Thursday, July 3, 2008

handlebars by flobots

jourdan showed me this song by flobots.

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

Look at me, look at me
hands in the air like it's good to be
ALIVE
and I'm a famous rapper
even when the paths're all crookedy
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to "De Colores"
And "I'm Proud to be an American"
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want cuz, look:

I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome
No metronome

I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone
On the telephone

Look at me
Look at me
Just called to say that it's good to be
ALIVE
In such a small world
All curled up with a book to read
I can make money open up a thrift store
I can make a living off a magazine
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
I can lead a nation with a microphone
With a microphone
With a microphone
I can split the atoms of a molecule
Of a molecule
Of a molecule

Look at me
Look at me
Driving and I won't stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global
My tower secure
My cause is noble
My power is pure
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
I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
and I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
and I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handle bars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

so it sounded silly when he told me about the i can ride my bike with no handlebars and when i saw the me and my friend saw a platypus. when you take the lines separately it really is silly. but when i saw the whole song,especially with lines i can end the planet on a holocaust and i can lead a nation with a microphone, i sensed it was something more than just a sabaw song.

what i first thought of it is something like humans playing god. but then i realize now that it is about humans playing god only when i single out certain lines. so i looked up what other people think it is, and some think it could be about growing up, and how people can go from completely innocent--as seen in the bike, to absurd--like the holocaust.

however, most of the comments about this song were about america and bush--how bush could ride a bike with no handlebars by leading a nation without caring. or how america is dominant over the world.

nonetheless, it can be about power. i think riding a bike with no handlebars could mean loss of control over things, and that things get out of hand when humans hold power...

now that's ironic--losing control over control.


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