Fireflies

“Fireflies” by Owl City

There is something about growing up that makes you yearn for the simplicity of your childhood. Maybe it’s the ease of decision making or the difference of what money can buy. When you’re a child you can make decisions by using the “eenie meenie miney moe” or “one potato, two potato” method. Having a handful of shiny quarters can buy you your favorite candy and a plastic ball full of silly putty. Your days revolved around playing in the mud and dirt in your backyard. But as children, we don’t take advantage of these childhood pleasures. We push ourselves to take on adult lives but once we reach adulthood we automatically want to switch back. The song “Fireflies” by Owl City is not only a great song to jam to in the car but it’s a song with plenty of meaning behind it. Adam Young uses the genre of music to effectively portray his ideas of childhood innocence and time.

Adam Young creates exigency by expressing a sense of yearning or a desire to escape back to childhood innocence. Upon first hearing the song, one is intrigued by the melody and simple lyrics, it’s not until one actually questions the artists intent that they began seeing the deeper meaning of Adam Young's lyrics. Throughout the song Adam describes childlike qualities and activities. The song starts by telling us we would "not believe" our eyes, a statement that suggests the song will cover some sort of fantastic occurrence. Then the song progresses into a dream-like quality. The speaker actually speaks of fireflies as if he were surrounded by them. The fireflies are supposed to stand for a specific event or situation, hence the question, “Who would catch fireflies?” The answer is innocent children. The song speaks about the innocence of youth and how quickly that innocence escapes us. Adam also creates exigency when addressing our issue with time. Adam says “I’d like to make myself believe, that planet earth turns slowly.” These lyrics depict the fact that childhood and all of its wonderful innocence is lost too quickly and that we should indeed hold on to the simplicity of childhood things such as finding magic and entertainment out of catching fireflies. Nowadays children are seemingly maturing faster, by being exposed to themes of adulthood at younger age, and children begin to lose their childlike innocence faster so by the time they are adults they never got the chance to enjoy the joys of childhood. This song is an attempt to bring people back to the simplicity of enjoying their childhood in a time when kids these days are attempting to grow up faster, usually trying to act older than their real age, which has brought about the saying, “13 going on 30.”

The song “Fireflies” is mainly targeted towards an adult audience, but is also towards kids and youth. Young’s lyrics could be a call out to all adults to try to embrace their inner child. "To ten million fireflies I'm weird 'cause I hate good-byes 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)." This line is a good example of clinging to areas of childhood. He's "saved a few and kept them in a jar" in case things get too "bizarre" as if to remind him of a simpler time, a time when things were beautiful. The lines about not sleeping and bizarre dreams could be symbolic to this face paced adult world being a bit of a nightmare and hence he has recreated his simplistic childhood as his reality. I think those are the moments he wants to slow- the simple ones, the beautiful ones- whether they are from childhood or just a simpler time. We are sometimes sad that time goes so quickly and we lose our childhood. But Adam Young still has fireflies- "I saved a few and I kept them in a jar" or memories- of his childhood, and whenever he wants to go back to his childhood innocence, he looks there. Here he is calling out to adults and telling them to keep their “fireflies.” Adams lyrics could also be targeted towards young teens or children. Adam calls out to children and warns them to cherish their childhood. He shows them what the responsible hectic life of an adult is and tries to tell them to keep their innocence and savor the moment, for chances like these only happen once in a lifetime.

The purpose of the song is to speak about the need to hold onto and embrace, maybe even slip back into, our child hood innocence so the reality of growing up does not completely take away the magic and joy the world has to offer. Simply put, we are all forced to give up our childhood too soon. We need more fireflies and rooms full of toys (as shown in the video) to keep our lives simple and innocent. This song is about wanting to slow time so to speak, and to have more of it. That's why he wants to believe the earth turns slowly. "It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep" implies he obviously should sleep but truthfully doesn't want to miss out on anything. He is saying that he wishes he could stay up so that he can live life to the fullest and fill each day with childlike things, such as playing with toys or catching fireflies. This song is about childhood innocence and dreams, and also stopping to enjoy the small things, just as a child in awe would. "Cause I get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs As they try 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)." Learning to "dance" would be an example of a simple pleasure. A foxtrot, a sock hop, and disco balls are all things that are associated with times when there was more innocence, or happiness. These are all examples if figments of our imagination. Things we would imagine as children. Adam uses these objects to express the feeling of wanting to escape to this chaotic world, and remain in his nostalgic dreamland of no worries or responsibilities. The speaker conveys his desire to remain in a dream trance instead of waking up to reality, because within that dream trance is the innocence of youth, an innocence and naivety that allows a simple act, such as catching fireflies, to become a magical excursion into a wonderland of possibility and adventure.

As a young artist Adam Young appeals to his audience and catches their attention through his genre of singing/songwriting and this boosts his ethos. As a well known singer most people trust him and can relate to his words. Adam establishes his ethos by expressing his feelings as a young adult artist who most audiences can relate to. The song “fireflies” had a logical flow. It provided the audience with many examples of childhood memories. Adam Young backed up his claims and ideas of childhood memories and time and proved his point on childhood innocence. Adam’s main appeal is ethos. His lyrics cause the listener to be emotionally attached to the song. Adams use of childhood activities and all the joys that come with it causes the audience to be moved by his words and relate more to them. Adams use of figurative language and imagery boosted his pathos in many ways. The images that pop into the audiences mind cause them to be nostalgic. He creates a scene of an innocent utopia filled with happiness and all that is pure. His use of fireflies brings the reader into a peaceful world, for fireflies are often connected to happiness and childhood joy. Imagery is also used in the “fireflies” music video. The music video helps the audience visualize the scene and puts the audience in another world. The video shows a room full of toys and chaos and at the end everything is shut off and Adam comes back to reality when Adam says “because my dreams are bursting at the seams.” Adams diction and syntax were appropriate considering his genre.

Adams use of singing/songwriting was most appropriate and effective in conveying his message. The song and the video allowed the audience to be more connected to the artist. The musical genre is one of the most popular genres because it appeals more to the audience. It served as a song one can listen to when hanging out with friends that contained a meaningful message that all ages can relate to. The song "Fireflies" was very popular and appealed to the audience; it topped the US and Canadian charts and became the most-downloaded song on iTunes. The fact that the song was so successful alone boosted his ethos. Because of Young’s ethos as a singer/songwriter the use of the musical genre was the most effective and appropriate. If he had written a poem or a story about fireflies it wouldn’t have been as successful, considering the fact that singing/songwriting is his area of expertise. Through this genre he was able to really connect with the audience emotionally. The playful tone of the song makes it more enjoyable to listen to. Young choose the most appropriate genre to convey his message effectively.

Owl City’s hit “Fireflies” is a song that reminds us all to take advantage of our childhood. It also encourages adults who have already experienced childhood to go back and try to find their inner child. This song teaches us to live life to the fullest and fill each day with childlike things, such as playing with toys and/or catching fireflies. Sometimes the little things in life can make a big difference. The song also reminds us that time is sacred and once it’s lost there’s no making up for it, so we must take advantage of it. Children should keep their innocence and joy and try to hold on to it for as long as they can, besides who wants to be the adult who always says “I wish I had….”?