theme song tour de france

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Tour De France by Kraftwerk

Songfacts®:

• This song was written about the Tour De France, a famous French road race for professional cyclists. Kraftwerk members Florian Schneider and Ralf Hutter are obsessed with bicycles, calling themselves the Radsportegruppe Schneider (Schneider Cycling Club).
• The melody appears to be borrowed from part of the opening section of German composer Paul Hindemith's 1936 "Sonata For Flute And Piano."
• The track was originally recorded for a Kraftwerk album called Techno Pop , which was re-titled Electric Café and released in 1983. "Tour De France" was left off the tracklist but released as a single. The following year, after being included on the soundtrack to the film Breakin' , the song was re-released, this time reaching #23 in the UK.
• In Britain, this was used by Channel 4 as their theme music for their coverage of Tour De France.
• Ex-Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos claimed Florian Schneider and Ralf Hutter's obsession with cycling was one of the factors that prompted him to quit the band.
• The sleeve of the "Tour de France" single was adapted from a 1953 Hungarian postage stamp.
• More songs from Kraftwerk
• More songs that became hits when they were re-released
• More songs inspired by athletes, teams or sporting events
• More songs used in movies
• More songs inspired by bicycles
• More songs from 1983
• Lyrics to Tour De France
• Kraftwerk Artistfacts

Comments: 1

• Chris from Germany Kraftwerk were ahead of their time and had a lot of good songs before they released Tour De France in 1983. They intended to release Techno Pop in 1983 and they had still made videos and promotions. There were also ads in music magazines. However many problems and such things caused the band to not release the album. The songs were recycled for their 1986 album Electric Cafe. Tour De France is awesome and really catchy. In 1983 they had a lot of competition with synth pop bands but they were still good and innovative. The Francoise Kevorkian remix of the song is one of the best. The song was released in 1983 and had minor success but it was a household name among the breakdance scene and so the song was rereleased in the 1980s.

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Famous Songs of Le Tour de France: Which One Do You Like the Most?

Here are some of our favourite tunes to get you in the mood for Le Tour 2017!

Tour de France by Kraftwerk

The symbiosis of techno and road-cycling may never be fully understood, but there are some obvious common themes – both require endurance, focus, a love of repetition, and an almost fetishistic reverence of the machinery that leads you to a transcendental plateau.

Released in 1984 by electronic super-group Kraftwerk, the song used state-of-the-art digital sound samplers to record vocal panting and chain noises. Anyone who’s exerted themselves on the bike can instantly identify the quintessential sound of the cycle ride. It doesn’t get more iconic that this.

Bicycle Song by Queen

The most iconic song on this list, Freddie Mercury’s love song to the bicycle and everything it represents – freedom, rebellion, and therapy. In a true rock’n’roll fashion, Freddie tells his audience he likes to ride his bike where he likes.

Inspired by Le Tour de France, the video infamously features some of the sexiest machinery any cycle fan could lay eyes on – Campagnola groupsets, Gitane steel framed and lug-welded frames. Beautiful. That is why Škoda is using this song to evoke all the joys of cycling in the video below.

Walking Indurain by Fred Poulet

Miguel Indurain won five Tour de France Yellow Jerseys in a row between ’91 and ’95, so arguably he earned a song in his honour. However, the song is as much a meditation on the pleasures of watching Le Tour as it is of Indurain himself.

Poulet stated that he actually watched Le Tour for the strange and crazy things that happen along the route, saying he preferred the parts like, “a stage in the Ardennes, slightly hilly, with a horse that runs next to the peloton for a while – it suits me”. The lyrics are minimal and you can hear the humour as Poulet mimics a TV commentator.

Le Champion Espagnol by Jean-Louis Murat

Not one to follow convention, Jean-Louis Murat penned what can only be described as a deeply spiritual song about the Toledo Eagle, Federico Bahamontes, winner of the 1959 Tour de France. Bahamontes also won the mountain classification six times and is widely regarded as one of the sports great climbers.

The lyrics to Murat’s 2011 opus are a tone poem of competitive life on Le Tour as well as a sympathetic portrait of one of cycling’s most popular characters – the Toledo Eagle is described as having kind eyes, of being tenacious, and of throwing everything into the beautiful madness that is Le Tour.

Vive Poulidor by André Verchuren

You’ll want to turn this one up loud – if this doesn’t get the blood pumping in anticipation of Le Tour 2017 I don’t know what will. The music instantly takes you back to Poupou’s heyday of the 60s’ and early 70s’, when French riders were very much in contention.

Poulidor’s career coincided with another French great – Anquetil, but this song is testament to Poupou’s enduring popularity with race fans who were happy to see him wear the Yellow Jersey in 14 Tours, including his final Tour de France when, at the age of 40, he finished in 3rd place.

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Tour de France: 10 most downloaded bike-themed songs revealed!

As the Tour de France starts up in Yorkshire, we raid the archives and count down the most downloaded songs about bikes. Yes, really!

It’s the biggest event in any cycling fanatic’s calendar and it’s coming to the UK! The 2014 Tour de France begins today with the Grand Depart in Yorkshire, starting off 21 days of racing.

All eyes are on the UK in more ways than one. For the last two years, the Tour De France has been won by British cyclists:  Sir Bradley Wiggins in 2012 and Chris Froome in 2013. Can the UK make it three in a row?

To celebrate, we’ve been digging through the archives to find a few two-wheeled anthems. Songs about bikes aren’t as common as you’d think, which is a huge shame, but we did manage to find the 10 most downloaded pedal-tastic tunes and it’s our pleasure to count them down today for you.

1: Flobots – Handlebars

The yellow jersey goes to American hip-hop rockers Flobots , who are first up with their only UK hit Handlebars . The track, which describes doing things on your bike that would almost certainly make you fail your cycling proficiency test, hit Number 14 in 2008.

2: Katie Melua – Nine Million Bicycles

Katie Melua finishes in silver position with her 2005 hit Nine Million Bicycles , her second single to go Top 10 after 2003’s Closest Thing To Crazy . The lead single from her second Number 1 album Piece By Piece , Nine Million Bicycles reached Number 5 and isn’t really about cycling as such – it’s all a metaphor for love or something. Katie ’s had seven Top 40 hits including a Number 1 with Eva Cassidy , a cover of What A Wonderful World .

3: Mark Ronson & The Business Intl – The Bike Song

Dishy, dashing DJ Mark Ronson has to settle for a bronze. His Bike Song makes a strong argument for the “two wheels good four wheels bad” cause. Taken from his second Top 10 album Record Collection , The Bike Song , featuring The View ’s Kyle Falconer in the vocal saddle, was Ronson ’s seventh Top 40 hit and peaked at Number 17 in 2010. Mark ’s highest chart peaks were his Smiths ’ cover Stop Me FT Daniel Merriweather and his reworking of Zutons ’ Valerie featuring the late, great Amy Winehouse on vocal duties. Both tracks reached Number 2. Take a moment to consider how unexpectedly amazing Mark 's hair looks blond.

4: Hawkwind – Silver Machine

British rockers Hawkwind are in fourth, with their debut and biggest hit Silver Machine . Written about lead singer Robert Calvert ’s silver racing bike (kinda), the track reached Number 3 way back in 1972, the first of three Top 40 hits for the band.

5: Queen – Bicycle Race

Fifth place belongs to possibly the most famous song about cycling of them all. Originally released as a double-A side with Fat Bottomed Girls , flamboyant rockers Queen took the track to Number 11 in 1978.

As for the rest of our Top 10, it’s nice to see Kraftwerk ’s actual song about the Tour De France pop up (6) – it was reswizzled in 2003, and that version reached Number 20.

The highest charting song about bikes is the Mixtures ’ 1971 hit Pushbike Song , which reached Number 2. It takes eighth place on our countdown.

Just edging into the Top 10 is US singer Skylar Grey ’s C’mon Let Me Ride , in which our heroine sings about how she’s really keen to ride Eminem ’s bike. This must be some amazing cycle Slim Shady has got because Skylar is pretty insistent.

Check out our full Top 10 of the most downloaded songs abpout cycles. Sadly, traditional cycling song Daisy Bell (Bicycle Made For Two) didn’t get a look-in. It’s an outrage!

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What is the theme song for ‘True Detective: Night Country’?

The crime drama series returns for a fourth season

The fourth instalment in the True Detective series has been released, with Jodie Foster starring as police chief Liz Danvers.

• READ MORE: ‘True Detective: Night Country’ review: back to its brutal, unbeatable best

True Detective: Night Country , which premiered on HBO on January 14, follows the investigation into the mysterious disappearance of eight men from a research station in Alaska.

Directed and co-written by Issa López, the series also stars Kali Reis, Killing Eve ’s Fiona Shaw and Oscar -nominated actor, John Hawkes. The second episode is set to air on January 21.

What is the theme song for True Detective: Night Country ?

The fourth series features a well-known song by a Grammy -winning pop artist as its theme song. ‘bury a friend’ by Billie Eilish serves as the opening tune for the drama series, creating an eerie and intriguing atmosphere to the opening credits, which show mysterious images of the dark, snowy landscape, and possible clues in the story.

López spoke to Business Insider about selecting the popular song, which has also been used in the recent trailer for Madame Web . She said: “I knew that the series was going to need a powerful anthem, a showstopper, honestly.”

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“When we were doing the titles, I tried several things and then I realised that the lyrics of this song seem to be written for the series,” she explained. “It’s crazy. It talks about a tongue, about burying your friend. It seemed that it was made for the show. So we tried it and it just matched and it was meant to be.”

Early on in the first episode, three days after an incident involving one of the scientists, a delivery man finds the research station empty of people, but discovers a severed tongue.

‘bury a friend’, which was released by Eilish in 2019 as part of her debut studio album, ‘when we all fall asleep, where do we go?’ moved to number 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts in its first week.

In 2019, NME wrote about the track : “It’s a sizeable middle finger to anyone who expected a twinkly ballad befitting to her lone EP, 2017’s ‘don’t smile at me’.”

The analysis continued: “‘bury a friend’, co-produced with writing partner and older brother Finneas O’Connell , is drowning in layers of vocal effects and there’s a playful trickery in each hook. Those looking for a glittery chorus will be sorely disappointed.”

• Related Topics
• Billie Eilish
• Finneas O’Connell
• Jodie Foster
• Killing Eve
• True Detective

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Tour De France theme song

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