The song doesn't really stick to one main plot until near the end. The song is okay and rather rhythmic. Flobot are a rather good band, but that's the only song I never knew the meaning to..
Well, my brother said that the guy was riding his bike, with no handlebars. He had just learned the skill, and was happy that he could do it. Suddenly he thought "Why am I so happy about riding my bike with no handlebars, when people are starving/dieing in 3rd world countries" And he apparently made up most of the lyrics on the spot.
That was all from my brother, who is not the mods reliable of sources.
It's just handlebars :P and i really don't know what it means, I think it could symbolize the American dream, or how once you get a taste for power you want more, OR how different people enjoy different power.
The lyrics are far from being simply random. The song, is about being able to do something as simple and harmless as riding a bike without handlebars to ending the planet in a holocaust.
The easiest way to explain would be to link you this music video. In it, you hear the song from two points of views from two different people. Notice how the two friends both enjoyed the same things at the beggening of the song and how they got along and how at first they both were enjoying their lives. In the end, one of them fell to corruption.
to me, that first lyric pans out to represent an arrogant and scary attitude of America towards the rest of the world.
"I can hand out a million vaccinations Or let'em all die in exasperation Have'em all grilled leavin lacerations Have'em all killed by assassination I can make anybody go to prison Just because I don't like'em and I can do anything with no permission I have it all under my command"
flobots are wondering at and scared by the power the dominant have - the power to play with lives, to save a million lives or let them die depending on our fancy, to assasinate who we want, to end the planet in a nuclear holocaust. They draw this out from such a global level (I can guide a missile by satellite) to such a seemingly innocent activity as riding a bike, at the beginning and end, and seem to ask the question whether one really should ride their bike without handlebars (have free dominion over the world) simply because he can.
givesyouhell is exactly right. Flobots are my favourite band at the moment, i have their album and all of their songs have meaningful lyrics. They have one called Anne Braden and it is about rascism. "Imagine the world that you're standing within All of your neighbors, they're family-friends. How would you cope facing the fact The flesh on their hands was tainted with sin? She faced this every day. People she saw on a regular basis; People she loved, in several cases; People she knew were incredibly racist. It was painful, but she never stopped loving them, Never stopped callin' their names And she never stopped being a Southern woman And she never stopped fighting for change. And she saw that her struggle was in the tradition of ancestors never aware of her (?) It continues today: The soul of a Southerner born of the other America."
I think that this song could have many different meanings, depending on the way you look at it. I think that it's about how once somebody gets a taste of power and control over something, that they want more power and control, even subconsciously. They think that they are doing something to help the world when, even though it might help if used the right way, can be used to hurt and control people. They are saying that this is what America has done, and eventually it will lead to destruction, if it keeps happening.
This song is highly ridiculous to me. I mean really suddenly it's talking about death and then some kind of handle bars? Bike lyrics +Death lyrics=Randomness
