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To be the last to leave The last to be gone Stolen from the ones Who held onto it To be the last in line Oh, the ones that live on Silhouette of a dream Treasured by the ones Who hung onto it Almost a breakdown Of our love affair The stilleto cuts quick Like a whip through the air Long distance winners Will we survive the fight? Not one of us runs From the firelight I would love to believe I believe what you say In the drama of the moment Well, there is no easy way No one ever leaves Everyone stays close 'til the fire fades I would love to believe Ooh, I believe what you say In the drama of the moment For us there is no easy way No one ever leaves Everyone stays close 'til the fire fades To be the last to leave What caused the fearsome Divorce in the night When there was no competition Well, to survive, do it right Oh, you believe in the five To survive the distance Everyone fights Everyone fights And the fireflies Oooh, what happened to my feelings? We are dreamers in the night Some call it my nightmare My five fireflies Well, like a sinking ship but not one of us runs Of our love affair Oh, like a whip through the air I would love to believe I believe what you say
WEBMISTRESS speculates:
I believe this song is about Stevie and Lindsey trying to work together in Fleetwood Mac after their relationship ended. Stevie has said that the reason neither one of them left the group is because they weren't about to make the other person force them out of such a successful group. They kept hoping the OTHER one would leave! So each one was determined to the "the last to leave."
It might have ALMOST led to a breakdown of their "love affair" with Fleetwood Mac when their own affair ended, but each was too stubborn to leave, so instead they hurt each other. They're both fiercely competitive - ironically, she uses the term Long Distance Winner, the title of a song from the Buckingham Nicks era that she wrote about Lindsey when they were together, to describe their attitude now. They each want to be the winner so they each fight to survive this trauma and stay in FM.
This part about "I would love to believe, believe what you say" I find interesting because I think Stevie is being a little snarky here. As we know from Tusk, Lindsey was dissatisfied with FM and already making noises about leaving, but this is Stevie saying she doesn't think he's actually going to do it. He may get angry and in the "drama of the moment" threaten to leave... but it's not going to happen. He's too competitive. No one's going to leave until the "fire dies".
I think the "fire" refers to the addictive emotional "drama" that occurs when they work together. They thrive on it even as they hate it, drawn to the fire like fireflies. Even when it gets destructive, even when it seems more like a "nightmare" than a dream, even when it's a "sinking ship" taking them both down, they are both too stubborn, too competitive, and too addicted to the storm (as in Twisted years later) to leave. So they fight to survive all the emotional anguish and stick to it - no matter how bad it gets,"not one of us runs", "no one ever leaves." They'll stay in the fire until it consumes them if they have to.
RUISRYAN speculates:
I think that this song also has alot to do with the Mac, personified in the "five fireflies". I tend to think that it has something to do with the awkwardness of the Stevie and Mick affair, and Lindsey's response to it. I think Stevie does a lot of mixing the two relationships in this song, similar to the way she mixed the relationships with Don and Mick in 'Sara'.
I think the 'fire' in this song has a double meaning: the flame of the success of the band, as well as the flames of her 'love affairs'.
NIKAYLA speculates:
Fireflies seems to be about the five members of the mac (my five fireflies) staying together even when times were hard (no one runs from the firelight)....this is a fabulous song...it's sad that it wasn't released on a real album..but at least it's out there...