Aurora Borealis
W. J. Henze Lyrics

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(C.W. McCall, Bill Fries, Chip Davis)

One night last summer we were camped at ten thousand feet up where the air is clear, high in the Rockies of Lost Lake, Colorado. And as the fire burned low and only a few glowing embers remained, we laid on our backs all warm in our sleeping bags and looked up at the stars.

And as I felt myself falling into the vastness of the Universe, I thought about things, and places, and times.

I thought about the time my grandma told me what to say when I saw the evening star. You know, Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.

The air is crystal-clear up here; that's why you can see a million stars.

I remember a time a bunch of us were in a canyon of the Green River in Wyoming; it was a night like this. And we had our rafts pulled up on the bank an' turned over so we could sleep on 'em, and one of the guys from New York said, "Hey! Look at the smog in the sky! Smog clear out here in the sticks!" And somebody said, "Hey, Joe, that's not smog; that's the Milky Way."

Joe had never seen the Milky Way.

And we saw the Northern Lights once, in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana. They're like flames from some prehistoric campfire, leaping and dancing in the sky and changing colors. Red to gold, and blue to violet... Aurora Borealis. It's like the equinox, the changing of the seasons. Summer to fall, young to old, then to now. And then tomorrow...

Overall Meaning

The song "Aurora Borealis" is a reflective piece that describes the beauty of the night sky as experienced by the singer in various locations. The story begins with a memory of camping at high altitude in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, where the singer lies on their back to stare up at the stars. As they allow themselves to feel the vast expanse of the universe, their thoughts wander to past experiences, particularly the times when they saw something particularly remarkable in the sky. They recall the advice their grandmother gave them about wishing on the first star they see each evening.

The second memory is of a time spent in a canyon of the Green River in Wyoming. There, a group of people had pulled their rafts up to the bank to sleep under the stars. One of them, a man from New York, mistook the Milky Way for smog, not realizing how clear the sky could be in more remote areas. The final memory is of seeing the Northern Lights in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana. The Aurora Borealis is described as resembling "flames from some prehistoric campfire," and as "leaping and dancing in the sky and changing colors." The changing colors of the aurora are likened to the changing of seasons, and to the passage of time itself.

Throughout the lyrics, the singer muses on the connection between memories and the stars, noting that memories are like starlight in that they "go on forever."

Overall, the song is a beautiful meditation on the transcendence of nature and the vastness of the universe, as well as on the enduring nature of memories.

Line by Line Meaning

One night last summer we were camped at ten thousand feet up where the air is clear, high in the Rockies of Lost Lake, Colorado.
The singer and companions were camping on the Rockies at a high altitude near Lost Lake in Colorado, during a summer night when the air was clear.

And as the fire burned low and only a few glowing embers remained, we laid on our backs all warm in our sleeping bags and looked up at the stars.
As the campfire burned out and only some glowing embers were left, the singer and companions lay in their sleeping bags, feeling warm, and gazed at the stars.

And as I felt myself falling into the vastness of the Universe, I thought about things, and places, and times.
While lying there, the singer felt as if they were being absorbed into the enormity of the Universe, and they pondered on things, locations, and times.

I thought about the time my grandma told me what to say when I saw the evening star. You know, Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.
The artist remembered when their grandma told them a rhyme to utter upon seeing the first evening star, hoping that they would get their wish.

The air is crystal-clear up here; that's why you can see a million stars.
The air was pristine at the location where the artist and companions were camping, allowing them to observe an extensive number of stars.

I remember a time a bunch of us were in a canyon of the Green River in Wyoming; it was a night like this. And we had our rafts pulled up on the bank an' turned over so we could sleep on 'em, and one of the guys from New York said, "Hey! Look at the smog in the sky! Smog clear out here in the sticks!" And somebody said, "Hey, Joe, that's not smog; that's the Milky Way." Joe had never seen the Milky Way.
The singer recalled a night like this, when they were in a Wyoming canyon with a group of people, and they slept on their upturned rafts. One of the companions mistook the Milky Way for smog, and Joe, from New York, had never seen it before.

And we saw the Northern Lights once, in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana. They're like flames from some prehistoric campfire, leaping and dancing in the sky and changing colors. Red to gold, and blue to violet... Aurora Borealis. It's like the equinox, the changing of the seasons. Summer to fall, young to old, then to now. And then tomorrow...
The group had a sighting of the Northern Lights in Montana, where the lights looked like ancient campfire flames, shifting colors in hues of red, gold, blue and violet, and resembling the equinox, signifying the passing of time and seasons from summer to fall, youth to old age, and the present to the future.

And then everyone was asleep, except me. And as I saw the morning star come up over the mountains, I realized that life is just a collection of memories. And memories are like starlight: they go on forever.
Once everyone was asleep, except for the artist, they observed the morning star ascending above the mountains and realized that life is essentially a reflection of memories. Memories are akin to the light from stars that never fades away.

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: CURT KIRKWOOD

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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