8. "Handlebars" by: Flobots

8 "Handlebars" by: Flobots

The ideas expressed in this song are also expressed in "Ishmael".  The following lyrics point to one idea in particular:

"Cuz I can lead a nation with a microphone"

    The singer points out how easily people will go along with propaganda.  He claims it only takes and a man and a microphone to take over a country and change mindsets.  Ishmael similarly gives the example of the Holocaust.  He tells about how not everyone in Germany agreed with Hitler’s chopped logic, but eventually they were swept up with hoards of people willing to do anything to make Hitler’s dream a reality.  Both teach us a valuable lesson; we should not mindless take in information, but instead question everything.

    The music itself shows how propaganda works.  It starts off very slow and innocent, with a happy and light tune, symbolizing how the idea starts as a dream. There are also few instruments, as in few followers of the idea.  As the music progresses, more instruments join the melody, as more people accept the idea.  The beat gets faster and the tone becomes angrier.  This symbolizes the growing numbers due to propaganda and the violence erupting.  At the very end we are reminded of how this madness started with a simple dream by a repeat of the opening lines in the original tune.