Firstly, Thom - the lead singer, and God - has said that the song is about "the fall of the Roman Empire". Well that's pretty complicated. Look at it from several points of view. The song is definitely schizophrenic. It starts of morbid, gets angry, and returns to a morbid state, but the final stage reflects defeat, a state of lost hope more than anything else.
I think the song is about facing things bigger than yourself. Interpret that how you wish. I don't mean picking a fight with the local Hercules, I mean the fight of the little man versus corporation, small business versus monopilistic chains.
In case you haven't, you should go and read the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series of novels, they really are wonderful. And behind it, I believe at least, is meaning. The "Guide" is a corporation that can do what they wish, as is shown by their treatment of Ford. How does this tie in? Well, Marvin the Paranoid Android, that's how. The song takes its name from the HHGTTG series.
Using any example you like, the song represents the challenge against bigger things. In THHGTTG the guys - and girls - have to face a lot of challenges, but the Guide is everpresent. Not to spoil it, but when they all die in the end, there is a feeling, more of anything else, of relief. The Vogons, in control of the Guide, watched on as their enemies were destroyed.
People living miserable lives rise up and face something, only to be crushed. There is no hope for the smaller person in the end, I am sorry to say.
A modern representative of the song would have to be Bill Gates. Yes, my favourite song of all time is, in part at least, about Bill Gates. It's a cruel world.
Many times on tour has this song been dedicated to Bill Gates. And after dedicating it to good old Bill, Thom has this to say: "A man who could solve a lot of the world's problems".
Think about it. This man makes millions of dollars a day. This man could buy third world countries out of turmoil. Hundreds of people die everyday because of the lack of money to reach anywhere in life. Does Bill Gates even realise the potential he has to solve many of the world's problems?
This song is about a lot of things. Just think about it, ok? There are a lot of problems in the world. Just think about the people that can stop them, and choose not to.