Fireflies - the lost gem!

[buckmacnicks]

Hi folks,

I am new here, so I'd like to start a new topic by urging you to listen again to one of the greatest hidden treasures in the Mac's back catalog: Fireflies. I really cannot understand why this song has never been performed live so far and yet again has failed to be included on the new Very best of double cd. A missed opportunity, because in my opinion Paper Doll is Stevie's worst Mac song, I can't imagine why they have chosen that song???
:mad:
The driving beat, the haunting lyrics, the so emotive vocals by Stevie combined with the ooh-ooh harmonies of Lindsey and Christine, what a classic song this truly is!

Let's hope it will be revived for the band's next world tour!! :) :)

Greetings,

Marcel.

[Gypsy-Rhiannon]

I love Fireflies!!! But it has been performed live on the Tusk tour. You can hear it on the 1980 live album

Pip

[David]

Originally posted by Gypsy-Rhiannon
I love Fireflies!!! But it has been performed live on the Tusk tour.
Hi, Pip!

Those 3 songs (Fireflies, One More Night, Farmer's Daughter) weren't really played for a paying audience on that tour. The album is really unclear about that: it just says they were recorded at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (a dinky little place) for crew & friends. If I just guessed, I'd say it was a rehearsal for the last leg of the tour, the month of shows they began in August 1980. In fact, I think that it was dated on one of the lists Marty got from Warner Bros. on a video vault list. I can't remember what it said, but I think it was some point that summer of 1980, which might indicate it was some sort of rehearsal -- maybe a dress rehearsal, if friends of the band were around to applaud. Plus, Stevie's voice sounds late Tusk tour to me (June, July or August 1980).

[Gypsy-Rhiannon]

Those 3 songs (Fireflies, One More Night, Farmer's Daughter) weren't really played for a paying audience on that tour. The album is really unclear about that: it just says they were recorded at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (a dinky little place) for crew & friends. If I just guessed, I'd say it was a rehearsal for the last leg of the tour, the month of shows they began in August 1980. In fact, I think that it was dated on one of the lists Marty got from Warner Bros. on a video vault list. I can't remember what it said, but I think it was some point that summer of 1980, which might indicate it was some sort of rehearsal -- maybe a dress rehearsal, if friends of the band were around to applaud. Plus, Stevie's voice sounds late Tusk tour to me (June, July or August 1980).

Thanks David....I didn;t realise it wasn't actually played on the tour

Pip

[iamstevienicks]

Are there studio versions of any 3 of those songs?

[rhiannon1119]

Fireflies is a great song! I really like it and am suprised it didn't make the new greatest hits package too.

:) Michelle

[chiliD]

Well, considering the amount of "sweetening" & additional recording done to the three "new" songs on the Live album, you could almost consider them to be "studio recordings"...only the "basic" tracks were done "live" at the SMCA.

[AliP]

I love Fireflies! It's one of my all time favorites! Even though it was written by Stevie I see it as more of their "anthem" song than any other, even "The Chain." I'm hugely disappointed that it didn't make it onto the new greatest hits package. :(

[wondergirl9847]

I LOVE Fireflies...great song!! What a great way to put their sitch in a song...love how she put long distance winners in there!! COOLNESS! In the drama of the moment...can it BE any clearer!! LOL

[bjk3047]

Interesting little tidbit:
They actually performed Fireflies more than once. Probably at the Civic Center as one of a possible many takes, I discovered another version on (the now defunct) AudioGalaxy. There are very subtle differences, but you can definately tell that it's not the album take.
-Brian

[chiliD]

The 45 & the album are different mixes of the same track. Some of the vocal parts are mixed a bit different (or mixed OUT altogether), the 45 mix fades out instead of ending, etc.

[SmthngOfADreamr]

Originally posted by thewhitewingedd
Yeah..I have a different version of FIREFLIES too...I have had it for years actually...It was labeled as a "STUDIO OUTTAKE"....I left it as that, But who knows where its from...I'm sure its not the one from LIVE 80...How do I know this you ask???...Well the first line where it says "To be the last to leave"...And further down where it says "To be the last to be gone"....Lindsey sings that himself. Also the way that Stevie sings it is kind of different as well...I believe the lyrics are slightly different towards the end...Its not perfect sound but over all not too bad.... :)

Adam


I have this same version that you're describing but it was labeled as "DEMO." It's not bad but the album version is much better. I also have the actual 45 and it is different mix as well, so I guess all together there are three versions.

[David]

Originally posted by SmthngOfADreamr
I have this same version that you're describing but it was labeled as "DEMO." It's not bad but the album version is much better. I also have the actual 45 and it is different mix as well, so I guess all together there are three versions.
There is no demo of "Fireflies" in circulation. All the various versions were recorded at the same time -- Santa Monica Civic, according to the liner notes -- whatever that event actually was (I happen to think it was a rehearsal but we are all welcome to our own little fictions).

I'm listening to a couple of different versions now: the lead vocal on each is as similar to the other as you would expect if Stevie & the band had played it once through & then played it again. One interesting difference I notice is that Christine seemed to be experimenting with instrumentation: on two performances, she's playing only an acoustic piano, while on the album cut & the single mix of the album cut she is playing the B3.

[CarneVaca]

I thought Brian Wilson wrote that song, no?

[Gypsy-Rhiannon]

Stevie wrote Fireflies....Brian wrote Farmers Daughter


Pip

[CarneVaca]

Ah, OK. My memory isn't what it used to be. The old Carne brain has slowed a bit.

[Gypsy-Rhiannon]

Ah, OK. My memory isn't what it used to be. The old Carne brain has slowed a bit.

Ah....it is all downhill from here... ;)

Pip

[celestenadia]

Alway loved this one...Have both the LP and 45 versions....I love the "long distance
winner" reference and harmony:wavey:

[Rumours]

Almost a breakdown
Of our love affair
The stiletto cuts quick
Like a whip through the air
Long distance winners
Will we survive the flight
Not one of us runs
From the firelight......

To be the last to leave
What caused the fearsome
Divorce in the night
There was no competition
Well to survive do it right
And you believe in the five
To survive the distance
Everyone fights
Everyone fights
And the fire flies........

Two favorite parts!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this song!!!! I agree--very much their story!!

How can I get ahold of these other two versions???????

Stephanie

[celestenadia]

Hello. When I said LP, I meant the standard, old-fashioned,scratch-laden,
double live album that I've owned since it came out like 20 years ago!:laugh:
The 45 record I have is just as old and it's just a little different remix/edit:p
celestenadia

[McLamb]

"Fireflies" is perhaps my favorite Stevie song. Very happy it'll have a place on the upcoming 50 Years -- Don't Stop release.