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)


Lyrics submitted by maxxa, edited by kalle234234234, Mellow_Harsher

Fireflies Lyrics as written by Adam R. Young

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Fireflies song meanings
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    Song Meaning

    I think it's not so much wanting to hang on to your childhood as it is just not wanting the day to end.

    He says, "I'd like to make myself believe/that planet Earth turns slowly", meaning he wants time to slow down. And then he adds, "I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep/'cause everything is never as it seems." So he doesn't want to fall asleep and dream, because he'll have to wake up and face the reality that everything that happened to him in his dreams were all imaginary.

    As for all the fireflies, he's just imagining all these magical fireflies in this dream world because, again, he uses it as a sense of escapism ("Please take me away from here") from his everyday life. They're lighting up the sky and teaching him how to dance, and it all just feels right and wonderful.

    But when they leave in the last verse, he cutely assures himself that he's kept a few "in a jar" to release when he doesn't like his other dreams or his real life and he needs that serene feeling again.

    Great song. Like someone said, you can't help but feel so happy, peaceful, and optimistic.

    charliesmom4on January 11, 2010   Link

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