Artist: Chumbawamba
Song: Mountain Biking
Album: Sportchestra! 101 Songs About Sport (1998)
Formed in a squat in Leeds, England, in 1984, the anarchist pop group Chumbawamba were a most unlikely mainstream success story. After more than a decade in relative obscurity, much of it spent attacking the very notion of stardom, the band signed to a major label in 1997 and quickly scored a major international hit with the riotous single "Tubthumping." The single would prove to the band's commercial peak, even though Chumbawamba continued issuing politically aware albums (many of them featuring an increased emphasis on folk music) during the 2000s.
Chumbawamba were originally comprised of…Read more
Sportchestra: 101 Songs About Sport, is a Chumbawamba collaborations with various other musicians recording under the name 'Sportchestra': “About two-thirds of Chumbawamba wrote and performed this double album, along with various "guest" vocalists from Mekons, Citizen Fish etc. As it says, it's 101 songs about sport - short and snappy pop snatches, every one about the good, bad and ugly sides of sport.”
There's pedal bikes and motor bikes
And now they're riding mountain bikes
Up and down and out of town
Over, under, through, around
I ride my little bicycle, i ride it to the top
No red lights or traffic signs to tell me when to stop
There's racing bikes and motor bikes
And now they're riding mountain bikes
Up and down and out of town
Over, under, through, around
2 comments:
Very old song, that – about 1987 or 8 I'd guess. The idea was to try to capture the love, passion, anger, distaste, joy etc of sport, how culturally and historically and politically important it is. Sport. And at the time the whole mountain biking thing was taking off and seemed like a new world opening up. That's why we wrote the song. Some company called a mountain bike 'Chumbawumba', and for a minute back there I thought maybe they'd send us one 'cos mine's in a right state. More of a road cyclist myself, obsessed by the Tour …
Great song. I actually just managed to track down a copy of the LP earlier today. I was quite pleased!
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