It's a song about the feeling of absolute power. How you get it, how you become addicted to it, and how you can use it for good or bad. You could even say it's about how a series of
accomplishments will lead to more actions that destroy the
results of old ones.
It starts out talking about cool, but reasonable accomplishments. Riding a bike with no handlebars, making a comic book, having tons of random knowledge...
That then progresses into using the need for success to find ways to, literally, change the world:
"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"
By then, he's become very powerful -- and it's gone to his head. He's addicted to glory. As he says:
"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"
But he realizes that, just as easily as he could fix the world, he could destroy it:
"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"
Of course, once all the good has been done, the power-hungry speaker needs to do something. So he's gonna "End the planet in a holocaust"
The song, almost eerily, goes back to the one simple achievement that presumably started the storyteller's craze:
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handle bars
No handlebars...
