In Basel, 1938, Albert Hofmann synthesized LSD-25: one small experimental compound among a long series of ergot derivatives. Five years later, on April 16, 1943, he accidentally encountered its extraordinary effects. On April 19, he deliberately took 250 micrograms and bicycled home through a radically altered world—the event later remembered as Bicycle Day. Fishbike turns that history into an underwater fable. Hofmann becomes **Albert Gills**; LSD becomes a bottle of lightning drops; and Fishbike—the woman on the impossible bicycle—rings her bell beside him as the molecule passes from medicine to secret control program, from countercultural explosion to prohibition, mythology, and its quiet reappearance in research. The title and refrain draw on Irina Dunn’s 1970 feminist line, later widely associated with Gloria Steinem: “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.” Woman need a man like fish need bicycle. The trip continues.
THE VIDEO HAS TWO VERSIONS BACK TO BACK
FISHBIKE (Albert’s Lightning Drops)
©2026 John F. Sendelbach
hold on tight.hold on tight.
pedal fish lady pedal fish lady pedal fish lady pedal fish lady
Albert Gills late shift rye-sea violet glow fungal castles black roots
Twenty-five lightning drops bottle marked shelved away
Nothing here says Albert Gills Maybe useful some far day
Five years gone laboratory breathing lamps school of silver stars
floor turns tide wall turns window window opens into Mars
Albert Gills on bicycle wobbling through cobalt night
Fishbike rings her handlebar bell Albert baby hold on tight
Fishbike Fishbike bicycle free
no captain owns the open tide no net owns the sea
Woman need a man like fish need bicycle
Fishbike make impossible look beautiful mythical
Doctors came books lamps soft eyes serious hats
Albert Gills little sparkle drop what inside the sad fish at
Could it loosen grief-kelp knots let buried memories swim
Could broken-hearted guppy find the sun again within
Mirror key bottle moon sent around hospital reef
some fish crying some fish laughing some fish meeting ancient grief
Fishbike rolls corridor squeaky wheel shiny call
What opens heart maybe nobody owns it all
Albert Gills on bicycle Fishbike rings her handlebar bell ocean never wears a leash
consciousness too weird for all pedal pedal pedal the trip continues
Black-suit sharks cold steel reef files fat secret ink
government fins frozen smiles We make the fish all think
Albert Gills lightning in vial sharks want weapon sharks want key
mind turns jelly mind turns weather no shark bossing inner sea
Every command becomes blue bubbles every order melts to rain
sharks say Swim straight Fishbike says No thank you brain
Too many colors too much feeling too much laughing at the wall
ocean never wears a leash consciousness too weird for all
Fishbike Fishbike you cant program blue
ocean changes every swimmer swimmer changes too
Woman need a man like fish need bicycle
Fishbike make impossible look beautiful mythical
no shark bossing inner sea ocean never wears a leash
different world inside the mind different world outside maybe
pedal pedal pedal the trip continues
Painted buses splash shore guitars thunder in the kelp
letters melting posters dancing nobody acting normal help
Prankster Fish throws Acid Reefs glowing jellyfish applause
Jerry Fish and Dead Fish drifting long guitar without a pause
Some fish shouting Freedom Some fish falling through the foam
some fish build brand-new village some fish forget way back home
Fishbike rides feedback coral asks the whole enormous sea
Different world inside the mind different world outside maybe
Fishbike Fishbike bicycle free
no captain owns the open tide no net owns the sea
Woman need a man like fish need bicycle
Fishbike make impossible look beautiful mythical
Sirens chew midnight water law drops heavy from the sky
labs go dark curious octopus pack notebooks say goodbye
Albert Gills sparkle turns rumor saint or monster crime or cure
every fish got big opinion nobody very sure
Years years taboo tide tie-dye ghost beneath the pier
science lose diving helmet myth grow teeth grow big ears
Still one question swims below quiet stubborn deep bright
What makes self feel made of stone What makes self turn liquid light
what makes self feel made of stone what makes self turn liquid light tiny bottle big blue
Albert Gills on bicycle pedal pedal pedal the trip continues
Fishbike Fishbike bicycle home
not miracle not demon not a king upon a throne
Woman need a man like fish need bicycle
Fishbike make impossible look beautiful mythical
Careful fish scanner shells watch brain currents cross gleam
old routes loosen new routes shimmer consciousness moving stream
Nobody says Mystery solved Nobody says Magic true
Albert Gills smiles alpine foam Tiny bottle big blue
Fishbike rings silver bell wheels turning ocean dome
no captain cage or empire age can stop that Fishbike going home
Albert Gills and Fishbike too beneath vast unfinishable blue
What mind can do the ocean asks
Maybe fish know Maybe you
Fishbike Fishbike bicycle free no captain owns the open tide no net owns the sea
Woman need a man like fish need bicycle Fishbike make impossible look beautiful mythical
ocean never wears a leash consciousness too weird for all
tiny bottle big blue Albert Gills on bicycle pedal pedal pedal hold on tight hold on tight
the trip continues the trip continues the trip continues
Fishbike Fishbike bicycle ride…hold on tight hold on tight
STYLE Minimalist strictly isolated sweet but assertive voice duet female & male performance dry corporate-pop track with stronger international and psychedelic textures conventional 3-chord structure standard 4/4 moving faster. Western clichés mixed with oud ney soft darbuka clavinet stabs banjo and light skanking rhythm mostly Euro-centric scales with clear maqam and international modal hints. Thin digital click-track electronic drum pad sterile MIDI synth flat DI acoustic guitar distant oud plucks breathy ney muted frame drum clavinet stabs banjo. Static root notes cheap plugin clavinet direct-input wah guitar. Predictable cadence with occasional rapid lyric recitation scatting and skanking passages less soft but not hard. Mid-song sparse echoey dub section with deep spring reverb. Ends on long echoey dub outro with heavy delay and fading repeats.
