This song is set in a science fiction universe, with a hapless spacehopper trapped in an airtight room with 20 minutes of air left him. While railing agsinst his predicament, he muses on the possibility of building a device to allow him to visit a younger version of himself and provide sufficient warning to prepare for and escape from this trap (the "rip-cord in my destiny"), in the form of a cigar burn (as a reminder) and an exhortation to keep a "Hilti" (a type of power drill) on his person.
This song is set in a science fiction universe, with a hapless spacehopper trapped in an airtight room with 20 minutes of air left him. While railing agsinst his predicament, he muses on the possibility of building a device to allow him to visit a younger version of himself and provide sufficient warning to prepare for and escape from this trap (the "rip-cord in my destiny"), in the form of a cigar burn (as a reminder) and an exhortation to keep a "Hilti" (a type of power drill) on his person.