Owl City Responded To The Fireflies Memes And Everything Is Never As It Seems

Owl City’s ridiculous song about getting hugs from 10,000 fireflies was the guilty pleasure soundtrack to many teens in 2009. Now in 2017, it’s finding a resurgence through memes and, well, “you would not believe your eyes”.

For those that don’t remember the non-sensical twang riddled pop ditty, it contained some pretty bat-shit crazy awesome lyrics about the world turning slowly and dancing around with insects. It’s masterfully crafted heartfelt prose including statements like:

‘Cause I’d get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance

If you don’t recall these beautifully haunting lines of word-smithery, I urge you to re-acquaint your eardrums. You won’t be disappointed:

Now, being the year 2017, the song is coming back in a big way. Memes referencing the song’s lyrics are popping up across the interweb, as fans recall some of the big questions ol’ m8 Owl City posed to us those eight years ago.

Here’s a taste:

So if the song didn’t already have people puzzled, the need for interpreting the obscure (and very catchy) lyrics has been at the forefront of many. To be honest, AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF SUFFERING – THE PEOPLE NOW NEED ANSWERS.

After comments on YouTube, Twitter user Pryce_d wrote to the guarder of illustrious secrets on Twitter asking the man himself, “in the song “Fireflies” you state “I get a thousand hugs from 10,000 lightning bugs.” How do you interpret this statement?”

@owlcity Does each firefly hug you 1,000 times or do only 1/10th of the bugs give you a hug?

— pryce (@pryce_d) May 31, 2017

@owlcity In the song "Fireflies" you state "I get a thousand hugs from 10,000 lightning bugs." How do you interpret this statement?

— pryce (@pryce_d) May 31, 2017

The mystery continued as the internet began to ponder:

In which case, the lightening bugs would have to interlock their limbs to form a ring around the subject being hugged.

— Viriato77 (@Viriato777) June 5, 2017

After many requests for answers through YouTube comments, Twitter hassling and a bombardment of his Facebook page, Owl City has finally responded to the question yesteray. As you’d expect:.

Through a Facebook post, he detailed the exact happening, lifting the lid on the veil of confusion and quenching our hearts thirst for answers.

Pryce — great question. I was the recipient of 1,000 hugs from 10,000 lightning bugs for a grand total of 10,000,000 hugs. As the lyrics of the song clearly state, the average layperson would not believe their eyes if 10,000,000 fireflies were to illuminate planet Earth, nor would the average person conclude by natural instinct that 10,000 lightning bugs, acting as a collective group, are capable of embracing a human being 1,000 times without difficulty. By the same token, a gathering of lightning bugs in such vast numbers form a sort of “swarm,” and a swarm can collectively surround a human and deliver a “hug” that a single firefly, acting according to the dictates of his own conscience, simply cannot. Consequently, I was embraced 1,000 times by 10,000 luminescent insects.

This may seem inconceivable due to the firefly’s soft-shelled body, which is common among all winged beetles within the Lampyridae insect family. Members of the scientific community may be tempted to cast doubt upon the possibility of this exchange due to the immobility of the prothorax and pterothorax, in addition to the elytra protruding outward while a firefly is engaged in mid-flight. However, I can testify to the accuracy of this exchange. I can furthermore add that while each individual hug took place, each firefly participated in the chemical reaction commonly known as bioluminescence in which the enzymes within the firefly, in the presence of oxygen, magnesium ions and ATP, emitted a chemically produced light or “glow” because they were happy to be hugging me.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any further questions. Stream “Fireflies” on Apple Music and Spotify.

So now you know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Here’s the original post:

Enjoy sleeping easy tonight!