The Fireflies As The Symbol Of Nostalgic Feeling In The Lyrics Of "Fireflies" By Owl City

The lyrics of the 2009 hit single “Fireflies” by Owl City offer a glimpse of symbolic storytelling that incorporates the metaphor of fire to describe vivid emotions experienced by the singer. “Fireflies” repeated refers to the glowing lights emitted by Lampyridae species of insect, but in the context of a combustion reaction that glows as one entity. Even though the symbol is a creative way of expressing singer Matt Thiessen’s mild insomnia, the scientific details are far from plausible and present themselves as inaccurate. The song presents combustion in a form unrelated to both the views of ancient hypotheses and modern analysis but uses the metaphor to paint a scene that can easily be visualized.

Many aspects of the lyrics in this song attempt to portray the combustion reaction, specifically both the release of thermal and light energy, as well as the state of the reaction’s products. The singer begins in the first verse by telling the audience that “You would not believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies, lit up the world as I fell asleep” (Owl City). Modern science states that the energy of the photons released by even as many ten million fireflies would not nearly be sufficient for illuminating the entire world. In addition, the fireflies do not light up like a combustion reaction, but rather display bioluminescence as a result of metabolic enzymes.

Bioluminescence, unlike combustion, emits a very small amount of heat compared to the light energy given off during a chemical reaction. The large composition of light given off by the ten million fireflies would not visually represent a fire’s flame, since there is no fuel to sustain what would be the flame. A possible suggestion for a scientifically accurate lyric could be, “You sure would believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies, were each bioluminescent as I fell asleep.”

The next lyric in the first verse is arguably more specifically referring to combustion, “Cause they fill the open air, leave teardrops everywhere, you’d think me rude if I just stand and stare” (Owl City). Assuming these “teardrops” are composed of a solution involving water in a liquid form, then this is scientifically inaccurate according to the modern discoveries of the combustion reaction. When a hydrocarbon is combusted in the presence of oxygen gas, it results in gaseous water (steam) and carbon dioxide gas.

Note, the product of combustion is water in gaseous form, and tears constitute liquid water, which emphasizes another scientific inaccuracy portrayed in “Fireflies”. To correct this lyric in terms of combustion and unrelated to the fact that fireflies do not combust, a better way to phrase this would be “Cause they fill the open air, leaving steam and CO2 everywhere, you’d think me rude if I just stand and stare.” A last scientifically incorrect lyric occurs in the second verse when the singer explains that “Cause I’d get a thousand hugs, from ten thousand lightning bugs, as they tried to teach me how to dance” (Owl City).

Many aspects of this last lyric are incredibly far from scientific fact. This lyric disagrees with Stahl’s theory of phlogiston. Assuming this involves combustion, the spirit of phlogiston that is released during the reaction is only what powers the flame, and doesn’t inhibit other bodies to show how to dance. Additionally, the reaction of combustion releases heat and light but does not result in any form of physical force against surroundings. A corrected lyric according to Stahl would be “Cause I’d get exactly no hugs, from ten thousand lightning bugs, as phlogiston released into the air.”

While much of Owl City’s “Fireflies” lacks a scientific basis, the emotions of the singer are conveyed through the extensive use of symbolism. The fireflies provide almost of a nostalgic feeling, the light that they give off represents the joy of the moment that he reflects on. A detailed annotation noted that the story told throughout this song could be interpreted as “...when you get older, the childhood sense of wonder and imagination begins to leave you and things don’t seem quite as fantastical anymore. The whole song can be read as a metaphor addressing this” (Genius). However, the songs use the motif of light and take a very dark turn.

Towards the end of the song, the singer states that “It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay awake when I’m asleep, because my dreams are bursting at the seams”. For the majority of the song, he relates the fireflies in his dreams to his nostalgia for the starry-eyed, hopeful nature of childhood. At this point in time, he becomes introspective and debates on whether he should just sleep his difficulties away. Evidently, the triple-platinum song “Fireflies” has a significant amount of symbolic emotion but frequently refers to concepts that don’t reflect the factual values of science.