This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep
'Cause they fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude but I would just stand and stare
I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance
A foxtrot above my head
A sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread (thread, thread)
I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems (when I fall asleep)
Leave my door open just a crack
Please take me away from here
'Cause I feel like such an insomniac
Please take me away from here
Why do I tire of counting sheep?
Please take me away from here
When I'm far too tired to fall asleep
To ten million fireflies
I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes
I got misty eyes as they said farewell (they said farewell)
But I'll know where several are
If my dreams get real bizarre
'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar (jar, jar, jar)
I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems (when I fall asleep)
I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems (when I fall asleep)
(I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly)
(It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep)
(Because my dreams are bursting at the seams)
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep
'Cause they fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude but I would just stand and stare
I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance
A foxtrot above my head
A sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread (thread, thread)
I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems (when I fall asleep)
Leave my door open just a crack
Please take me away from here
'Cause I feel like such an insomniac
Please take me away from here
Why do I tire of counting sheep?
Please take me away from here
When I'm far too tired to fall asleep
To ten million fireflies
I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes
I got misty eyes as they said farewell (they said farewell)
But I'll know where several are
If my dreams get real bizarre
'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar (jar, jar, jar)
I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems (when I fall asleep)
I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems (when I fall asleep)
(I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly)
(It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep)
(Because my dreams are bursting at the seams)
Lyrics submitted by maxxa, edited by kalle234234234, Mellow_Harsher
Fireflies Lyrics as written by Adam R. Young
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Brilliant song! Kudos to Adam.
I think this song is about the growing up and letting go of childhood, while still embracing our dreams and acting upon a few of them ("I saved a few and kept them in a jar"), with the fireflies representing those dreams.
Just a thought... Less than a day left until Ocean Eyes :)
I agree with you there.
couldn't have said it better myself. seriously, I was gonna say that but i just couldn't figure out how to phrase it.
you said it perfectly, it reminds me of my little sister and brothers wild imaginations.
That could be the meaning. When I watched the video, I noticed that there was a dynavox, which is a device that allows a parent or the person with autism to communicate by touching picture or making words and phrases. When I first saw that I thought that the song was about autism. Another thing that made me think that that was what the song was about is that when all the lights started turning on in the beginning was like the mind of an autistic child because everything comes at them so quickley. And it was a childish scene. So I searched it up on the computer and I found a site that said it was autism but then I kept looking and found something on wikianswers that said it was about someone leaving behind childhood and moving on to adulthood. I'm stuck, I not sure what the meaning is...
hmm my brother has autism
@kaykaygirl123: the wonderful thing about a song is that you are right and fairweatherfriend as well. Each song we hear, each video we watch allows interpretation and in the end it's you who decides what the meaning of the song really is. I perfectly agree with fairweatherfriend's interpretation because it's beautiful and I couldn't have said it better. But yours is based on facts and I agree with yours as well and I think it's fantastic that you took the time to find out more about autism and what's happening in an autist's mind.
wow, fairweatherfriend. at first I was going to say "I think the song is about absolutely nothing, and regardless of that, I like it" but I really like your interpretation of it. Hopefully that IS what it means. Because otherwise, I'm pretty sure it is about absolutely nothing. lol. I have found that sometimes, when people are extremely creative AND deep, the things they say poetically or put into songs don't quite make sense to the average reader/listener. so I think your interpretation is very possible. good call!
i also feel fear in the lyrics that he only want to see "beautiful things" and afraid to wake up that everything is not good as can be.<br /> <br /> a happy go lucky child maybe. . .
Funny thing is, i find somehow he's afraid to grow up that he'll be missing his childhood. Since he says, "I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly.."
It's about depression
I was thinking the same too!
My memory of this song will always be from earlier this summer while I was camping. I couldn't sleep (because I have insomnia) and I was dealing with losing one of my friends. So I went outside, where it was completely silent and black (except for the unimaginable amount of stars) and I laid down on my back, and put my iPod on shuffle. This song played right away, and I just froze for a couple minutes, watching the stars and listening. And I know it sounds cheesy, but it was as if nothing else existed in that moment.
It was one of those memories that you can never completely explain to anyone, but it sticks with you none the less. Amazing song.
i can completely understand that. :)
that is called finding God in your everyday life.
Really laxer4? Really?
It's more like finding yourself than finding god if anyone..
I agree with alltimelowkevin<br /> but then again I can see what laxer4 is saying, except the closest thing I have to religion is music. so yes, it was like relating to god in a way I suppose.
I can sort of understand as well. I first heard this song when I was going through a lot of drama and I got attached to this song.<br /> <br /> Now it always has a connection with me.
I believe that without God, none of us would be here, neither would music.
god is just for people who dont like the idea of being dead when you die, i agree with alltimelowkevin, you decide how you live not god
I think that's just how people respond when they don't understand something, esp something as complex as God's existence. But whether you believe that it's God or not, that's doesn't stop him from always being there.
I thought what laxer said felt kinda of mysterious and cool. :) Those moments when everything freezes and captures you or imprints you at your center, is finding God in your everyday life. When the oldest or mother..or father of souls finds and cradles you and moves on. Coolness!~♪
Anything beautiful can be perceived as God. But then you constantly attribute new things to God. Then, what is God? Everything. This serves no purpose when you're trying to survive, other than make you blindly happy. And you have no empirical certainty about what you think will happen when you die. You can hope and believe, but that will not change the end result. Believe what you want, but keep ignorant comments geared towards proving your religion to be so great out of everything but your church and religious groups.
I'm never one to push religion, in fact I'm one of the only people i know who actually has a problem with it, but! what laxer said was his/her opinion. They never stated it was a fact and to be honest whenever someone says something about any religion, groups of people automatically jump down their throat. In the cases where that person says something like "those without god are ignorant." and other statements like it (nexty) that should be put to an end, after all, that's an insult to all who don't believe in whatever the person was referring to. I've had my share of arguments over this subject and I'm just asking everyone to stop. :( it's just a display of how people hate others based on their beliefs, which has gone on for HOW LONG (Answer: dawn of time)? So please everyone grow up and get over it, be an adult. I believe in Taoism! I can almost say 70% of you have no idea what it means but you don't agree with it because you don't believe in god or anything like it. That's fine, but unless you're being supportive or saying something like "please that's a bold statement to be saying and i would appreciate you not saying such things on this forum", just keep it to yourself or say it to your friend. Also I realize my grammar was not up to the usual par i like it to be. Sorry.
Sorry MrZombie...cause I'm gonna respond, but I promise I don't hate people because of their beliefs - unless maybe it's really depraved.<br /> Sorry if what I said seemed oppressive and ignorant.. -_-; <br /> Spirituality is important in the human...what, psyche, history, and in music. [universal conscious yo XD] So it's inevitable that GOD [disregarding the religious aspect of it especially] is gonna be discussed on Songmeanings.net. poit So that, you must learn to be tolerant of.<br /> Anyhoo~...ignoring the spiteful part of it ^^..muhaha..You have a point. -.- <br /> But "You can hope and believe, but that will not change the end result.", thats kinda like saying live life however, it doesn't truly matter when you look at the end, and neither does all the nice stuffs like love and justice and bravery (all them virtues). <br /> Mmm...ok, maybe you do/don't believe that [life has no meaning], but..well, hope, love, and bravery definitely do serve a purpose when you're trying to survive. <br /> If you have no hope you lose the will to live. Bravery lets you fight for your life and other people's lives when you're facing certain death. Love [of self also] plays into bravery and other decisions we make. All that vague stuff is important - if you look at it from a hard-data or impersonal or objective pov only it limits you, I think.
MrZombieNerd, major kudos to the Taoism reference! I was actually thinking about that reading this reply thread. I think auberginedreams09's experience was moreso an experience of Wu Wei or maybe even P'u had the experience made a lasting impact (that anwser belongs to the OP), to those unfamilar with Taoism, its kind of a spiritual aligning of everything and almost having a humbling moment surrounded by the power and vastness of the universe. To me, thats what I exactly pictured. I sit on my rooftop at night and look at the stars and put myself into perspective. You should try it once in a while. I'm competely fine with the religious ideas of others on here, just don't shoot them down because they are different than yours. I don't care if you're catholic or ba'hai or pagan. The goal of religion is to find a balance with ourselves. To be okay with us, we have to be okay with others so we can understand "It's alright that I'm different, people accept me. I accept them." Help yourself and help everyone step it up. I agree with Maslov that we aren't going to get ANYWHERE with ourselves until we're accepted by others and they accept us.
Okay... I'm not trying to offend anyone, so please do not take this the wrong way. I'm just simply stating an opinion.<br /> <br /> My religion is Christianity - Southern Baptist. These are my beliefs:<br /> I believe that God is the Creator. He loves us so much that even though we messed up his perfect world (we meaning mankind..) by sinning, He has provided a way to be saved and be with Him. So he sent Jesus here. Jesus was born of a virgin, Mary. She was told by an angel that her son would be concieved by the Holy Spirit and would be called Immanuel (I'm not completely sure if I got the spelling correct) which means God with us. He was a human form of God. He lived an absolutely perfect sinless life. But to save all of us, he had to BECOME sin on the cross. He suffered an awful death.. He was beaten with whip that had stone and sharp objects tied on the ends. Every time He was hit, it tore skin and flesh off of His back. He was forced to carry His cross. THey drove nails about the size of Railroad track nails through his wrists and feet. He was attached to the cross this way. Breathing was difficult. The hard wood scrapoped at the open wounds on His back. he was also humiliated in several ways. They mocked Him by putting a crown of thorns (huge thorns) on his head. He was naked on the cross, which added further humiliation. YOUR name went through his mind while he was up there suffering the most un-immaginable death. He thought of every person who ever lived and ever will live because He LOVES us. Unconditionally. That's why God is able to forgive us for ANYTHING. Because of Christ's death. <br /> <br /> Eternity is what happens when you die. Eternity NEVER ends. Time does not even exist in eternity. A million years here is like a snap of the fingers in eternity. This is what, I believe and have faith in, will happen once you get to eternity. You will be judged. If your name is found in the Lamb's Book of Life, then you are sent to Heaven. You will be forever Blissfully happy in Heaven. The Bible cannot even describe how wonderful it will be. However, if your name is not found in the Lamb's Book of Life, you will be sent to Hell. The Bible says that in hell your worm never dies. This means that you will have your own personal worm. A flesh eating worm that will torture you for the rest of eternity. It will be unbearrable in Hell. ( A lot of people have told me that they worship the Devil so when they go to Hell, he will not punish them. This is very untrue. The Devil HATES everything God loves. And God loves everyone.) <br /> <br /> The only way to get in the Lamb's Book of Life is to admit you are a sinner, accept and believe that Jesus died to save you. Then confess with your mouth and actions that you are saved.<br /> <br /> If you have any questions at all about anything I just said, I would absolutely love to answer them. Again, I was not intentionally trying to offend anyone. <br /> <br /> And I love this song. ;)
The problem with all this rabble, not downing anyones values, is that you never know. You can believe it to the point where you fell it exist's but at the end of the day its you and death. Afterlife or not everyone dies alone. The beauty of it all is that we are in this as togheter. Thats why you need to say fuck it. Be you. Ever read survivor? (fight club guy) He had a mess of problems but didn't care. he embraced them. Just be the best version of you. Take every second and don't you dare get scared or give it back.
i agree with studder58.<br /> just live life!
i know that feeling you're talking about that feeling when you think that things couldn't possibly get worse and then something happens like you hear a song or see something or smell something and everything just seems perfect and so much better than it was before. you're filled with hope and know things are going to get better and each time you hear that song or smell that smell you get that euphoric, nostalgic feeling again. its one of those things that are really hard to explain
Like Megan75391, I am also a christian:)<br /> <br /> And any of you who said hopes and beliefs don't matter, you're wrong. They are everything. If you give up hope for your future, that things will be better, you're probably gonna end up killing yourself. Being humans, we're not perfect and our lives aren't perfect, and if we don't hope they'll get better, they definitely won't. That would force you into depression, and eventually you couldn't take it anymore and you would give up your life.<br /> <br /> Which leads us to the beliefs part. After you die, no matter what you believe, something happens. Like I believe in heaven. So if what I believe is true, and I'd never taken the time to believe it, I'd go to hell. And the same goes for whatever you people believe. So never say it doesn't matter if you don't like lying...<br /> <br /> And to auberginedreams09, I know that feeling, and it's the best thing I've ever experienced:)
you guys are ridculous! this is a freakin song for god's sake! you don't half to go picking people's reliegon's apart just because one person felt at peace when they heard this song! it's a song, GET OVER IT!! it's a great song, not a debate about your beliefs!
I like how these kids are posting essays on their religious views on a lyrics site. I could understand if this was a song about Jesus dying for your sins or something.. but it's not.
FYI, Owl City is a Christian, and most of his songs are Christian, I looked it up. Just letting you people know.<br />
i understand, the timing seems almost impossible to be a coincidence :) you have given me such a pretty picture in my mind
I completely agree. You know how when a spirit visits and they sometimes show up as fireflies(light). (No I'm not on drugs.. lol) <br /> "I got misty eyes as they said fairwell" <br /> I don't know if you agree, but to me it's like when a close friend or relative passes away(it was a best friend for me). It's grieving, which is not a bad thing, it's healthy. My best friend died last year. This song beautifully explains a lot of the different processes of death.<br /> <br /> The foxtrot and sockhop: they still come and visit you sending hearts your way. <br /> <br /> The insomnia comes from your stress seperately from loved spirital prescence, and wanting to fly in your dreams with that person(in my interpretation). <br /> Not to commit suicide, but basically can't wait to meet them at the gates. The stars to you.. I'm guessing represents heaven. <br /> The world turning slowly, you want to make that person proud and live your life happily just as much as they want you to do also, but it's normal to be impatient and ambitious. I can relate.<br /> <br /> The only thing about inner childhood from what others say is that damn music video...<br /> The electronics(in my book) move themselves with spiritual energy. Maybe Owl City had a child who passed away? I haven't researched that, so it's just a hypothesis...<br /> <br /> I very much agree with your comment about the song.<br /> :-)<br /> sorry I type a lot
ahem<br /> <br /> Look, I don't mind people debating their religion and their beliefs, but this website is for song meanings, hence the name of the website. If we could just please get back to interpreting this song that would be great. Besides, it's a freaking song, just like rockandroll21 said. <br /> <br /> Anyways ...<br /> <br /> This song seems to be about dreaming and growing up. The singer talks about how he wishes he could stay a kid forever, and that time moves by too quickly. It's an especially good song for the singer since he has insomnia. Very nice song.<br />
@auberginedreams09 i sometimes wonder what my purpose is and if i should ever try and "reach for the stars, make it to mars" (sand in a angelic voice) but then i remember i have 3 kids and they will miss me if i ever go. but im stuck in a job i hate and i must not leave my children
it is rare that music is this purely happy and good it makes me feel like everything is going to be okay
thts generally how adam is with his music. its so relieving. <br /> not that neone really cares but ive been having THE shitiest week and then i finally got Ocean Eyes and i hadnt listened to Owl City in forever and its like nothing ever happened to me the past week.<br /> the kids got a amazing gift.
I totally agree, but those jerks that don't like popular songs will ruin it for us.
Don't let those jerks ruin it for you, listen to whatever the fuck you want. and you can get some real good pop music these days, radio is still going strong i reckon.
I'm confused by XeroForever's comment...
you guys ruined it for yourselves. It's this simple; I don't like untalented artists, therefore popular music is fine but most of the artists are horrible and their songs are not well thought out at all. Its all for the cash and I don't like ungeniune music.
Adam's songs all make me so happy, except for Vanilla Twilight it makes me feel a bit sad. But every time I listen to him sing- I just can't help but feel relaxed and like everything is just dandy. He DOES have a gift, a special one. <3
me to!!!!
This isn't a song about insomnia. Quite the opposite. The songs meaning is about lucid dreaming or astral projection which is one in the same. For those that have never experienced it, it is absolutely wonderful. The song translates to exactly to what one experiences. You see lights everywhere and yes they look like fireflies. The verse "It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep" Means that because the experience is so wonderful you want to be in that state all the time and stay asleep. I know this all sounds like BS, I would have said it a year ago myself. I'm a 41 yo construction worker that just recently started lucid dreaming, and it's changed my whole outlook on life. listen or read the song again, and look at it from a perspective of someone that just saw and experienced something great, loving and wholesome for the first time. Check out patch parables and expand your minds.
@SGITU Indeed it is to me as well. astral projection "Please take me away from here" and "When i am too tired to fall asleep" and when in astral projection dreaming, "staying awake when im asleep cause everything isnt want it seems." usually in astral dreaming, i would always fly around and i see the "earth turns slowly" from outer space. And this song ended with "cause my dreams are bursting at the seas" reason being when you astral dream, i find myself flying touching the sea while going godspeed. So i do believe this song is explaining the wonders of astral dreaming. I looked it up on youtube and came across this, it also explains astral projection quite well :D youtube.com/watch <br />
@SGITU yea I see what you mean, but then how do you explain the 'cause everything is never as it seems' line? I think there's more to it than a song about lucid dreaming. I think there's also this idea that while you sleep, there might be incredible things happening around you. I think the imagery of many fireflies doing their thing while you sleep might have some metaphorical meaning - perhaps that there are complexities in the world that we don't know. We can only imagine, or dream about them.
@SGITU hippie<br />
i feel like this may also have a sadder mood to it. like how he keeps saying "please take me away from here"
and also "Its hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep 'Cause everything is never as it seems"
to me he is kinda saying something is going wrong for him, and he cant sleep because he is so tired of it, but he would rather be asleep when he is awake.
i agree! maybe he's saying that all those moments of childhood like all the firefly references.. were his escape, and he wishes he could go back to those days..
I kinda interpreted the "stay awake" part as that he doesn't like to sleep, because when he wakes up he knows that everything good and magical that happened to him while he was asleep was all a dream, and it's hard to take that reality.
I totally agree with your idea
I think its about having a dream world, or an ideal world that one can escape to, maybe in a dream at night or in a daydream, but knowing that this fantasy isn't reality and that it won't ever be reality is heartbreaking. So as much as the speaker wants to live in that fantasy world, he or she cannot because they're stuck in reality.
It's hard to say what Young meant outta this song, but this is what it means to me.
It's a song about how one night, when you're lying in bed and can't sleep, it hits you how fast time is moving and you reminisce about your childhood, teen years, dreams, etc.
"You would not believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies lit up the world as I fell asleep." The fireflies represent thoughts, memories, etc.
"They fill the open air, and leave teardrops everywhere, you'd think me rude but I would just stand and stare." Some of these memories are sad, some you wish could come back, and even though you should go to sleep and forget them, you can't help but continue.
"I'd like to make myself believe, that planet Earth turns slowly." We'd all like to think that time moves slowly and life is long, but in reality it is short.
"I get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightening bugs, as they try to teach me how to dance." Reliving these memories and dreams are comforting.
"A fox trot above my head, a sock hop beneath my bed, a disco ball is just hanging by a thread." Various examples of memories that had meaning in the past.
"Leave my door open just a crack, cuz I feel like such an insomniac, why do I tire of counting sheep when I'm far too tired to fall asleep." More of the can't sleep problem.
"To ten million fireflies, I'm weird cuz I hate goodbyes." While it only makes sense to move on from our past, we can't help but relive the memories.
"I got misty eyes as they said farewell." As the thoughts slip away, they leave us feeling nostalgic.
"But I'll know where several are, cuz my dreams get real bizzare. I saved a few and I keep them in a jar." All of us have packed away some of our dreams or memories in a safe place, so we can always have them ready to explore again.
"Because my dreams are bursting at the seams." The last line, in my opinion the most striking, speaks for itself.
"
Omg WOW, I think this is EXACTLY what this song's about. Thanks for the post!
i think that it has to do with the freedom he gets from life when he can actually fall asleep. because of his insomnia, his brain is constantly working and thinking about things like time going by too fast, and all he wants is an escape. this is hinted in the "please take me away from here", he wants to be able to take a break from the reality and think about fantastic things like millions of fireflies dancing around him. "it's hard to say that i'd rather stay awake when i'm asleep", he wouldn't give up the time he actually gets to sleep, because in his dreams, nothing is as it seems. which to him, is a good thing. he is sad when the fireflies leave because it means he has to go back to the same, sensical life he's been living.
My memory of this song dates back to somewhere in the middle/end of August 2007. I was still living in New York at the time, and it because a tradition to visit my family out in Jersey every summer. This particular summer, I met this girl. My brother, cousin, and I were sitting outside the pizzaria when I was talking to my cousin and I heard this girl start talking to my brother. I turned in his direction and seen her give him a hug. When I looked at her, everything around me started spinning but in slow motion and my focus was all on her. I went deaf, I don't even remember what my cousin was saying to me. After the hug, she walked away from my brother, and I asked him who that girl was. Her name was Tiffany. I was so jealous when she hugged my brother, even though I knew it was just a friendly hug. I wanted her to be mine.
She was trying to help my brother get with one of her friends, who is now his current girlfriend (we moved to Jersey the next summer). Everytime I hear this song it makes me feel like I was 13 again (I'm 16 now). Whenever I hear the intro beat to this song, it puts me back in time to when I was sitting in the silver metal chair outside Antonio's pizzaria on Main St. watching her give my brother a hug. I wish you guys could see her, she had (and STILL has) the most beautiful smile ever.
Later that week, I added her on MySpace, and with my luck out of no where, she began telling people that me and her were best friends! I don't know where that came from, but I liked it. We talked all the time on MySpace until I moved to her town in Jersey in November 2008. We fell in love, and she's all mine now. This song makes me feel young again, and although she's mine now, I wish I could go back to the day I first laid my eyes on her and tell her she was beautiful, because she really is the greatest.
@BK520 I doubt you (or anyone else) is going to see this, but this comment made me really sad. Your comment was written in 2010, 11 years ago. <br /> it's crazy how fast time flies, and how the person who wrote this comment when they were 16. they're now 27 and well into life and that makes me wonder how they're doing. like are they still with the girl from myspace ??<br /> this song came out when I was VERY young, but my brother was a bit older and introduced me to this song. i grew up with it but never really looked into the meaning behind the song. 11 years later and I'm finally curious enough to look into it..and I find this comment. idk why it makes me so sad, its just kinda crazy how time flies. this story about the Myspace girl is just really wholesome and pure to me and makes me feel kinda hopeful. <br /> <br /> 11 years.
I think Adam's been quoted as saying that this is a song about his insomnia. I understand though that music is there for people to derive their own meanings, but the following is what I think based on what Adam has said. There is certainly enough evidence:
He tries to asleep, but he is unable to do so (metaphorically represented by the "ten million fireflies"). The rest of the song seems pretty much an extension of this metaphor. The fireflies performing the "foxtrot about [his] head", a "sockhop" etc.
The seemingly happy tune of the song is juxtaposed to the background vocals: "(please take me away from here)", which may suggest that he wishes for the insomnia to stop, as fun and bizarre the "fireflies" or dreams he sees may be.
I was thinking it might've been about innocence or transitioning into adulthood or something but I couldn't see it and didn't understand how it fit. I was worried it was a song with a bunch of meaningless pretty phrases (loove this site, glad it exists) but I'm glad I know now.<br /> Poor guy. I had trouble going to sleep as a kid - I'm not sure about now, I end up thinking for hours till I sleep or get mentally tired - sometimes I end up laying there afterwards angry if I'm still awake - and my sleep schedule is way outta whack and the random coffee and candy also influences it. I don't know what'd happen if I was balanced again, but I think I'd have trouble sleeping like when I was younger.
this seems like a really reasonable meaning
I believe it could be about his insomnia too, poor guy. I don't know what I'd do not being able to sleep! D=