Paige Cora Premieres “Bicycle Bells,” Explains Tragic Origin Story

Alternative indie singer songwriter Paige Cora has a new track, “Bicycle Bells,” premiering today on American Songwriter. The single is from her upcoming album Instant In Time, slated for release on January 24. The record was written and produced by the Ontario-based artist herself, engineered and mixed by Jae Daniel and Christian Wright mastered the project in London at Abbey Road Studios.  

Cora is not a newcomer to music by any means. Her skilled resume includes her work as a solo songwriter but also her time in the trenches producing music for film. Cora has been a long-time composer and was frequently commissioned by established entities such as Historica Canada. Although film composition was a great milestone and achievement, Cora could not fight her passion to continue her own solo career.  

Her new track “Bicycle Bells” has an unknown depth to it and a bittersweet kind of tone.  The music is somber and the words are telling. Following the lyrics, a story unfolds about a tragic accident resulting in death and heartbreak.  

“I wrote the song while I was at home in Fort Erie (Ontario).  I read a headline that a young man in Trinity Bellwoods Park in Toronto, my hometown, had been tragically killed by a tree branch falling on him,” said Cora.  “He dove over trying to protect his fiancée. The couple had journeyed to Toronto from France looking to new beginnings. I then imagined all the people in this downtown park — having picnics, bike riding, having fun, then suddenly hearing this loud, thunderous crack, an instant when they were all changed.”

Cora said the real message from “Bicycle Bells” is “the reassurance of the time we have on earth as important.  The song’s metaphor of a tree is an attempt to take a tragic symbol and look at what’s underneath. The roots of every living tree create an unlimited network of connectivity.”

Cora explains how she felt immediate empathy after hearing the story.  “I poured it all into the song “Bicycle Bells,” which paints a picture of their happiness in the park, their time prior to the incident. It focuses on remembrance, and the power of the spiritual side of humanity,” she said.  

“Later on, I met the man who performed CPR on the victim, through a fundraiser he put together online for the victim’s family. He has passed the song on to the family, but we have no way of knowing if they have heard it,” said Cora. 

Cora also reflected on how the event weighed on her and mirrored her real life during the time.  She explained the sadness she experienced, from her own family loss and how she recontextualized her grief and used it to reflect on the bigger issue of death.  She hopes “Bicycle Bells” will help anyone else experiencing loss, by allowing them to tap into the mindset that their loved one is always around them if they look and listen for signs like a “Bicycle Bell.”