Sometimes at night fireflies light up; and so we catch them and put them in… Read Full Bio ↴Sometimes at night fireflies light up; and so we catch them and put them in a jar. Living beings they are, and lamps they become until they burn out and die. They serve one purpose--to entertain. A song holds within itself a certain power of the same measure. When it is created, it holds captive the thoughts and ideas, emotions and inner turmoil of its creator...over time the song grows and evolves, and though it may mean different things to different people, its final end is to give the listener pleasure. And so, here you are---my jar of fireflies.

"Invisible War" is my first jar...a collection of some of the first fireflies I ever caught; mostly they were just sprouting their wings in that time, learning all about life, exploring the world, and frolicking about with me in fascinating places like Mongolia, where I lived until I was eight. Really I caught the first specimen in this particular jar when I was fifteen--"Song of the Open Road"--based on the Whitman poem of the same name.

Now, at 20, I'm always chasing around a few fireflies at a time, attempting to master the art of capturing the most elaborate creatures. The idea is that the better the creature, the longer it will stay alive and the brighter its light will shine. We need bright light, see, because it's dark sometimes, very dark.

I have dreams about how the world should be. Indeed we live in a place which was meant to be beautiful; though we oftentimes ruin it ourselves by default. In science there is the idea of entropy--the tendency of things toward disorder. If a vase is sitting on a little table, it's quite probable that it could fall off and shatter into a hundred pieces, if not rather unlikely that all those pieces would jump back together again and shape themselves once again into a beautiful vase--unless of course someone worked very hard to glue it all back together into something new and different.

Unfortunately the implications of this in real life are much more complicated than a single vase shattering to the ground. We see natural disasters that destroy and reshape lives; wars, rumors of wars that create tension and dissension between people groups; poverty, disease, starvation, and everything that lies between.

These are the things which burden my heart, and the things which I've always felt compelled to express through my music. If all I do in life is shine a little light into the dark spaces of the world, my time on earth will certainly not have been wasted.

So I catch firefies.

Victory
Merry Ellen Kirk Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

There's a light beam
Coming from the chimney
And the chimney sweep said that
You were the one that I always wanted
And how could I forget that?

There's a symphony
Coming down the railway

And it seems to be moving
Quite slowly.

Victory, will you sing a song for me?
Cause I've been waiting far too long to be with you

Rollercoaster
Of a frequented memory
But I'm sure
I'm over that now

Victory, will you sing a song for me?
Cause I've been waiting far too long to be with you

Victory, can you sing a song for me?
Cause I've been waiting far too long to be with you

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Merry Ellen Kirk's "Victory" describe the excited and anxious feelings of longing for someone. The first two lines of the song describe a light beam shining through the chimney, which could symbolize a metaphorical light at the end of a tunnel, or the hope that the singer has for being reunited with someone they have been apart from. The singer then mentions a chimney sweep, indicating that the setting of the song is in a city. The chimney sweep tells the singer that the person they have been wanting is the one that they have always wanted.

The second verse describes a symphony moving slowly down a railway. This line could symbolize the slow, steady march of life or the hope that the singer has that they will eventually be reunited with their love. The chorus repeats the same lines twice, with the singer asking Victory to sing a song for them because they have been waiting for far too long to be with their love. The line about the rollercoaster of a frequented memory indicates that the singer has been through a lot of ups and downs with this person in the past, but they feel confident that they are over it now.

Overall, "Victory" is a song about hope and longing for someone that the singer has been separated from. The lyrics convey the excited yet anxious emotions that come with wanting to be reunited with a loved one.

Line by Line Meaning

There's a light beam
A glimmer of hope or possibility

Coming from the chimney
Something unexpected or unconventional

And the chimney sweep said that
Hearing the truth from an unlikely source

You were the one that I always wanted
Discovering true love or desire

And how could I forget that?
Reflecting on missed opportunities or regrets

There's a symphony
A moment of beauty or greatness

Coming down the railway
Destiny or fate approaching

And it seems to be moving
Slow progress or anticipation

Quite slowly
Patience or uncertainty

Victory, will you sing a song for me?
Asking for a celebration or acknowledgement

Cause I've been waiting far too long to be with you
Expressing eagerness or a longing for connection