You were here, now you're gone
You were a dream, now you're a song
Sometimes it's a nightmare
Sometimes you're walking on air
But you can be anything you want
When you're here
Yes you can be anything that you want
'Cause you're a shining light, you're a shining light
Everybody that you know is a shinning light
Except Fred
Something's wrong with Fred
Yes you're a shining light, you're a shining light
Everybody on the planet is a shining light
Except Fred
Something's wrong with Fred
With a splash, they drain out all the color
In a flash, a ball of light in the dark
Sometimes it's a dead stare
Sometimes a scream in an ear
But you can be anything you want
When you're here
Yes you can be anything that you want
'Cause you're a shining light, you're a shining light
Everybody that you know is a shinning light
Except Fred
Something's wrong with Fred
Yes you're a shining light, you're a shining light
Everybody and they're brother is a shining light
Except Fred
Something's wrong with Fred
Yes you're a shining light, you're a shining light
Every stupid motherfucker is a shining light
Except Fred
I wish Fred was dead
Instead of you
You're a shining light
You were a dream, now you're a song
Sometimes it's a nightmare
Sometimes you're walking on air
But you can be anything you want
When you're here
Yes you can be anything that you want
'Cause you're a shining light, you're a shining light
Everybody that you know is a shinning light
Except Fred
Something's wrong with Fred
Yes you're a shining light, you're a shining light
Everybody on the planet is a shining light
Except Fred
Something's wrong with Fred
With a splash, they drain out all the color
In a flash, a ball of light in the dark
Sometimes it's a dead stare
Sometimes a scream in an ear
But you can be anything you want
When you're here
Yes you can be anything that you want
'Cause you're a shining light, you're a shining light
Everybody that you know is a shinning light
Except Fred
Something's wrong with Fred
Yes you're a shining light, you're a shining light
Everybody and they're brother is a shining light
Except Fred
Something's wrong with Fred
Yes you're a shining light, you're a shining light
Every stupid motherfucker is a shining light
Except Fred
I wish Fred was dead
Instead of you
You're a shining light
"There's many great songs that I love about the inner light or eternal beauty of the human soul. Often these songs go on about how this "spirit" is separate from our way too mortal flesh, and that this light is eternal. The usual assumption is that we all have this light. Well, I'm poetically attracted to that sentiment. Unfortunately I have a hard time believing it completely. At least in a universal sense.
On a personal level I've had friends and family members, some dead, some living, who I believe indeed do or did have a transcendent nature. A power or energy that somehow lasts beyond grave. At least it feels that way to me about these specific people in my life. But at the same time there's some other people, not many but some, (psychopaths? politicians? tv lawyers?) who simply don't have that "shining light" within them. At all. This song is about the fact that we don't feel the same way about everyone. An there's nothing wrong with that as far as I'm concerned."
-Barney, 2021
On a personal level I've had friends and family members, some dead, some living, who I believe indeed do or did have a transcendent nature. A power or energy that somehow lasts beyond grave. At least it feels that way to me about these specific people in my life. But at the same time there's some other people, not many but some, (psychopaths? politicians? tv lawyers?) who simply don't have that "shining light" within them. At all. This song is about the fact that we don't feel the same way about everyone. An there's nothing wrong with that as far as I'm concerned."
-Barney, 2021