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

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Fireflies song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

310 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    I've got to go with the idea that it's a reflection on childhood, as apposed to the 'adult' world we live in, where it's suit and tie, coffee and to-go mug, paycheck and bills.

    When we were kids, all we cared about was lunch, recess, snack, playtime, games, friends, sleep, and making sure our immaginations run overtime. Now, most of those things are things we wished we still had time for.

    When i was a kid, i always liked sleeping, because i could escape my troubles, which at that time were few, and therefore more significant, and i could dream about things that, in my mind, were just as real as the things we felt, smelt, and touched. But i was stuck in this epic battle between playing out late, having fun, or going to sleep. Now, because our problems are everywhere, we just kind of accept it. So these days of hide and seek, building forts, playing games, and inhancing our immaginations dissapear, and it's like a little part of us dies, and is replaced with the 'adult' world we are supposed to fit into.

    Despite this, it seems the song writer has been able to save some of these memories, because you can't really kill the best part of your life.

    To me, these three sections explain the whole song to me:

    Because 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 sockhop beneath my bed A disco ball is just hanging by a thread

    When I fall asleep leave my door open just a crack (Please take me away from here) Because 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 because I hate goodbyes I got misty eyes as they said farewell But I'll know where several are If my dreams get real bizarre Because I saved a few and I keep them in a jar

    In the first one, i think the disco ball is the important one. He says it's hanging by a thread. I take this as his child hood is hanging by a thread, his fun and play is barly there anymore. In the last one is where i think he talks about beeing able to hold on to something that has almost completely died out. "...I saved a few and and i keep them in a jar"

    I think it's really important that we keep some of these memories. It just makes life better. Architects understand this. I'm in an architecture class, and the only thing we all really have in common is our immaginations still work overtime, and we still like to have fun, even though we do have to be serious, and get things done, but that's not important, that's just to pay the bills.

    ME68on March 28, 2010   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him. There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve. The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future. Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere" The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Album art
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Album art
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.