TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

As I was falling in and out of sleep this morning, I was doing a fair bit of dreaming.  And I dreamed a song.  I was in a studio, listening to a playback, and my old pal Ed had added this cool harmony part, and then I woke up.  Enough of the song was still going around my head, so I forced myself to stumble downstairs, pick up the guitar and work out the chords for two song bits (it still needs a third - don't know if I lost this en route, or whether I hadn't dreamed the whole thing).  Small fragment of a lyric intact too.  It's no blockbuster, but it has a nice vibe, and there's enough there for me to work with.

Pretty cool though.  I can't recall ever dreaming a song before.  Has anyone else done this?  I know Paul McCartney and David Crosby have both done it (I think their songs may have been a tad better than mine!), but has anyone here done it?

Jules

"Small fragment of a lyric intact too"

Not 'woke up this morning' is it, Jules?  Or even 'woke up, fell out of bed' - just might have been done before...  ;)

As for the missing bit - go in search of the lost chord halfway up the stairs perhaps?

Someone's being very silly.

One bath later, and I fear that the subtle nuances of the melody are fading from memory a little.  Should have used a Dictaphone, dammit.

Jules

Back when I used to write (which is a very long time ago now. I am 20 years into a fit of writer's block!), this used to happen to me quite a lot. I could never reproduce the songs in the flesh as good as they sounded in the dreams though.

I do still dream songs occasionally but I always lose them by the time I wake up now. A few weeks ago there was one which I remember from the dream sounded magnificent and catchy as hell. It had hit written all over it. Like your dream it was a recording session. By the time I woke up there was nothing of it left in my head. The dream though had been so vivid that I felt completely deflated not to be able to recall the song.

Scrambled eggs, oh my baby how I love your legs...

I once dreamt an entire Roy Harper album!

I've managed to dream a couple of songs over the years but never written them down foolishly so they were lost. Next time I will endeavour to go grab the guitar. I'm pretty sure they were quite good but I guess we'll never know!

Peter

I've only managed to dream about buying a Roy Harper album.  It took me years to find it, and I really did dream about it.

Jules

I have a guitar right next to our bed, ready for instant use.

Let's hope you don't dream a song and wake up at an antisocial hour then!   ;)

Jules

I have on a couple of occasions dreamed a song, but I haven't been able to recall much about it on waking.

Mostly I write songs on guitar, and the melody comes second to whatever chords I'm messing about with. I'm always suspicious when a melody pops into my head 'full formed', that I've subconsciously plagiarised something. I only write for my own amusement (and my better half's annoyance) so it doesn't really matter I guess.

I've dreamed stories before, or at least the essence of them. Then written them down later. It works, but I guess songs are a bit different.

That's a gift I'd like.  I've tried to write fiction before but I never have a story to tell.

Jules

I've had many dreams in which I'm playing in a band - Fairport, Floyd and Zappa included - with the plot line being, 'Oh no! Peggy/Roger/Roy/Max/Jeff/Jim/Dave/Tom/Patrick/Arthur/Scott have sprained a wrist - is there a bassist in the house ?' 'Erm....welllll....I've dabbled a bit but.....' 'Great you're in!' and I'm up on stage and the music is most definitely THEM but it's nothing I've heard before in my life, those are interesting.*

But I found that my most creative moment was just after waking up, which takes me a while, usually in the bathroom brushing my teeth when a song, a short story, part of a novel, a sketch or a poem would pop into my head in a complete finished form. The songs would have sax solos and backing vocals and everything, trying to remember all that was a nightmare.

* there have been two Cropredy related mini movies too, which I've often thought about starting a thread for.