I became the heiress to a red and rusted bicycle  Built like a tank from Sears Roebuck circa 1952  It had been entrusted to me by my late great uncle Pat  And I guess he didn't ride it much  Both tires on the bike were flat  Pat had died at Christmas time in 1991  He had fallen off the wagon  And he sunk into a Christmas funk  My father he had found him  Two days after he had died  Well he drank himself to death one night  In a little home he owned by the seaside  So I took the bike and I cleaned it up  My father he patched up the tires  Am I going to town or just spinning my wheels  And when I die I wonder how it feels  Hey and I'm riding around riding around on it  Hey just riding around riding around on it  Hey you know I'm riding around  Riding around on it. Hey!  The funeral service was a few days later  At a place down the street from where he had lived  There wasn't a hell of a turn out  He had never married and he never had kids  The coffin lid was open  Pat was lying inside  His sister had a picture of a poodle named Pepper  She put it in his hand and then she cried  Now I'm riding around in the city  Through the smog and the summer heat  And I'm blowing through all the red lights  I guess you could say I'm feeling lucky  And the taxis and the trucks  Everybody's blowin' their horns  And I got a bicycle bell to ring  And I got a notion to sing as I'm riding along  Chorus  Well I didn't even really know him at all  And I wonder can he see me  As I'm riding along  Riding along  The day that Pat was buried  The air was cold and clear  And we drove out to the cemetery  And snow flew around in the air  And a hired man from the State  He played taps on a coronet  And a flag was presented to his sister  For time in the service that Pat had spent  When he used to ride on the bike  Way back in ‘52  He was starting out a life  And the bike it was brand new  And life was laid before him like  A platter before a king  He was young and he was handsome  And the world was alive with meaning  The world was alive with meaning  Chorus