Firefly

I honestly dont know what this song means but its so relaxing. The Receivers remix is alot better than the original.

Yeah I discovered this song when I downloaded what I thought was a song by portishead called 'music to fuck to'. Turns out it was just the receivers remix of this song, which I agree is heaps better than the original. The song seems to be about someone looking back over their past which is filled with things they'd rather not remember, but I honestly have no idea -just a wild guess!

hah, i made the same mistake, but i'm glad. i just started getting into portishead, and now because of this song im getting into alpha. this song is so mellow, it never gets old

Its on lime wire as song to f***. Portishead as the artist....

First of all, have a listen to the sampled song : "Save The Sunlight" by Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, a husband and wife couple. It's just the kind of slow song to have your head on your partner's shoulder, and then strip little by little, and even getting her knocked up. Then, "Herb" was the working title of this song, that got renamed "Firefly" on the album : the original title must be a direct reference to the sampled artist and not to the illicit drug. Martin has a very particular, a little broken and bluesy tone of voice, with dulcet and tender Jeff Buckley-esque intonations, so pay attention to his hypnotic and relaxing voice. And I'd judge his lyrics as hermetic, since neither you nor I can unveil their sense (Sir Martin said his writing process was taken from stream of consciousness, so that everyone can have different interpretations). IMHO Martin reminds me of Hermes, the Greek god of travelers and commerce.

The narrator is alternatively a man and a woman. They are probably a couple who has been together for a few years, the man has a job in a further place, or is a touring singer. Since the man has to travel on the road ("who will roll far"), the girl took a contraceptive pill before they had the act ("took the way I know") : after the act, and since he has to drive to another place, she asks him to leave ("move along now"). But a pill wouldn't be enough to avoid the unexpected : while driving to his workplace or next venue, he realises he forgot to put a latex on before the act ("so sad I lost my memory") and fears she'll get pregnant ("the shape of things to come"), but he's so heartbroken ("circus heart stops inside me") and he does not have any time to go back home ("there's just no time").

While the man is on tour, his fiancée/wife realises the pill wasn't enough 4 weeks after their act ("got to let you know") and has him going back home in emergency ("I walk the way the wind blows"). Nervous, he's walking to his house, smoking a spliff ("in clouds of envy"), thinking another man got her knocked up, since he knows his fiancée/wife has a lover ("I see those eyes"). He just reminds that both he and her had a smoke after the act ("fireflies in time"). A man smoking after the act, how common.

Then they are back together, the night has fallen, but she prevents him from asking anything (in case he asked her about the lover), and the fact that he forgot to use protection has her saying she wouldn't keep the seeds he left, because, while not revealing the reasons to him ("don't know why") it's either not the time yet or she does not want to ("there seems no room in my life"), Then, he tells her to recall him how the act was ("drag my memory across a seashore of sin"). He sits down after having travelled for hours, but does not forget to take care of her ("Yes, I care, i'm trying to say it") and tiredness has taken him all over ("I'm getting tired, so look! I'll never... Whatever"), while both have to think about her getting an abortion. This cannot be a taboo subject to both. The fiancée/wife thinks that her man has fallen asleep, but not : he urges her to leave the light on and holds his hand ("hold your hand, hold the light").

An aeroplane sound can be heard : the man had revealed a secret plan to her (hear Martin whisper towards the end of the song). The last part is sung twice : it can be the man giving details at first, and their plan working at the end of the song. The couple cannot be from India and the fiancée/wife's pregnancy is still in the early stages, meaning that abortion is no taboo. So both he and she, who are probably hippies, travel to India ("travelling dreams for me in time"), where she gets an ultrasound scan showing twin unborn babies ("Indian took another butterfly"), that could be either both his or his and her lover's : also, the twins' hearts have stopped beating ("words from an Indian, words tinny in tone"). During the couple's Indian trip, after the scan, they purposely avoid smoking and sniffing ("anything clouds nor dust"), make a funeral ceremony for the twins, but one that does not look like a real funeral could be ("funny birds, burning words"). Both embrace and look down at her waist ("heads down"), during the peace-but-not-love ceremony ("peace sign"), that will be followed by the aforementioned abortion in an Indian hospital, so that anyone would take care of her, where they have to go to by hitch hiking ("hitching a ride with destiny on tow").

That's why I really like Martin Barnard on this album, he has an hypnotic and relaxing voice and poetic lyrics.