So there's this song that one of my friends at work loves to listen to. She loves it because the lyrics are so fun, and the beat is so catchy. But there was always something about it that caught me off guard; I couldn't hear the lyrics very well, but there was something sinister in the way he sang what should have been innocent lines: "I can ride my bike with no handlebars."Curious, I looked it up the lyrics online. Here's a basic summery of the song: (It's really long, so these are only snippits) You can also listen to the whole thing here.
(Disclaimer: I don't know anything about the band that wrote this song or any of their other music. All I'm writing about is my take on this particular song)
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No handlebars
No handlebars
-
Look at me, look at me
hands in the air like it's good to be
ALIVE
[...]
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
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
[...]
-
Look at me
Look at me
[...]
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to the gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make a computer survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
-
Cause I can lead a nation with a microphone
-
And I can split the atoms 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 from exasperation
Have'em all healed from their lacerations
Or 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
-
Because I can guide a missile by satellite
-
And I can hit a target through a telescope
-
And I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
-
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars...
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Now this song sticks with me too...but not for the same reasons as my co-worker. I feel like it sneaks a glimpse at the very roots of pride. I love how it starts out with something as simple as riding your bike with no handlebars. Big deal. Just a little something to be proud of. But slowly the song progresses to bigger and bigger issues. Still not problematic though: mostly neat scientific advances. But something changes: no longer are we just talking pride, we've added power. And authority--the ability to change the lives of millions, for better or worse. And in the end, pride--the same pride that leads one to boast about being able to ride a bike without handlebars--leads to the destruction of the world.
So I appreciate this song because I think it is a sober reminder of the seriousness of sin. I think it shows what the path of any man would be without intervention from God. And the sight isn't pretty.
