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"My White Bicycle," by Tomorrow
I was clearing out old news clippings this afternoon. I ran across this.
CityLab | Transportation
The Radical Roots of Bikesharing
In mid-1960s Amsterdam, a counterculture movement with a small fleet of white bicycles pioneered a transportation model that’s swept thousands of cities around the world.
By Feargus O'Sullivan
February 26, 2022 at 12:00 AM EST
From Hyperdrive
In 1967, a newly elected representative of the Amsterdam City Council named Luud Schimmelpenninck presented the city with a novel proposal: Why didn’t the city help to solve its traffic congestion problems by creating a fleet of bikes that were entirely free to use? At that time, the Dutch capital’s streets had become clogged with cars, with frequent pedestrian deaths and injuries. Would it not be better, Schimmelpenninck suggested, to make cycling so cheap and easy that cars disappeared? ... Given that, 55 years later, Amsterdam today enjoys a reputation as a global cycling capital, the response to this proposal — for what would have been the world’s first urban bikeshare scheme — might surprise you: The council members almost unanimously rejected it.
The reasons for this dismissal reveal much about the radical past of bikesharing, a multibillion-dollar industry that now extends to over 3,000 cities worldwide. It wasn’t just that Amsterdam’s council believed cars were the future, it was also the proposal’s origins: It came not from an official with a mainstream party but a group of already notorious anarchist provocateurs who thought Dutch car dependency represented not just bad policy but the “asphalt terror of the motorized bourgeoisie.”
That group’s name was Provo — from the word provocative or provocation — and by 1967 they had already been making local headlines for some years. A mixed group of beatniks, anti-nuclear activists and young people from Holland’s Nozem subculture (akin to U.S. greasers or British Teddy Boys), Provo was a movement hoping to shake up what they saw as a toxic mix of conservatism and consumerism then dominating Dutch society. Their main tool toward this goal was initially not municipal politics, but pranks.
{snip}
Provo demonstrators disrupt the wedding of Princess Beatrix in Amsterdam in 1966. Photographer: Jean Tesseyre/Paris Match via Getty Images
{snip}
In 1966, Provo decided to seek a platform within the establishment itself, securing a single seat in that year’s municipal elections — not bad for a youth movement in an era when the Dutch voting age was 23. They agreed to occupy the post in rotation among several members. When Schimmelpenninck took the seat in winter 1967, he proposed a more ambitious plan for a 10,000-strong fleet of white bikes.
That notion didn’t meet with the council’s approval, but the boldness of the idea seized imaginations. Provo came to inspire movements across Europe, and their bike plan inspired a 1967 psychedelic pop song called “My White Bicycle,” by the band Tomorrow (which ended up becoming a minor British hit in 1975 when it was covered by the Scottish hard rockers Nazareth). One of Provo’s white bikes turned up at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Bed-in For Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton in 1969.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono pose with a white bike in Amsterdam in 1969. Photographer: Bettmann via Getty Images
{snip}
The Radical Roots of Bikesharing
In mid-1960s Amsterdam, a counterculture movement with a small fleet of white bicycles pioneered a transportation model that’s swept thousands of cities around the world.
By Feargus O'Sullivan
February 26, 2022 at 12:00 AM EST
From Hyperdrive
In 1967, a newly elected representative of the Amsterdam City Council named Luud Schimmelpenninck presented the city with a novel proposal: Why didn’t the city help to solve its traffic congestion problems by creating a fleet of bikes that were entirely free to use? At that time, the Dutch capital’s streets had become clogged with cars, with frequent pedestrian deaths and injuries. Would it not be better, Schimmelpenninck suggested, to make cycling so cheap and easy that cars disappeared? ... Given that, 55 years later, Amsterdam today enjoys a reputation as a global cycling capital, the response to this proposal — for what would have been the world’s first urban bikeshare scheme — might surprise you: The council members almost unanimously rejected it.
The reasons for this dismissal reveal much about the radical past of bikesharing, a multibillion-dollar industry that now extends to over 3,000 cities worldwide. It wasn’t just that Amsterdam’s council believed cars were the future, it was also the proposal’s origins: It came not from an official with a mainstream party but a group of already notorious anarchist provocateurs who thought Dutch car dependency represented not just bad policy but the “asphalt terror of the motorized bourgeoisie.”
That group’s name was Provo — from the word provocative or provocation — and by 1967 they had already been making local headlines for some years. A mixed group of beatniks, anti-nuclear activists and young people from Holland’s Nozem subculture (akin to U.S. greasers or British Teddy Boys), Provo was a movement hoping to shake up what they saw as a toxic mix of conservatism and consumerism then dominating Dutch society. Their main tool toward this goal was initially not municipal politics, but pranks.
{snip}
Provo demonstrators disrupt the wedding of Princess Beatrix in Amsterdam in 1966. Photographer: Jean Tesseyre/Paris Match via Getty Images
{snip}
In 1966, Provo decided to seek a platform within the establishment itself, securing a single seat in that year’s municipal elections — not bad for a youth movement in an era when the Dutch voting age was 23. They agreed to occupy the post in rotation among several members. When Schimmelpenninck took the seat in winter 1967, he proposed a more ambitious plan for a 10,000-strong fleet of white bikes.
That notion didn’t meet with the council’s approval, but the boldness of the idea seized imaginations. Provo came to inspire movements across Europe, and their bike plan inspired a 1967 psychedelic pop song called “My White Bicycle,” by the band Tomorrow (which ended up becoming a minor British hit in 1975 when it was covered by the Scottish hard rockers Nazareth). One of Provo’s white bikes turned up at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Bed-in For Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton in 1969.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono pose with a white bike in Amsterdam in 1969. Photographer: Bettmann via Getty Images
{snip}
Oh. I've heard that song before.
Top psychedelic songs No. 20: ‘My White Bicycle’
Tomorrow never arrived. The band had no future. But it left behind one gloriously psychedelic song.
Tomorrow was one of the three “underground” acts to play Joe Boyd’s UFO Club in London of 1966-67. The best known, then and now, of course, is Pink Floyd. Next is line was the prog-jazz outfit Soft Machine. Both of those bands found their places in rock history.
Tomorrow was another matter. Today, those who know of the the band generally do so for one of two reasons:
• Steve Howe of Yes Fame was the group’s brilliant young guitarist;
• The single “My White Bicycle,” beloved by many over the years but bought by few at the time. Despite its head-spinning charms, the song failed to even chart.
{snip}
Liner notes: In 1999, EMI rereleased the “Tomorrow” album. The remastered recording, done from the original tapes, includes a stereo version of “My White Bicycle,” a first. … “My White Bicycle” came out as a single while the band was still recording the album. … Tomorrow disbanded as singer West found fame with producer Wirtz’s concept LP “Excerpt From a Teenage Opera.” Howe joined Yes in 1970. … Club guru turned producer Joe Boyd remembered the song. He wrote a book called “White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s.” … Steve Howe revived the number as the final number of his “Pulling Strings” solo tour and album. … The persistence of “My White Bicycle” can be attributed in part to its inclusion on compilation sets such as “Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968.”
Tomorrow never arrived. The band had no future. But it left behind one gloriously psychedelic song.
Tomorrow was one of the three “underground” acts to play Joe Boyd’s UFO Club in London of 1966-67. The best known, then and now, of course, is Pink Floyd. Next is line was the prog-jazz outfit Soft Machine. Both of those bands found their places in rock history.
Tomorrow was another matter. Today, those who know of the the band generally do so for one of two reasons:
• Steve Howe of Yes Fame was the group’s brilliant young guitarist;
• The single “My White Bicycle,” beloved by many over the years but bought by few at the time. Despite its head-spinning charms, the song failed to even chart.
{snip}
Liner notes: In 1999, EMI rereleased the “Tomorrow” album. The remastered recording, done from the original tapes, includes a stereo version of “My White Bicycle,” a first. … “My White Bicycle” came out as a single while the band was still recording the album. … Tomorrow disbanded as singer West found fame with producer Wirtz’s concept LP “Excerpt From a Teenage Opera.” Howe joined Yes in 1970. … Club guru turned producer Joe Boyd remembered the song. He wrote a book called “White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s.” … Steve Howe revived the number as the final number of his “Pulling Strings” solo tour and album. … The persistence of “My White Bicycle” can be attributed in part to its inclusion on compilation sets such as “Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968.”
My White Bicycle (1999 Remaster)
Tomorrow - Topic
363 subscribers
40,146 views Feb 13, 2015
Provided to YouTube by Parlophone UK
My White Bicycle (1999 Remaster) · Tomorrow
Tomorrow
℗ 1999 Parlophone Records Ltd, a Warner Music Group Company
Producer: Mark Wirtz
Performance: Tomorrow
Composer: Keith Hopkins
Composer: Ken Burgess
{snip}
My White Bicycle
Nazareth
159K subscribers
31,918 views Sep 4, 2018
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group
My White Bicycle · Nazareth
Hot Tracks
℗ 1975 A&M Records
Released on: 1976-01-01
Producer: Manny Charlton
Composer Lyricist: Ken Burgess
Composer Lyricist: Keith West
{snip}
My White Bicycle
Single by Tomorrow
from the album Tomorrow
B-side: "Claramount Lake"
Released: May 1967
Genre: Psychedelic rock
Length: 3:17
Label: Parlophone
Songwriter(s): Keith Hopkins, Ken Burgess
"My White Bicycle" is a song written by Keith West and Ken Burgess. It was Tomorrow's debut single.
Background
According to Tomorrow drummer John 'Twink' Alder, the song was inspired by the Dutch Provos, an anarchist group in Amsterdam which instituted a bicycle-sharing system: "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."
The group recorded ”My White Bicycle” in Abbey Road studio 1, at the same time as The Beatles were recording Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in studio 2, and John Lennon entered the studio while Tomorrow were recording. Later, Lennon wrote in the British international music magazine Melody Maker that he considered the song to be the "psychedelic anthem", and the song subsequently became an underground hit.
{snip}
Single by Tomorrow
from the album Tomorrow
B-side: "Claramount Lake"
Released: May 1967
Genre: Psychedelic rock
Length: 3:17
Label: Parlophone
Songwriter(s): Keith Hopkins, Ken Burgess
"My White Bicycle" is a song written by Keith West and Ken Burgess. It was Tomorrow's debut single.
Background
According to Tomorrow drummer John 'Twink' Alder, the song was inspired by the Dutch Provos, an anarchist group in Amsterdam which instituted a bicycle-sharing system: "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."
The group recorded ”My White Bicycle” in Abbey Road studio 1, at the same time as The Beatles were recording Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in studio 2, and John Lennon entered the studio while Tomorrow were recording. Later, Lennon wrote in the British international music magazine Melody Maker that he considered the song to be the "psychedelic anthem", and the song subsequently became an underground hit.
{snip}