Optimistic Lyrics

i'm pretty sure that at the end thom is saying, "dinosaurs RULE the earth!" and that seems to make better sense given the underlying critique of the song. the back and forth between, on the one hand, modern (capitalist) society references like the market and payloads and, on the other hand, references to animal kingdom behavior points to the fundamental paradoxical character of a society founded in domination (and greed). "i'd really like to help you man" but i am stuck in this society, the violent and greed-driven structures of which make me feel like i am in a prison that constrains the possibilities for my actions. pleasantly, with the optimism implied by the song's title, thom ultimately tells us we should still try the best we can not to fall victim to that constraint. yet he still comes back to the bitter irony of humans having developed society that makes it seem that they prevail as being the most dominant of all species on earth. he reminds us not to get too cocky, with the clever warning: dinosaurs ruled the earth, until greater forces at work in the universe (most likely, a couple huge meteorites and some intense volcanic activity) made them go extinct; they couldn't dominate forever.

so maybe society should try harmony and unity instead of domination and separation. we need each other as well as other life forms to keep living, and we all can live because we share one biosphere that interconnects everything in it. so maybe we'd not just "really like to help" each other but actually help each other if we realized that the interest of the other truly reflects the interest of the self. "because we separate, that ripples our reflection."

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