Every morning I wake up to music—not on a radio alarm clock, but in my head. I started noticing this years ago, and earlier this month I decided to start writing down the songs.
I’m interested to see if any patterns emerge. Will they tend to be songs with dreamlike imagery? Will Norah Jones be over-represented? How long will it take for the Beastie Boys, a decidedly non-somnolent band, to join my dawn chorus?
Here’s my list for September:
3 “Rain” by Patti Griffin
4 “You Remind Me of Home” by Benjamin Gibbard
5 Can’t remember
6 A few chords from “Little Wing” by Jimi Hendrix—I was dreaming I was teaching.
7 Can’t remember
8 “Today” by The New Christy Minstrels
9 “Above the Clouds” by Turin Breaks
10 “Pushover” by The Long Winters
11 “Rain” by Patti Griffin ***A repeat! And it rained two days later! Freaky!***
12 Can’t remember
13 “Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service
14 Can’t remember
15 “Thrasher” by Neil Young
16 Can’t remember
17 “Stormy Monday” by T-Bone Walker
18 “Amsterdam” by Guster
19 Can’t remember*
20 Some 12-bar blues song with electric slide guitar—something I was making up on the spot. Too bad you can’t record these things. I’ve always wanted to compose in my dreams.
21 “Over & Over” by Turin Brakes
22 “Valencia” by The Decemberists
23 “This Old Town” by Tom Petty
24 “Better Be Quiet Now” by Elliott Smith
25 Can’t remember
26 Fingerstyle 12-bar blues in E
27 Can’t remember
28 Can’t remember
29 “Carolyn” (an original)
30 Can’t remember
31 More 12-bar blues in E—guess what I’ve been playing every night this past week before I go to bed.
*There seems to be a correlation between waking up to my girlfriend’s clock radio and not being able to remember the songs in my head. Either it’s so damn early (she has to get to work by 8:30! In the MORNING!) that I’m not in REM sleep, or the songs on KEXP are scaring away my little musical dream.
Comments 7
ok, i’ve spent a good deal of time analyzing this array of dreams (ok, maybe a couple of minutes) and i think there is a link – maybe a hidden message from your subconcience-
” you like the RAIN cause it reminds you of HOME, and you’re worried that you CANT REMEMBER all the CHORDS FROM “LITTLE WING”, and there’s something you CAN’T REMEMBER about TODAY, but it’s just ABOVE THE CLOUDS, and you’re no PUSHOVER, so the RAIN and that guy’s name you CANT REMEMBER ain’t gonna make you stop reading THRASHER, and even if you CAN”T REMEMBER, this ain’t gonna be no STORMY MONDAY.”………..or something like that 🙂
I only have music nightmares and it’s the same one every night: The Final Countdown, by Europe.
The horror!
hi – i just discovered this website by accident looking for somewhere that would play Neil Young’s Thrasher. There were some comments about the song back in Feb. Like you i’d never heard that fine song til recently. I first heard it sung by Stephen Fearing. i dont know if he gets a mention anywhere on your site, but what a great version of Thrasher.. check it out… & the rest of his stuff too.. a brilliant guitar player..
Great site btw – i’ve bookmarked it & will be here regularly from now… 🙂
Cool, Al! I’ll check it out. Glad you found my site.
I do the same thing but it is always very visual too. I hear and see my fingers playing the song or usually a passage of a song over and over and over! But it is always something different and not necessarily something I am trying to learn
I thought I was the only one that dream composed!