Had the mouth to call around
Hate to bother you and make
You think I'm down
But it's time.
The rhythm and the park of faith
Makes the drive to come
And see you late
Till the walls unwind
Will the water wind you down
Till the summer time comes winding down
Just a sunset reminding of the night.
Till you take me down to a holler
And show me all the bright things in the sky
Are fireflies.
I heard of those when I was young
Somehow in a dream
Now you hold my hand and look in my eye.
And somehow I think that will be better
By and by with all those fireflies.
I ain't now to call on back
My brick a brack they'd make me
As thirty five.
And maybe Cancer gets me
And maybe it's the drinking
I don't know
I don't suppose I'll lie.
Hey, tonight Miss Thinker
Will you take my hand in yours
I know I'm weak and you can know it too.
Abide in nature to take it back
In doubts... I'll be better soon
If I'm with you.
Be strong, be courageous
Just go lay down with another
I'm giving lots and lots of bad advice.
Don't tell her that you need her, no
She'll run off in directions that don't soon include
The likes of you and I.
I guess it's my fault
I'm talking to another in the bar.
Another man who doesn't fake it
Man at best he don't break the plans to make it
And that's where I know you are,
In a holler with a couple fireflies,
In a holler with a couple fireflies,
In a holler with a couple fireflies,
In a holler with a couple fireflies.
Wrote the song, three years ago when I was heartbroken, and feeling like an idiot. It's always struck me as a sort of maudlin sappy tune, without the sparkle of some of my other work, but for some reason it sits with my other songs, on the deskstop of my computer, a thin sliver that won't go away. It's in some notebooks and journals as well. And not frequently, but sometimes I sing it.
It's basically about a guy who isn't loved by someone he knows inside out. He drinks and smokes and gives advice he knows is worthless, for beginners, 'cus it's coming from him.
Sad folks make folks happy, or something like that.
Who believes it?
The fireflies in Indiana never blink in unison. But some places in the world, like the droning of the Katydid, and the sudden reversals of a flock of birds in flight, fireflies blink in mass, saying to mankind, "I can do anything you can do, better." Show offs.
Wrote the song, three years ago when I was heartbroken, and feeling like an idiot. It's always struck me as a sort of maudlin sappy tune, without the sparkle of some of my other work, but for some reason it sits with my other songs, on the deskstop of my computer, a thin sliver that won't go away. It's in some notebooks and journals as well. And not frequently, but sometimes I sing it.
It's basically about a guy who isn't loved by someone he knows inside out. He drinks and smokes and gives advice he knows is worthless, for beginners, 'cus it's coming from him.
Sad folks make folks happy, or something like that.
Who believes it?
The fireflies in Indiana never blink in unison. But some places in the world, like the droning of the Katydid, and the sudden reversals of a flock of birds in flight, fireflies blink in mass, saying to mankind, "I can do anything you can do, better." Show offs.
2 comments:
My mobile Internet connection gets sodding slow during the evenings sometimes... But now I finally reached this section.
Fine song. It is lovely to read your lyrics and I definitely see them as poetry in their own right. Yet, since I know you are a musician and all, I would love to hear this song played as well.
Fireflies, I have seen them once in a forest in Slovakia back when I was 18 and a wild grunge gal (I am much calmer these days). An amazing sight those flies. That was on a vacation with an old boyfriend, who is not alive today.
I really like the bluesy poignant intimacy in this song.
Wow Jenny,
What a wonderful story. People from my past, no longer alive, haunt me, mostly in pleasant ways. That's why I wrote that line, "I have seen apparitions in the dark....." at the bottom of my Email.
I will have my songs on a Website I am creating for them, within 30 to 60 days. I promised my parents, more or less, that I'd have it done by the fall.
On occasion, you'll meet people who think fireflies are something only in Fantasy books, or a Disney movie. It's serious fun to tell them otherwise. But it's sheer magic to show them, take them by the hand to a "holler" in the dark.
When people visit me from a place that doesn't have "lightning bugs" (gotta love the Hoosier words) I often take them down to some hilly Hickory, Beech and Oak woods, on the way to our reservoir. We stop next to an unassuming highway, and they look at me while their eyes are adjusting, like, "What now? We're gonna change your tire, or something." Standing by the side of the road, isn't everyone's idea of fun. But their eyes adjust, and before they know it, their children, and their wife or husband are making sounds that preoccupy the happy. And that strange American is standing there, his face barely visible in the dark: smiling and happy as hell.
By the way, it's a little macabre, but: when you hit fireflies with your car, they leave a lovely glowing goo, for a minute or so. They also leave a falling star trail as you pass them at high speed. So they are pretty entertaining. I am thrilled you saw them in Slovakia. I'll have to query Google earth, and see if there is a way they can map firefly habitat.
Fun fun fun till Daddy takes the computer away.
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