Know something about this song or lyrics?
Add it to our wiki.
We wrote a prelude
To our own fairy tale
And bought a parachute
At a church rummage sale
And with a mean sewing machine
And miles of thread
We sewed the day above L.A.
In navy and red
We wound a race track
Through your mom's kitchen chairs
And fought the shadows back
Down your dark basement stairs
I lit a match, then let it catch
To light up the room
And then you yelled as we beheld
An old maroon hot air balloon
I'll be out of my mind
And you'll be out of ideas
Pretty soon
So let's spend
The afternoon in a cold hot air balloon
Leave your jacket behind
Lean out and touch the treetops over town
I can't wait
To kiss the ground
Wherever we touch back down
We drank the Great Lakes
Like cold lemonade
And both got stomach aches
Sprawled out in the shade
So bored to death you held your breath
And I tried not to yawn
You made my frown turn upside down
And now my worries are gone
I'll be out of my mind
And you'll be out of ideas
Pretty soon
So let's spend
The afternoon in a cold hot air balloon
Leave your jacket behind
Lean out and touch the treetops over town
I can't wait
To kiss the ground
Wherever we touch back down
I'll be out of my mind
And you'll be out of ideas
Pretty soon
So let's spend
The afternoon in a cold hot air balloon
Leave your jacket behind
Lean out and touch the treetops over town
I can't wait
To kiss the ground
Wherever we touch back down
To our own fairy tale
And bought a parachute
At a church rummage sale
And with a mean sewing machine
And miles of thread
We sewed the day above L.A.
In navy and red
We wound a race track
Through your mom's kitchen chairs
And fought the shadows back
Down your dark basement stairs
I lit a match, then let it catch
To light up the room
And then you yelled as we beheld
An old maroon hot air balloon
I'll be out of my mind
And you'll be out of ideas
Pretty soon
So let's spend
The afternoon in a cold hot air balloon
Leave your jacket behind
Lean out and touch the treetops over town
I can't wait
To kiss the ground
Wherever we touch back down
We drank the Great Lakes
Like cold lemonade
And both got stomach aches
Sprawled out in the shade
So bored to death you held your breath
And I tried not to yawn
You made my frown turn upside down
And now my worries are gone
I'll be out of my mind
And you'll be out of ideas
Pretty soon
So let's spend
The afternoon in a cold hot air balloon
Leave your jacket behind
Lean out and touch the treetops over town
I can't wait
To kiss the ground
Wherever we touch back down
I'll be out of my mind
And you'll be out of ideas
Pretty soon
So let's spend
The afternoon in a cold hot air balloon
Leave your jacket behind
Lean out and touch the treetops over town
I can't wait
To kiss the ground
Wherever we touch back down
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
Little kids are highly imaginative, whether it comes to making something out of nothing - "Wound a racetrack through your mom's kitchen chairs/And fought the shadows back down your dark basement stairs" - or turning the mundane into an adventure - "Drank the Great Lakes like cold lemonade". They can drive you crazy - "I'll be out of my mind/And you'll be out of ideas pretty soon" - but they cheer you up at the same time - "You made my frown turn upside-down/And now my worries are gone".
"I'll be out of my mind" makes me think of stir-craziness, being stuck in one place, and "out of ideas" is fairly self-explanatory - running out of things to do.
"COLD hot air balloon" - Setting out into the unknown without the comforts of your normal life. "Leave your jacket behind", too, seems to mean leaving behind what you know.
"Touch the treetops over town" could just be a poetic touch. The "kiss the ground" line makes me think of setting back down in a brand new place, and just embracing the unknown.
And that's my take on this song. :)
"We wrote a prelude to our own fairytale/and bought parachute at a church rummage sale" Adam and his (girl)friend lead a wonderful life full of imagination and want to share it with everyone- thus the "prelude" so they bought a parachute to have a real adventure' while helping out the community.
"and with a mean sewing machine miles of thread/we sewed the day above L.A. in navy and red" the sewing machine is determination, and the thread is the ability to have fun. They went parachuting, and were punished by their parents for brash behavior. Navy and red are commonly thought of as opposites, and stand out against each other, just as having fun and being punished do. (i picture them as being children)
"we wound a racetrack through your mom's baesment stairs/and fought the shadows back down your dark basement stairs" stuck back at home, they play pretend in the kitchen and disturb the adults, so they defend themselves, metaphorically fighting shadows down while in an unpleasent place, or situation.
"I light a match then let it catch to light up the room/and you yelled as we beheld an old maroon hot air balloon" adam got in the final word, and as they looked around the "room" for things to do,they both got an idea. They would pretend to be in a hot air balloon.
"I'll be out of my mind and you'll be out of ideas pretty soon/so let's spend the afternoon in a cold hot air balloon" the pair finds reality to be boring and unfriendly, so they decide to retreat into a world of imagination to release the tension, or heat, thus the "cold" hot air balloon.
"Leave your jacket behind, lean out and touch the treetops over town/i can't wait to kiss the ground wherever we touch back down" By this he means leave behind all your worries and come pretend, and once we're done, come back to reality and accept your life in reality.
"We drank the great lakes like cold lemonades/and both got stomach aches, sprawled out in the shade" They took on great challenges later in life treating it like everyday things, but got into trouble beacause of it and relaxed, waiting for the trouble to pass.
"so bored to death you held your breath and i tried not to yawn/ you made my frown turn upside down now all my worries are gone" unfortunately, reality bored them. then the girl remembered how they played pretend that day and reminded the girl. it made him happy too, so now he doesnt worry about life, he just lives it.
I hope all of this song's fans see the truth of owl city's songs and live the way this song implies. I do, and it is wonderful
Also I think its 'So BORED TO DEATH, you held your breath' not 'swore to death'.
Love Owl City <3
We wrote a prelude to our own fairy tale.
This is the writer of the song reminiscing about when he was a child and he wanted to go on an adventure in a hot air balloon.
And bought a parachute at a Church rummage sale.
This is the writer remembering how he tried to make his dream come true by purchasing the hot air balloon.
And with a mean sewing machine and miles of thread.
Here the song begins shifting between reminiscing over memories and the actual events which are portrayed throughout the entire song. 'Miles of thread' (years later) he is prepared to fulfil his dream by parachuting across his town and into the forest beyond.
We sewed the day above LA, in navy and red.
Navy and red are the chosen colours because they're the colours of blood and bruising, which is where we enter into the morbid side of the song. The singer has crashed into something or has snagged his parachute, and has been seriously injured.
We roamed a race track, through your mum's kitchen chairs.
The singer's friend races the injured singer to his home and sits him on a chair, preparing to perform various first aid procedures which he knows of.
And fought the shadows back, down your dark basement stairs.
The singer is fighting against unconsciousness or 'going under', and Adam writes the song in such a way that we think of this as finding your way into a dark basement beneath a house.
I lit a match then let it catch, to light up the room.
The injured man finds a burst of energy which helps him fight unconsciousness a little longer.
And then you yelled as we beheld an old marroon, hot air balloon.
The blood has soaked into the clothes of the injured man and his friend is panicking.
I'll be out of my mind, and you'll be out of ideas pretty soon.
The singer knows that he is going to die soon and his friend is running out of ways to save him.
So let's spend, the afternoon in a cold hot air balloon.
The singer therefore just wants to die happily and wants to reminisce about his flight.
Leave your jacket behind.
The singer wants his friend to forget about tending to him and reminisce with him.
Lean out and touch the treetops over town.
Remembering how he could reach out and touch nature from above as he glided.
I can't wait to touch the ground wherever we touch back down.
He relapses into negativity and remembers how scared he was when he saw a collision ahead.
We drank the great lakes like cold lemonade.
He remembers how he and his friend looked out over nature and admired it while the parachute flight was still going well.
And both got stomach aches, sprawled out in the shade.
He remembers how he crashed, fell to the ground, and laid there as the pain dragged him in and out of consciousness, while his friend panicked and tried to save him.
Swore to death, you held your breath.
He remembers how his friend foresaw the singer's death, and how he started muttering prayers for a miracle under his breath.
And I tried not to yawn.
The singer remembers how he tried not to draw his last breath.
You made my frown turn upside down.
The singer thanks his friend for allowing him to die happily with fulfilled ambitions.
And now my worries are gone.
The singer passes away and no longer has the pain or unfulfilled ambitions to worry about.
And that is the meaning behind Hot Air Balloon, a very happy-sounded Owl City song with a rather cheerful tune, which has now been ruined for you forever.
I'll be out of my mind
and you'll be out of ideas pretty soon
so let's spend the afternoon in a cold hot air balloon
when ever we see some thing flying