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about

You write enough tunes over the years, certain ones you can look back on and see as standouts, as landmarks. The ones where you can see that, even if they are far from perfect, your writing made a leap. "Firefly" is one of those for me.

It's also probably the hardest song I've ever written for me to sing. The chorus lives in a place in my vocal range that does not agree with me very much, and I can remember the first rehearsals I ever had with a live band to play this material all too well.

See the thing is: when you're just starting out as a singer, as I was when I was writing a lot of this material, you are writing for the singer you ASPIRE to be; for me, I wanted to be able to sing like the great belters, the Robert Plants, the Chris Cornells, the Doug Pinnicks, the Layne Staleys. So you write what you believe is the best melody for the SONG, not necessarily what is the best melody for your own actual VOICE. It also didn't help that when I was writing this stuff, I wasn't playing it live, I was a studio rat. It wasn't until I was regularly trying to play a 45-minute set of this material with a live band that I learned the error of my ways.

Not long after that, I started writing melodies for what I can actually sing well, and rehearsals have been a lot less daunting since.

I'm still really happy with this song, however.

lyrics

A perfect picture
I liked your face the best
And into your bed I fell to rest
I didn’t see your eyes so cold
Eyes that were so cold

Even now I face you through the wall
Tight the lid of the killing jar
Warped the light and blurred the scars
Still, I think you’re smiling

Oh, like a firefly
Shine my love to you
Oh, to a firefly
Even you’re a god

Crystal clear
The words you said to me
Now there’s no more air to breathe
“You once meant more to me,
now I couldn’t care less.”
Couldn’t care less…

You can be loved
You can be one with me
You can be loved
I will be your firefly

credits

from Yogi: Any Raw Flesh?, released March 13, 2001
Words and music by Shawn Farley.

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Shawn Farley Los Angeles, California

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