhere and you needed to use a bike, you'd just take the bike and you'd go somewhere and just leave it. Whoever needed the bikes would take them and leave them when they were done.

Nigel told me about this and I told Keith West (lead singer) this and a bit later we went to Amsterdam and he wrote a song about it. So "My White Bicycle" comes out of that Provo thing.

The main guitar theme of "My White Bicycle" comes from what we were listening to at the time. We were listening to Ravi Shankar and Gabor Zarbo at the time. So our influences were Indian mainly. Steve may have picked up on that with the riff or he may have just pulled it out of the air, I don't know. It's like a droning sitar sound.

We recorded the album at Abbey Road Studios starting in the Spring of 1967. The Beatles were working on ST. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND. Our album was released in early 1968.

The song has been covered by Nazareth, and appears on a solo album by Steve Howe (a member of Tomorrow). The San Francisco Art Lab sells a promotional poster for this song for $50. 

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Riding all around the street
Four o'clock and they're all asleep
I'm not tired and it's so late
Moving fast everything looks great.
My white bicycle, my white bicycle
See that man, he's all alone
Looks so happy but he's far from home
Ring my bell, smile at him
Better kick over his garbage bin
My white bicycle, my white bicycle
The rain comes down but I don't care
The wind is blowing in my hair
Seagulls flying in the air
My white bicycle
Policeman shouts but I don't see him
They're one thing I don't believe in
Find some judge, but it's not leavin'
Lift both hands, his head in disgrace
Shines no light upon my face
Through the darkness, we still speed
My white bicycle and me
My white bicycle, my white bicycle