DreamsDreamedUs

Where do I begin?
How was it now that you first let me in?
Behind everything in the world
that is born
consciencness dreams, waiting to take form.
And who first cast the spell?
Drawing the sleeper
up from the wishing well?
For I am haunted by a thousand things
that falling awake
into life brings
.
There is always a happiness
that makes the heart afraid
always some river we must ford.
Without the stones you know
that line a riverbed
its stories left unsaid
its undercurrents underfed.
And I know why the caged birds sing
the song is everything
long after our prisons are dust
conceived in th moments it seems
when maybe our dreams dreamed us.

Where do I begin?
How was it now
that I first let you in?
Sleepy head on a pillow
I reached to pull you near
but sometimes we're to close
to see it all clear.
And so we play the part
everybody plays whatever is written
in their hearts
Are all our dreams the means
to even out the score
of all the things we want
and what we settle for?

There are tales within tales
that do not further the plot
parts we thought
were sleeping but they're not
Just take the darkness there
and turn it inside out
the stars that shine through out
just the brilliance
of our doubts.
And I know why
Alice had to pass
through the looking glass
reflections never justify the means
conceived in the moments
it seems, when maybe
our dreams dreamed us.

Doc's Notes:

Everyone dreams. Some people remember their dreams and some do not, but we all dream. The passions of wonder and awe are natural to the human heart. The universe dreams too. We're in the grip of it's enormous teachings which seem to operate in an essentially random way. We're living an ideology thats invisible to us because we are inside of it.

This is perhaps one of the oldest elements from countless mythologies all over the world, that the Gods dreamed everything into existence. All that we know may simply be a dream within a dream... within a dream.....

This is a song which goes back to 1987 and the apartment Peggy and I lived in on Locust street in Warwick, New York. I remember doing the dishes in the kitchen one day. It's funny when and how inspiration comes upon you. I remember that my hands were too wet and soapy to write anything down so I just kept singing this idea I was getting over and over, trying to memorize it until I could get to paper and pen later on. I was also in the process of reading one of Jane Robert's 'Seth' books and I was trying to incorporate some of it into the imagery of the song.

Of special interest is the choice to intentionally start the composition off with a snippet of a melody written by our good friend Steve Jordon. It was a tune from the very first song he ever wrote. It was written back in 1973 when he put music to a farewell poem I had written for him. I was in the process of leaving New Jersey and heading up to Michigan to play music with my high school buddy David Blottie.

I liked the idea of returning Steve the favor and coming around full circle. Mark helped to finis the song off and between us we came up with a version to put down on tape. It was a fairly rough version but we got the song worked out. Unfortunately, neither one of us found the opportunity to bring the song forward and finish it off correctly. And late on, in my move from New York to Tennessee I lost the tape.

So now we find ourselves in 2006 looking for some new material for our second CD. It just seemed like the right time to give the song one more chance to come alive. Mark and I pretty much had to reinvent the whole song form top to bottom but the essence of the song is beautifully intact and it all worked out for the better.

This is such an unassuming little sprig of a song and yet it seems to have everything thrown into it but the kitchen sink. I really like the whimsicality of it's overall sound. Bringing keyboards into the mix gave it a whole new texture. This song also highlights Marks exceptional talent for taking seemingly random elements and bringing them all together in a seamless fashion. It flows naturally and sounds simple but there is a lattice work of alternating dark and bright melody in his guitar work.

I believe if we had all of the elements in place in three or four takes. It seemed to all come together pretty fast for a funny little enigmatic wisp of a song..