The Sound of Blinking Lights

Now being 21 years old, “Fireflies” is such a whimsical song and I think why I like it so much even today is because the lyrics and sound effects take me back to my younger days of being a kid. This song makes me stop and be present in life and just appreciate what’s going on around me.

Being a young adult the lyrics are more relatable to what I have experienced within the past five years of my life. With the hustle and bustle of being a college student it can be difficult to pause and reflect on our past experiences and our childhood memories, and to me “Fireflies” does just that.

The imagery conveyed in verse one of “Fireflies” is full of metaphors and symbolism. Young, who suffers from insomnia, intended to paint the picture in this verse that despite the troubles that come from the racing thoughts (positive or negative) that flood our minds as we try to fall asleep, that sometimes our best ideas can come right before our eyes close and our mind drifts off to sleep.

As a university student it can be easy to feel overwhelmed from time to time. With assignments, projects, classes, work and extracurriculars, it is hard to seek out the beauty through it all, but Young hopes listeners can understand the importance of being immersed in an unseemly inspiring life with the lyrics presented in the first verse.

Sometimes we just wish life could go slower and we weren’t always spinning in and out of routine and habits. The chorus in “Fireflies” modifies this perspective relating to listeners that although we wish life would slow down we need to do our best to make the most of it.

As the song continues on to the second verse this where not only the melody but the lyrics become more unique. 

My favorite line of lyrics in this verse are sung by Young: “A foxtrot above my head, a sock hop beneath my bed/A disco ball is just hanging by a thread.”

This particular lyric stuck out to me so much in fact that this was the sole inspiration for my ninth birthday party theme. 

Now at my current age I view this set of words as a reminder that it’s OK to rest and close your eyes and dream. It might seem like we are all hanging on by a thread, but the disco ball remains and the party that is life continues with all of its pretty uncertainties.

As “Fireflies” concludes the chorus is repeated for a final time, except the last line to be sung by Young is, “Because my dreams are bursting at the seams.”

With this lyrical change Young expresses that he has come to realize that the daily drivel of life means nothing if you don’t let your goals, aspirations and dreams be the driving factors of living life to the absolute fullest.

I try to aspire to have the same mentality. I want my dreams to be so great and so vast that they are just bursting at the seams. 

Sometimes it takes an old song to make us feel young again but the best songs, such as my personal favorite song “Fireflies,” are still applicable and relatable as we continue to grow up, leaving lasting memories not only in our hearts but in our ears forever.

{Web Layout and graphics for this post was done by Ryan Hicks}