Ballad of Glacial Progress: Bike Lanes in the Great Bye-and-Bye

(to the tune of Joe Hill's 1911 song The Preacher and the Slave)

You can Bike, bye and bye,
    on that Bike Lane besides the fray;
    'twill be done on that great Someday;


So till then, keep your place,
    can't ask cars to slow their pace;
    don't yinz know this ain't Amsterdam?


There's no budget, there's no rush,
    folks in Power want no fuss;
    they'll get to it: When They Can.


Politicians shout Complete Streets,
    autonomous cars are in the fleet,
    but we lose when parking is the fight.


But for now: Take the lane! Ride inside!
    cars will bully, friends will die;
    we'll mark the scene with a white Ghost Bike.


Join an Advocacy Group, go Ride in Silence,
    whistle to block out the violence;
    you'll have Bike Lanes in the bye-and-bye.

I must acknowledge that I came to know the phrase, "Pie in the Sky In the Bye-and-Bye" in late-1960's newspaper ads for the Rev. 'Ike' Eikerenkoetter, in the back pages of the NY Daily News when I was growing up. The Rev. Ike would say: "You don't have to wait for your pie in the sky by and by; have it now with ice cream and a cherry on top".