I doubt the lyrics are that sinister in meaning. But I don’t think they are lighthearted either. To me, the song is about the ideas of democracy and tolerance (as opposed to autocracy – “no man's fit to rule the world alone”), and that they are endangered in today world (“tell them we've gone too far”). I think the “travelling in time” is about making the old mistakes again.
I doubt the lyrics are that sinister in meaning. But I don’t think they are lighthearted either. To me, the song is about the ideas of democracy and tolerance (as opposed to autocracy – “no man's fit to rule the world alone”), and that they are endangered in today world (“tell them we've gone too far”). I think the “travelling in time” is about making the old mistakes again.