Independence Day

It's definately written to bolster up a friend or someone you care deeply about. Resonates as a love song in my eyes and heart. The future butterfly is just that, the protaginist of the song is still a catepiller, and Elliott's telling them not to worry, one day you will be flying high, just like a real butterfly, which are hard to see as they fly so high and fast, just a "beautiful confusion" of color and fluttery happiness. In "once I was you" Elliott is empathizing, he's been the lowly catepillar, he feels his friend's pain of not being able to reach his/her dreams yet. When Elliott perhaps first saw this person, he noticed something special about them, in their own unique way, different from all the phoney people trying too hard to be part of "the scene" (in my mind the in crowd) And when he saw him/her, he saw what a beautiful future was in store for them, invidually and on a broader level of all the happiness they'll bring to the world, possibly together. Since Elliott already sees all the beauty and potential of this person, he warns them not to try to be too different from who they already are (very easy to do when you have the "in crowd" or "the scene" all around you....) Butterflies don't live very long, neither is youth or almost anything good in life, hence everyone knows you only live a day but Elliott encourages the transformation into a butterfly b/c that's what catepillars need to do to be fullfilled.

In the last stanza, Elliott is a little more direct saying, look I saw you in a perfect place, ie your true, transformed, fully grown and emotionally mature state, but your not there yet. All real growth takes time, so just like a catepillar, you have to go away for a little while, into your cocoon, work on yourself and when you come out, I'll be waiting for you, with open, loving arms on your Independence Day. And yes, this song does sound like a beautiful, clear day that you'd see a butterfly meandering about. I'm sure he did that on purpose.