Bicycle Race by Queen

Overview

Key: A♭ major · Chords used: 26 · Sections: 8

Form: Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Chorus → Break → Verse → Chorus

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). This page shows that transcription as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Key changes

• Verse 1 moves to B♭ minor.
• Chorus 2 moves to A♭ major.
• Bridge moves to F major.
• Break moves to C major.
• Verse 2 moves to D major.
• Chorus 4 moves to A♭ major.

Section by section

Chorus 1

• E♭ – B♭aug – B♭m – A♭ – B♭m – D – B
  V – II+ – ii – I – ii – #IV – #II
• A♭ – B♭m (×4)
  I – ii
• A♭
  I

Verse 1

• B♭m – G♭7 – Gdim – Am – B♭m – G♭7 – Gdim – F
  i – bVI7 – vi° – vii – i – bVI7 – vi° – V

Chorus 2

• E♭ – Daug – B♭m/D♭ – A♭ – B♭m – D – B
  V – #IV+ – ii⁶ – I – ii – #IV – #II
• A♭ – B♭m (×4)
  I – ii

Bridge

• Gm7 – C7 – F – B♭ (×2)
  ii7 – V7 – I – IV
• A – Dm – C – B♭ – C – G – C/G – G7
  III – vi – V – IV – V – II – V⁶₄ – II7

Chorus 3

• F – C/E – A♭7/E♭ – A♭ – B♭m – D – B – G
  I – V⁶ – bIII⁴₃ – bIII – iv – VI – #IV – II

Break

• C
  I
• D – A (×2)
  II – VI
• D – B – E – F♯ – F♯7
  II – VII – III – #IV – #IV7

Verse 2

• B♭m – G♭7 – Gdim (×2)
  bvi – bIV7 – iv°
• F
  bIII

Chorus 4

• E♭ – Daug – B♭m/D♭ – A♭ – B♭m – D – B
  V – #IV+ – ii⁶ – I – ii – #IV – #II
• A♭ – B♭m (×4)
  I – ii
• A♭
  I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B (#II) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.
• A♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• B♭m (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• F (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• A acts as V/vi: it resolves to Dm.
• G acts as V/V: it resolves to C/G.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo).
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.