"Fireflies" by Owl City is a Terrible, Terrible, Terrible Song

There's a lot of downtime as a super-powered crimefighter. To help ease the boredom of sitting around in a secret underground lair waiting for evil to rear its head, I had satellite radio installed, and the team settled democratically on the "Top-40 Hits" station.

Now, at least four times a day, I am subjected to "Fireflies" by Owl City. To complement the grating, ubiquitous robot voice that's now overused by everyone from Cher to Ke$ha to T-Pain, "Fireflies" employs some of the most pedantic, saccharine lyrics since Raffi rowed a boat. Masticate, if you dare:

You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep

'Cause they'd fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude
But I would just stand and stare

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems

[The song breaks for a moment here to allow the listener to empty his vomit bucket and replace the liner.]

'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance

A foxtrot above my head
A sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread

Sheesh. Singer / "songwriter" Adam Young says he was "inspired" to "write" the "lyrics" while camping. He saw a bunch of bugs and "After that night, it got me thinking", he said. So a swarm of bugs got you thinking about writing a song about a swarm of bugs? That's deep, man.

As a public service, I offer the following palate-cleanser:

"There must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief
Businessmen, they drink my wine, ploughmen dig my earth
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth"

"No reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too

Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl

From Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower". What are your favorite / least-favorite lyrics? Share with the class in the comments section.