In a Facebook post that's gone viral, Young said that he was "the recipient of 1,000 hugs from 10,000 lightning bugs for a grand total of 10,000,000 hugs."
"As the lyrics of the song clearly state, the average layperson would not believe their eyes if 10,000,000 fireflies were to illuminate planet Earth, nor would the average person conclude by natural instinct that 10,000 lightning bugs, acting as a collective group, are capable of embracing a human being 1,000 times without difficulty," he said.
"By the same token, a gathering of lightning bugs in such vast numbers form a sort of 'swarm,'" the singer further clarified. "And a swarm can collectively surround a human and deliver a 'hug' that a single firefly, acting according to the dictates of his own conscience, simply cannot."
Young acknowledged that this "may seem inconceivable due to the firefly’s soft-shelled body, which is common among all winged beetles within the Lampyridae insect family," but that he "can testify to the accuracy of this exchange."
"I can furthermore add that while each individual hug took place, each firefly participated in the chemical reaction commonly known as bioluminescence in which the enzymes within the firefly, in the presence of oxygen, magnesium ions and ATP, emitted a chemically produced light or 'glow' because they were happy to be hugging me," Young concluded, along with a reminder to stream the song on Apple Music and Spotify.