27 September, 2009

In A Holler With A Couple Fireflies

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.

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