Song #47: Owl City - Fireflies

Inducted 12-21-2015

I guess the adjective I'd use for this song is "Whimsical". It certainly caught the attention of the public and I know that I'm pretty sure it made the top 100 charts for a while in 2009/2010. I don't remember when I first heard this song, but it certainly took place in my years at Peace Lutheran. I didn't realize until a little later that the artist behind Owl City was a Christian, which was a cool bonus and helped me appreciate this song even more. I don't need artists to love Jesus in order to move me, but I LOVE it when Christians create something that captures the attention of people who aren't followers of Jesus. 

When you hear the opening hook, you totally see the thematic harmony between the title/lyrics/music. If fireflies made music when they flew, the opening few measures of the song describe EXACTLY how'd they would sound. 

I think the song is so likeable because it carries such a positive vibe. Music seems to continue to trend towards the cynical side of life, and this song just captures the whimsy of childhood, and the hope of growing up and wanting to take in all of the wonders of life. 

The song came out less than a year before Ethan was born, and I feel it captured a sense of how I felt as a new parent, too. 

I listen to hundreds of new songs every year. Most of them have catchy hooks, melodic choruses, and (generally) meaningful lyrics. It's hard to say why some songs become more important to me than others. Again, I don't have any big story behind Fireflies. It was just a beautiful, catchy, hopeful song that has stuck with me these past 10 years. 

ELEMENTS: 

The beautiful electronic opening.. almost emulating the flight of a firefly.. 

The lines in the chorus - "I'd like to make myself believe, that planet earth turns slowly. It's hard to say that I'd rather stay wake when I'm asleep, cause everything is never as it seems"

The driving bass lines. 

The lyrics... just plain fun... "A foxtrot.. a sock hop..." 

OTHER SONGS By OWL CITY: 

Beautiful Times (w/ Lindsay Stirling) - 
Good Time (w/ Carly Rae Jepsen) - Very Catchy

Song #46: Stereophonics - Maybe Tomorrow

Inducted 12-21-2015

There is a beauty in Movie Soundtracks. Not only does the right song add a powerful emotional punch to a movie, it may also introduce you to an artist you have never heard of before. The movie "Crash" did that for me with this song, and introduced me to Stereophonics. They had been around a long time before the movie came out, but I had never heard of them until then. 

While I didn't always jive with the themes that were taking place in Crash, the movie was directed by Paul Haggis who created my favorite television show Due South, and so I wanted to have an open mind and give it a chance. I still will call it a thought provoking movie (though it does not seem to have passed the test of time very well for many reasons, Haggis included). But honestly it's the song that sticks with me the most. It came in on at the very end of the movie, and I was totally hooked. 

In the early 2000s,you were still paying $.99 a song (unless you downloaded the movie illeagaly), and so this song was one of the coveted that I actually paid money for and burned into a mix CD. I think I replayed the track 100s of times. 

ELEMENTS I LIKED: 

The opening hook with the "hmms" really drives the song. 

The repetition at the end of the lines.. "with me" (with me).... "be free" (free)..

The chorus "Maybe Tomorrow, I'll find my way home".. is a beautiful line that really played into the existential angst I was feeling in my 20s. 

The guitar solo... particular how the electric guitar solo ended by holding onto that note all the way until the chorus.

The yelling back and forth at the end.. quietly ending into nearly a whisper..

Virtually everything..

OTHER SONGS BY THE ARTIST: 

Don't Let the Devil Take another Day - It's currently in my Top 100, almost on it's way out. It's a beautiful song that prob. won't make the Hall of Fame, but is extremely catchy nonetheless.