Saturday, 1 April 2023

Just like a dream

 I had such a lovely dream last night I hope you won't mind if I share it here.  Because it featured Robert Smith*!

Before you ask – no, it wasn’t that kind of dream.  But it was incredibly feelgood, and there is nothing quite like waking up after having a particularly pleasant dream, instead of either just a nonsense one, or worse - an unsettling or frightening one.  The emotions we feel in our more vivid reveries often seem to linger on the following day, just like an actual experience would and again, much like in real life, there’s great pleasure to be had in actively revisiting the good ones in our minds to keep those feelings alive.

So, in the dream, Robert Smith was a lovely old pal from my college days.  And I was back at some art school, within a big campus area, walking about in the sunshine waiting to meet up with some mates and go to a gig, when this (young) Robert appeared out of the blue.  He just put his arm around my shoulder as he fell into step with me and a warm, easy, lovely conversation ensued throughout the rest of this sweet unconscious flight of fancy as we wandered around together on a soft Summery day.  There was music as well – meeting up with the DJ who was going to do the set before the gig and who played us a few previews of his record choices, all of which were completely imagined and yet I heard them vividly, as real songs.  I wish I could recall the tunes, they were good; I remember lots of fuzzy guitars and a lively bass.  Do you ever dream up music in your sleep too?  If only we could record it!

“I’m definitely going to treat myself to Three Imaginary Boys”, I announced as I remembered the dream this morning (and then giggled at the ambiguity of what I'd just said…)     But it was just that I had bought and loved TIB soon after it was released many years ago and, somehow, like many other albums I’d owned in my teens, it had been replaced by something else I’d subsequently decided I’d listen to more.   Now I have a hanker to own it again and to keep it forever this time.  I find myself doing this more and more with the music I loved so much in my formative years but later let go.  As has often been said I’m sure, it goes much deeper than just the music - it’s about the feel of the time, the associations, youthful memories, identity, growing up… so much more, all of this wrapped up in 12” of vinyl and some idiosyncratic cover art.   

Anyway, thanks Robert, for inadvertently turning up in my head last night and being one imaginary boy in that dream.  It really was lovely to see you!


The Cure: 10.15 Saturday Night

 *I know why he featured – we’d been watching a repeat of ToTP in the evening on which he was playing keyboards with Siouxsie & the Banshees for ‘Swimming Horses’ (excellent to see again).  Plus just a few days beforehand Martin had posted the perennially charming Love Cats on his excellent blog…

15 comments:

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    1. We do! If only we could plug in a lead and download those dream tunes. You'd have liked them, I'm sure!

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    2. I think your dream may have penetrated my own. I had one last night, the only detail of which I can remember is that at one point I was looking at the track listing on an album cover. One of the tracks was called "I Am A Tin Lawyer". Does that sound like it could be one of your tunes?

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    3. Ah, so funny - who on earth could the artist have been? I'm intrigued now, we need to know the rest of the album - sounds a bit avant garde art rock to me. Carry on dreaming, we want more!

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  2. This is excellent dreamwork. Did the campus feel familiar or was it, like the three boys, imaginary?

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    1. It was excellent, I could do with some more like that. And it was a mash-up campus!

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  3. I can't say I've ever composed songs in my sleep, but I have had dreams of hanging out with pop stars... though I can't remember which ones now. Springsteen definitely.

    Rebuying the music of my youth that I no longer own is an ongoing obsession...

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    1. Hanging out with Springsteen? Sounds like that was a good one for you!
      Must've said it before I'm sure but it'd be a hell of a trip to see everything we'd ever bought music-wise all in one place. There would be many I've since forgotten. But the really good ones always resurface...

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  4. I wish I could remember my dreams but despite being a really light sleeper and dreaming many dreams in the course of a night, the minute I wake up they've gone, poof...

    That sounds like a great one and I'm with you re the music from our past. The older I get it means so much more than just the music, it's all about the memories of who were with at the time, what we were doing and how we felt. More powerful than just about anything else - why our local HMV is chockablock with re-released vinyl albums now and full of middle-aged buyers reliving their youth!

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    1. Very rich middle-aged buyers given the prices HMV charge!

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    2. I wonder if there are any tricks you can try to help remember your dreams? If I go over them in my head as soon as I wake from them it kinda seals them in my memory for longer. This one is still very vivid now just having written about it too.

      There's so much tied up in music as you say; I don't think anything else has quite the same power, no wonder it keeps us coming back. But as CC says, we have to pay a lot more for the privilege now!

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  5. I love the Cure. They did not stay in their musical lane. Love Cats is one of the best of 80's singles in my umble opinion.

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    1. Yes, so true, they've continually evolved - agreed too about Love Cats. Plus it could be prescribed as a happiness treatment.

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  6. I was sure I’d commented on this when the post appeared, but no sign. Was it a dream?!

    What a lovely post, C. My last campus inspired dream was directly inspired by David Berne’s How Music Works and tales of his uni days with Chris and Tina. Again, the dream landscape and population were completely imaginary but so vivid. Annoyingly, I can often feel myself waking up before a dream is over; very occasionally, I can step back into it and pick up where I left off. More often, it’s more like Alyson’s experience, whoosh and it’s gone.

    A real amateur hack, I used to have a dictaphone to capture fleeting thoughts and impressions of my dreams. Although smart phones and voice notes have arguably made this a lot easier, I haven’t done that for years!!

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    1. Thanks Khayem, I haven't seen an earlier comment so maybe you did dream it! Or maybe this is the dream?!
      It's a fascinating subject and I too have occasionally had that experience of stirring from a dream and then being able to return to it - as long as it's one I want to carry on, of course...
      I love the idea of your dictaphone dream recorder - probably not so much appreciated by anyone sharing the bed though!

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