Do you dream about music?

I've had so many similar experiences w/dream record-buying, and yeah, it's always stuff that just DOESN'T EXIST, dammit!

Remember yr Blue Oyster Cult cover at Purchase college? Still legendary.

x-post

Scott, you may be in troupble, mentally. I waited tables at Denny's for awhile, the graveyard shift, and after a month I dreamed about it every day while I slept. I went very much crazy shortly after. You should switch to CDs for awhile.

I have dreams about/with music all the time. Usually it's music that doesn't exist, but the other night I had a dream in which I heard the entirety of Jim O'Rourke's Eureka. I don't remember anything else about the dream, though.

I had a dream once where I was going to watch Slint practice. All the songs they played don't exist.

I had another dream once where I was going to see a show in somebody's basement in Louisville. A bunch of people I know from bands that actually existed were in this band that played the basement, and the music itself was really loud, noisey kind of hardcore or something. I think the dream was set in winter, I remember it being cold.

Sometimes I dream music that has nothing to do with any context of a band or anything, and I wonder if there's anyway I could write it down/record it in reality. I have similar dreams for other media: the other night I dreamt I wrote a book, kinda like a Catch-22-style parody of FBI agents, and in the dream I was acting out what happened in the book. Wish I had written that shit down.

-- hstencil (hstenci...), March 6th, 2003.

Heh.

lame, eh?

1.Dreamt that my dad's old high school buddy was none other than Blue Oyster Cult's Buck Dharma, and he came to our house for a visit. Naturally, he looked absolutely nothing like the real Buck, nor even like a 55-ish Buck with a beer gut. He told me about the new BOC song he'd just recorded: it was titled "Murder" and that was the only lyric! He showed me the lyric sheet, and sure enough it had nothing but the word "Murder." written about 50 times in paragraph form, always capitalized and always with the period. "Must've taken you a long time to write that one!" I kidded him. He told me that he'd only written the music, and that the lyric was written by Ray Milland! (A popular 1940s movie star, for you young people.)

2.I attended my 10th year high school reunion, and the band that was to play invited me to join 'em onstage for a song or two. Great! But one problem: by showtime, I found that I was completely naked! All I could do was crouch down in the extreme back of the stage, strategically using my guitar to "hide my shame". That was roughly my 763rd naked-in-public dream. [Hey, has anyone ever dreamed that they were at a nude beach, mortified to find themselves completely clothed? That would be a nice change...]

3.My co-worker and drinking buddy John - a big fan of The Who, in the dream as in real life - and myself were in the pub drinking. John was looking around, and realized to his amazement that Pete Townshend was sitting at the end of the bar! He pointed him out to me and decided "I gotta buy him a drink!" I said no, you can't, he's a recovering alcoholic. You might get him started drinking again. John said "You're right, but I sill wanna talk to him. I'll just tell him I'm a big fan, and that I WISHED I could've bought him a drink." So I said "Sure, tell him - I'll betcha he writes a rock opera about it!" Then I awoke and immediately laughed out loud. Definitely the greatest joke I ever made while sleeping. (Not that there's much competition.)

I had another one of those dreams last night. I was buying a bunch of techno 12"'s, and a couple of CD's. The store owner stepped out for a bit, and then this shady looking dude shows up, and through some sort of shady math, he rings up a bill of $17.11 for all my stuff. I gave him a $20, and he looked sort of dazed and walked away without giving me change, but I didn't care because the music was worth far more than that anyway. However, I did feel bad about kind of ripping the store off, so I quietly left the building and ran all the way home before the shop owner would return and correct the bill.
Waking up was actually a bit of a relief. Had all this been real, shame would have prevented me from going to that store for a while.

I've never seen the real cover...im sure it wont live up.

I blame ILX for polluting my dreams.

I also dreamed I was doing a session with the Detroit Emeralds, back when I was obsessed with their song "Whatcha Gonna Wear Tomorrow." It was note-for-note that song, and I had vivid images of the streets of Detroit in the dream too.

Strangely I don't even like Sonic Youth that much (their new album is good for nap time though)

Hahaha...brilliant!

Tubby remixing parts of the Wall? You have to have that dream again, and pay closer attention next time!

I will. :) The thing is, in the dream I was washing my car with The Wall blaring and I felt too embarrassed, you know people walking by going "what the fuck is he playing?", to pay much attention to the actual music.

Anybody have any more noteworthy music-dreams since June '04? I had a couple...

-Dreamed that Frank Zappa had recorded a concept album all about my grandmother! She'd've been 90 years old if she were alive.

-Came up with a weird song called "Townbeat", a word(?) which appeared in each verse in a different context, backed by a melody that was fairly close to "The Battle of New Orleans". The only stanza I can recall: They took the beat at Number 12 and carried on all night/That's the way it struggles when the Townbeat is alright". (Hey, Eno's lyric in "The True Wheel" came to him in a dream, didn't it?)

"Your ILM Dreams"

Just the other night, XTC reunion live in somebody's basement--even Terry Chambers!

(But I'm guessing every XTC freak has had this dream.)

I sometimes write songs in my sleep. I can remember them when I wake up. Unfortunately, they're always really cheesy progressive trance.

a couple of years ago i dreamt harry nilsson was chasing me through a shopping centre with the intention of murdering me

i think about this dream a lot

Earlier this year, I dreamed I was playing a show, but for some reason, none of my band could make it, so I had to play all the parts myself -- this included a lot of sax parts, drums, brass, etc. Ha, not sure why I had a "big band" in my dream, but I did, and then I proceeded to sing all the parts solo onstage, really getting into it, and to my ears it totally sounded like the real thing! When I finished, I got a lukewarm response, and I was pissed. "Are you people kidding me? That was great!" Then I woke up.

Last night, I dreamed that I went record shopping with Billie Eilish and Bob Dylan, after meeting up on a street corner as arranged. (At first, it was Bowie instead of Dylan; but somehow my dream realized I didn't care about Bowie, and adjusted midstream.)

Billie still had her green & black hairstyle, so it wasn't totally on point...

I had a dream that I'd come across some unknown private press psych folk band from the early 70s that had been part of a hippie commune. The band was called Namaste, I was going to try to talk to Byron Coley about putting it out.

i hear nonexistent music in my dreams often. a couple times per week, i'd say. some of it is very memorable and i've tried to recreate it in some of my music.

i've also seen king krule play live on an island in the middle of a manmade lake and the audience was made up of people in rowboats. archy marshall had a "comet effect" in his guitar, so every time he played a certain melodic phrase, two or three comets would fly past in the night sky. he also played a version of "if you want me to stay" (originally by sly + the family stone) where he was only accompanied by his bassist. no i don't usually remember my dreams in such details, but that one was pretty fantastic.

All the time. My favorite one that someone else posted to the TV Personalities list many years ago was that she and John Kerry were touring as members of the Zombies, and that Kerry was funny and cool but his demeanor more akin to Mike Pinder than one of the Zombies.

Likewise, I've dreamt of hearing previously unknown music from favorite bands, finding albums I didn't know existed, etc.

Once I dreamt I was on-stage and thinking, "When did I learn to play guitar?".

for a long while I would dream about seeing amazing, real-life acts and wake up, not having seen them. Missy Elliott was the worst, cos I woke up as I was walking into the venue. Sodom sucked because for some reason I couldn't hear their music (I went deaf during the show).

but I love when, like those of u above, I dream about a band playing a legit song that wasn't real. for instance the night I first saw Carcass I got really drunk, walked around Baltimore SCREAMING "Carcass" for 20 minutes, and then passed out at my hotel , with bloody knees from a fall I had outside during Repulsion's set.

so I went to sleep and dreamed I was seeing Skid Row, and it was cool, they were playing "Slave to the Grind", and it sounded like it did on the disc. dope...

then they went into....some "November Rain" sounding progressive rock shit with piano, it almost sounded like 80s Chicago-esque power ballad but with Queen harmonies on top.

I woke up and my sheets were covered in blood (as my bandage had slid off).

also when i sing in dreams i can hit all the high notes and then it's just upsetting on waking up

I dreamt I was waiting for Scott Walker (then living) to make his return to the stage in the lobby of an old school auditorium. Suddenly I realize that the music has begun! Racing through the door and down the stairs to the front row, I look up and see Scott in Dame Edna drag, singing "Can't Smile Without You".
Sometime later, I have a recording of this very show on bright blue-green vinyl. Unfortunately, my mother (also then still living) has piled beef stew on the record, warping it (as a late-life vegetarian/vegan, I have a lot of dreams about accidentally consuming meat).

several years ago I dreamt I was being pursued by lou reed as a zombie, the dream ended when I shot him :-(

also recently dreamt I saw mick jagger with long wavy blonde hair (think stayin alive era robin gibb) standing in line at some movie premier. I ran up and hugged him and he was really nice.

yeah, have had some pretty twisted nightmarish scenarios in my dreams as well. i had a similar thing with anton newcombe from brian jonestown massacre, except in my dream i was very aware of the fact that his zombieness could be solely attributed to some bad smack; which somehow made it feel even scarier in the dream.

I had an elaborate non-linear dream last night that seemed to have the following premises:

- "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" was a big hit for Michael Jackson when he was with the Jackson 5
- David Crosby covered the song in the early 70s (playing 12-string guitar) in a concert movie as an homage to Michael
- Adele's new record featured a sample of Crosby's version as a second-(third?)hand tribute

Haha. I dreamt an eight minute Cliff Richard opus, complete with music video, where he walks around a deserted, exotic looking city and it's some sort of moral parable. I blame a combination of TOTP and reading Clark Ashton Smith.

I approve of both of these.

I actually woke up with an idea for a tune in my head, fully formed, yesterday. I grabbed my multitracker app to sing the parts in, but as I'd only just woken up my voice sounded like a rusty old car. So now I've nbo idea what I had in mind

Now last night I was at the kitchen table gently grilling William Patrick Corgan about why his song titles don't match with the words of his songs, which he denied.

I was a guitarist in Radiohead preparing to play a Jonny Greenwood song live on the streets. He handed me the lyrics minutes before the performance, they were very wordy - if I'd tried I might have been able to write them down when I woke up. Just before we were about to play I suddenly realised my guitar was out of tune and I didn't know how to tune it, but was too embarrassed to admit it.

worst dream about music was me doing a Fringe Festival musical with friends, one I wrote (first clue that I was dreaming) on a special state of the art keyboard (second clue) that made today's synths sound like dookie. and then right as we were getting ready to load in, the keyboard got stolen and I went to lost and found and the lady there was like "are you sure you didn't just misplace it" and i'm like THIS THING WEIGHS LIKE 50 POUNDS WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I PUT IT and she was like "I'll tell you where you can put it" and walked away and i woke up

Last night I dreamt that Elton John and I were duetting Last Christmas, and he had some full-on harmonies.

and the very next day, he took them away

I once dreamt about a singing baby

It was barely a newborn but it sang very beautifully

then the KKK took her away

this thread title is always sung to me by Dan Hartman

I dreamt I was looking up a record on Wikipedia: All the Girls Love Alice, by a late 60s pop/folksinger apparently known just as Alice. The top part of the cover contains the title, black on white in a thick font, with the songs listed underneath. The bottom part of the cover is a photo taken of a crimson bed in a colourful room from an elevated position. Alice looks like Anna Karina in Pierrot le Fou and is sitting up against the headboard, singing. Sitting to her right is a blonde, bearded man with a classical guitar (Wiki says that "his reputation eventually recovered" from his playing on this album). There are also two female fans on the bed, one lying against Alice's legs and staring into the distance in a trance, the other sitting to Alice's left, by the edge of the bed and listening intently.
I then proceeded to dream about writing this description on ILM.

The R.E.M. talk on another thread reminded me of a dream I had last night. and had totally forgotten about!

It was the present day – R.E.M. is still together, and living in Austin, TX, where their HQ is based (note: I've never been to Austin). The dream's main character (not me) was a reporter for a tiny/local (school-based?) newspaper – Mike Mills had kindly agreed to do the kind of interview where the guy follows him around for a day, talks to him in various significant locations, etc. In the dream, the band still releases albums and tours every few years... Mills showed the reporter the studio, how he goes through the archives to compile collections of unreleased material, etc. At one point, the reporter was suggesting lyrics/melodies of his own, and Mills was kind of good-naturedly going along with it – singing one of them with gusto (like: "yeah, good hook!").

I often dream that I am playing in a band. I don't really play an instrument, other than the bass, and that not well. Nor do I know how to play in the dream--I'm just kind of faking it. I suspect this is a variation of the old "taking an exam for a class I never attended" anxiety dream.

I had a dream last night I was sitting in the dining room of my childhood house and my dad was cooking dinner for me, a friend of his, Stephen Malkmus, and Mark Ibold. I was playing Pavement on an old boom box of mine. My dad’s friend started complaining to me about the music in front of SM and Ibold and they seemed uncomfortable as I struggled to operate the boom box and play something else. All I could pull out was an Ella Fitzgerald album and Ibold said he had never listened to her.

I dreamed a track from SAWII was playing loudly on a mix in a pizzeria.

I had a dream last night that circa 2005 Dylan collaborated with a female writer of show tunes on all-new material for a musical. The first song was an eleven-part epic denominated with Roman numerals (XI). They performed this material live in it's entirety with a huge Budokan-size band with Neil Peart as the drummer and Alex Lifeson playing on a couple of tracks. I started playing this for my mom and sister who started off incredibly skeptical, but by the end, when the live audience started cheering and applauding louder and louder like a Bruce Springsteen stadium show, they were won over. I woke up disappointed that this doesn't exist, but laughing that it could.

Don't have any memory of the Alice dream described above, nor do I remember transcribing it here.

A few nights ago I dreamed a friend was telling me about a new rapper named This Charming Man. He was like, "his name is This Charming Man, unfortunately, but he's still ill."

ill as in a good rapper?

yeah

A song in my dream last night somehow combined Paul McCartney’s “Ballroom Dancing” and John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” (I think?). The only lyrics I remember are “Ball pitching ballparks”

I had a dream I was taking a multiple essay test in high school. I would start an answer, write only half an introductory paragraph, then start another answer, as time ticked painfully down.

I can't remember the questions, but one answer involved me slagging .38 Special in favor of Blue Oyster Cult. I have never intentionally listened to .38 Special in my life.

dream self had correct opinion

I think ums rides for an early .38 Special record. I should give it a listen some time.

I have owken up with a tune in my head that came from a dream but am too groggy to try to write it down

One of mine:

A mate had got the vacant position of bass in Oasis. (He looked a bit like Sean Hughes, I don't know this person irl). So, he'd arranged for me to meet backstage, name on the door, that sort of thing.

Anyway, I roll up, but the security/roadie bloke has no list and says no mate. Anyway, I'm stuck there, but just then the band roll by and I call "Simon!". "Ello mate!" he replies.

So, the roadie looks at Noel and asks "boss?". Noel's face doesn't change from mildly grump, but nods.

Then he turns and shouts "Oh yeah, and if YOU play again like you did last night, then YOU will be out and HE will be playing Bass, RIGHT?" (meaning me, obv)

Course, everybody laughs, etc.

So, I wake up and think to myself "and that's why I'd never want to be in Oasis, working for someone like that!"

Pretty realistic scenario, I thought anyway. Of course, thinking about it, that wasn't Noel, that was me!

such rage?!

I know...

The Rolling Stones played a surprise show, first in a shopping mall and then somehow at a small stage in a fairgrounds. The only member I saw with any detail was a very mid-70s-looking Bill Wyman in a powder-blue suit (surely inspired by an ILM post from a week or two ago). Somehow, despite the show starting in front of me, I kept finding myself at a distance from the stage, or behind obstacles, or walking towards the show from a distance. First song was a very dispirited "Jumping Jack Flash", second was a new Keith-sung country ballad, which left me thinking, "what a terrible setlist choice".
When I finally found myself standing parallel to the stage, my wife was the only person in front, walking at a diagonal away from the stage and ignoring the music. I thought "I know the new album wasn't a giant hit but I expected someone would watch them"; I felt bad for the Rolling Stones.

I dreamed I was a hugely talented and celebrated singer/guitarist, and onstage I performed a transcendent version of Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees” in the style of Jeff Buckley.

(Then I Googled when I woke up; apparently a live Buckley performance was key to how the band recorded the song?)

I think I posted this elsewhere, but I dreamed I was in a record store and a beautiful song was playing that I eventually recognized as a Dolly Parton cover of Jackson Browne's "Before the Deluge." I still think of this from time to time and am sad that it doesn't exist.

kinda wanna hear the dream version of Fake Plastic Trees, ngl

It sounded pretty awesome! But then the dream shifted after a verse or so

a beautiful song was playing

One of my goals in the summer of 1987 was to find a vinyl copy of Trout Mask Replica, which I hadn't heard. One night I dreamt I was listening to it in my local library, but what I was hearing was a weird pastiche/distortion of "Lay Lady Lay".

I'm always amazed at how the dreaming mind can produce words on a page or sounds off a record spontaneously out of nothing.

...dreamt I was doing dental work on saul williams... but it was part of a recording session... I just had to kind of tap on his molars with this little gold implement...

No, thankfully my brain allows me the mercy of a nightly 5-8 hour break from thinking about music

I dreamt I was looking up a record on Wikipedia: All the Girls Love Alice, by a late 60s pop/folksinger apparently known just as Alice. The top part of the cover contains the title, black on white in a thick font, with the songs listed underneath. The bottom part of the cover is a photo taken of a crimson bed in a colourful room from an elevated position. Alice looks like Anna Karina in Pierrot le Fou and is sitting up against the headboard, singing. Sitting to her right is a blonde, bearded man with a classical guitar (Wiki says that "his reputation eventually recovered" from his playing on this album). There are also two female fans on the bed, one lying against Alice's legs and staring into the distance in a trance, the other sitting to Alice's left, by the edge of the bed and listening intently.
I then proceeded to dream about writing this description on ILM.

― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 7 May 2022 14:53 (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

Prob too late, but there is an Elton John song with this title..

Irl lolz at Slowsquatch's dream

irl lolz at the Alice dream

just dreamed that i was at a school sort of symposium, like someone was being elected or something, and actually i think i was running. but also i was doing coke in the bathroom, or trying to and the coke kept spilling out of my bag. then during a break from all the speeches, KRISTIN HERSH played a banger set, and Drew Barrymore decided to interview the lot of us afterward to get our thoughts on her. i was super nervous. the end. pretty sure i just dreamed this dream so i could post itt.