“Alligator Sky”: An Imaginative Expedition of Song

Owl City, the electronica music band, is a one man band of singer/songwriter Adam Young. He solely creates a sound that rings with life and optimism using various electronic instruments. Young sings in his new song, “Alligator Sky,” featuring rapper Shawn Christopher,   “Where was I when the rockets came to life / And carried you away into the alligator sky.” It is a song about leaving earth and the feelings and thoughts the singers feel as they are about to depart. This song is the first single from Young’s most recent album, “All Things Bright and Beautiful.” The album came out in June 14^th of this year, ranked number six on the Billboard 200 chart according to Billboard.com and received over 30,000 likes on Youtube. The music video and lyrics of “Alligator Sky” tell a tale that is courageous, imaginative, and vivid, but some of the lyrics are vague and confusing.
The song “Alligator Sky” is well written and entertaining, but there is also a much deeper meaning as Young shares in his “Track By Track” video:

It’s ironically about a lot of things but consolidated into one idea which is: there’s a lot  of weird things in this life that are impossible to explain and there are a lot of good and bad things that are coming your way for everybody and it is impossible to predict any of these things. So, in my opinion all the more reason to wake up every morning and take it head on and just put your back into meeting these “whatevers”—whatever is coming at you—and meeting those with optimism and kind of a healthy aggression. It’s kind of just a commentary about how healthy it is to expect the unexpected.

Young’s mindset of the song is very evident in the lyrics, “Even though I’ll never know what’s up ahead / I’m never letting go / I’m never letting go.” These words encourage anyone facing unsure circumstances to meet them “head on” as Young mentioned. In a world with so much negativity and uncertainty, music with this kind of courageous mindset is very important.

“Alligator Sky” is made up of imaginative and rich lyrics. In the song Chrystopher raps the words, “Uh uh that’s not a plane, that's me / I'm sitting where I'm supposed to / Floating on a cloud, can't nobody come close to.” Here Young uses rhyming, a popular tool in song writing, to keep his listeners engaged. What is unique about Young’s song is the way he employs careful wording to evoke imagery. For instance here is another verse from the song, “The concrete and the sky switch places / So now my ceiling is painted with cosmic spaces / Firecracker to the moon, keep your eyes shut / Blasting off like a rocket from the ground up.” While Young could have simply stated, “my ceiling is the sky” this would have not have been nearly as imaginative or descriptive. Instead he writes, “The concrete and the sky switched places / So now my ceiling is painted with cosmic spaces.” The reference to something we are very familiar with, concrete, brings to mind the color grey and rugged texture. In contrast, he writes of “cosmic spaces,” something that is slightly mysterious and fills the mind with colorful galaxies and glittering stars. He brings us back down to earth with his mention of firecrackers, a word which explodes into the mind with color; then his comment about the moon brings to mind a peaceful image of a glowing white orb. Throughout the song, Young contrasts the earthly and the otherworldly to take us on an mental trip through space. This imaginative and vivid way of employing lyrical phrasing holds the listeners attention and keeps them involved.

The music video is also very consistent with the song’s imaginative and courageous lyrics. “Alligator Sky” begins with Young and Chrystopher, as they take one last walk on Earth dressed in space suites. Chrystopher walks through the aftermath of a Farewell Party to earth. The city streets are cluttered with confetti. Steamers and balloons hang from the lampposts and a large banner hangs over the street that reads, “Farewell Earth!” The headlines of newspapers read, “Memories of Earth”, “1 Million Gather in New York,” and “Bon Voyage.” Meanwhile, Young gathers mementos of the world he is about to leave behind, such as a sample of dirt, and video recordings of the beautiful landscape to add to a series of tapes known as “The Earth Archive.” After saying their farewells to their planet, Young and Christopher take off in a rocket. The fact that Young and Chrystopher’s are embarking to a destination that is left unknown gives the audience the impression that Young and Chrystopher are being courageous. This is good because it is consistent with the song’s lyrics and seeing courage in the face of the unknown encourages listeners to likewise respond to the unknown challenges in their lives. The scenes of Young gathering mementos of earth and Chrystopher walking through the colorfully cluttered city streets like the lyrics of the song are very imaginative and colorful.

However, a few of the phrases such as, “Now I taxi satellites on the runway fly” or the title itself, “Alligator Sky” seem rather vague. However, Young admits in his “Track by Track” video that though the two words “Alligator” and “Sky” do not seem to go together, he did this intentionally because he thought the title creates a lot of imagery and sparks curiosity in the listener. While some of the lyrics may be confusing, this was done for stylistic reasons and is in no way an error on the part of the songwriter.

In conclusion, Owl City’s song “Alligator Sky,” and its accompanying music video tell a tale of courage using imaginative phrases and vivid imagery. Though the lyrics may sometimes be vague, this was done intentionally by Young to arouse curiosity and mental images in the minds of the audience. Overall, “Alligator Sky” is an outstanding piece of music, with an outstanding music video, loved by many people.