Nine Million Bicycles

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"Nine Million Bicycles"
Single by Katie Melua
from the album Piece by Piece
B-side"Market Day in Guernica", "Stardust"
Released19 September 2005 (2005-09-19)[1]
Length3:15
LabelDramatico
Songwriter(s)Mike Batt
Producer(s)Mike Batt
Katie Melua singles chronology
"Crawling up a Hill"
(2004) 		"Nine Million Bicycles"
(2005) 		"I Cried for You" / "Just like Heaven"
(2005)

"Nine Million Bicycles" is a song written and produced by Mike Batt for the singer Katie Melua's second album, Piece by Piece. It was released as the album's first single in September 2005 and reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Melua's first top five hit as a solo artist. It was a finalist for The Record of the Year prize, losing to "You Raise Me Up" by Westlife.

Background[edit]

According to Melua, the inspiration for the song came during a visit to Beijing with her manager Mike Batt.[2] Their interpreter showed them around the city and told them that there are supposedly nine million bicycles in the city. Batt wrote a song based around the title "Nine Million Bicycles" after returning to England two weeks later, and it was one of the last songs to be recorded for Piece by Piece. Adrian Brett, who played the ethnic flutes on Batt's album Caravans (1978), contributed to the song; an ocarina was used for the low sounds, and a Chinese bamboo flute for the high sounds.[3]

Melua said that she liked the song "because it is a simple juxtaposition of a trivial idea ('Nine Million Bicycles') against an important idea ('I will love you till I die')".[3] The website indieLondon named it one of the "highlights" of Piece by Piece, describing it as "genuinely sweet ... The meandering blasts of flute that weave their way throughout lend the song a Chinese feel and make it quite enticing".[4]

The single's music video, directed by Kevin Godley, shows Melua being dragged across the floor through a variety of settings, including a brief shot of the Summer Palace in Beijing, until she returns to a picnic in a park with her friends.

Alternative version[edit]

In 2005, Melua was criticised by writer and scientist Simon Singh[5] for inaccurate lyrics referring to the size of the observable universe ("We are 12 billion light-years from the edge. That's a guess — no one can ever say it's true"). Melua and Singh met, and Melua re-recorded a tongue-in-cheek version of the song for BBC Radio 4's Today program that had been written by Singh:

"We are 13.7 billion light-years from the edge of the observable universe; that's a good estimate with well-defined error bars/and with the available information, I predict that I will always be with you".

Melua later said that she 'should have known better' as she used to be a member of the Astronomy club at school.[6]

Track listing[edit]

  1. "Nine Million Bicycles" (Mike Batt) – 3:15
  2. "Market Day in Guernica" (Batt) – 4:02
  3. "Stardust" (Hoagy Carmichael, Mitchell Parish) – 4:10

Personnel[edit]

Production

  • Mike Batt – producer, arranged
  • Steve Sale – engineer

Charts[edit]

Certifications[edit]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[27] Gold 4,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[28] Silver 200,000‡

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. 17 September 2005. p. 27.
  2. ^ What's Music Record 1993, no. WS-2052, in Mandarin
  3. ^ a b "Nine Million Bicycles". KatieMelua.com. Archived from the original on 30 November 2006. Retrieved 28 September 2006.
  4. ^ Foley, Jack & Hollie, Carnevale. "Katie Melua — Piece By Piece". indieLondon. Retrieved 9 April 2006.
  5. ^ "Katie Melua's bad science". The Guardian. UK. 25 September 2012.
  6. ^ Orr, James (15 October 2005). "How Katie put the science back into songwriting". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  7. ^ "Katie Melua – Nine Million Bicycles" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  8. ^ "Katie Melua Chart History (Canada AC)". Billboard.
  9. ^ "The ARIA Report: European Top 20 Charts – Week Commencing 3rd October 2005" (PDF). ARIA. 3 October 2005. p. 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 February 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  10. ^ "Katie Melua – Nine Million Bicycles" (in French). Les classement single.
  11. ^ "Katie Melua – Nine Million Bicycles" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  12. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Nine Million Bicycles". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  13. ^ "Katie Melua – Nine Million Bicycles". Top Digital Download.
  14. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 1, 2006" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  15. ^ "Katie Melua – Nine Million Bicycles" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  16. ^ "Katie Melua – Nine Million Bicycles". VG-lista.
  17. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  18. ^ "Katie Melua – Nine Million Bicycles". Swiss Singles Chart.
  19. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  20. ^ "Official Independent Singles Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  21. ^ "Top 100–Jaaroverzicht van 2005". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  22. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 2005" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  23. ^ "End of Year Singles Chart Top 100 – 2005". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  24. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 2006" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  25. ^ "Top 100–Jaaroverzicht van 2006". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  26. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 2006" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  27. ^ "Guld Og Platin November/December/Januar". Archived from the original on 24 July 2011.
  28. ^ "British single certifications – Katie Melua – Nine Million Bicycles". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
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