The Story Behind "Dream Another Dream"

I'm so happy you are here, reading this post and supporting the music.  It means so much to me to share this with you!   Today I want to share about my song, Dream Another Dream, which will be on the new album, The Heart is a Persistent Beast. 

I've told you a bit about the themes of the album.  This song coincides with the theme:  The Ultimate Quest of Finding Your True Nature. 

It's a straight forward tune about cell phone use.  More specifically it addresses how cell phones affect our lives, keep us from living our dreams, and contributing positive things to the world.  You can hear that in some of the lyrics: 

 

"Have they stolen your affections, 

from the treasures you hold? 

You were gonna share with the world." 

 

I have first hand experience with this.  I'm one of the last people I know to get a smart phone.  I finally got one because there are so many promotional tools and apps for sharing music.  Eventually it became something I thought would be dumb not to do. 

But as I'm on the phone, posting stories or sharing videos about my music, I get distracted. I want to keep checking social media to see who recently liked my post, etc.  Do you do that also?  It's draining, time consuming and a total waste of energy.  (Tik tok is the worst.  Just don't do it!  Haha) 

The attention it takes zaps my creativity.  I find if I don't keep an eye on it, my cell phone could take all of my spare time.  But I'm committed to other things.  Like enjoying nature, writing and recording new music for you! 

So many of us are just in a daze, being distracted by our phones constantly.  In the song, I encourage the listener to Dream Another Dream, and what this means to me, is a world where we reclaim our independence and clarity. 

(If you're on your phone right now, I understand if this is making you want to put it down.  It's totally ok if you do.) 

Unlike the last song I shared with you, Dream Another Dream came to me all at once.  I often hear the words and melody at the same time.  Then I need to find a journal or my phone (coincidentally) to record what I'm hearing.  In this case I grabbed my journal first, since there were too many words to remember. 

After that, I grabbed my phone to capture the melody.  I have two great phone recordings of this.  There is one from when the original idea struck me.  And there is a second from after I did tons of editing and also worked out the chords. The original idea was extremely rough, and you can tell the lyrics are a bit awkward. 

In the second recording you can hear all the edits.  The first verse was swapped out with a completely new one.  In the chorus I actually use profanity which is very unusual for me!  I use the word, "shit", a few too many times in my original recording. Lol.  So in the second recording you can hear that I refined the words greatly which very much enhances the song, in my opinion. 

I wasn't sure if this song was a keeper, but after the edits, and making the arrangement I absolutely love it!  It's the only song on the album with acoustic guitar and it will also have upright bass, piano, a string quartet and a bazillion harmonies.  I will be singing most of the harmonies myself and it uses my full range.  Some of my notes are above a "high C" which use my whistle tone sounds.  What does this mean?  It's like when Maria Carey hits those crazy high notes, but less ostentatious.  😉 

Before I go, I'd like to share with you my favorite verse from the song.  This verse came to me easily and freely, like I pulled it out of the air.  I love it when that happens. 

 

"Are you looking at your phone right now? 

Can you see your own reflection, 

in the screen they sold you? 

Their promises of plenty 

I'm telling you... 

They're empty 

They're empty 

They're empty" 

 

And with that..   Please go Dream Another Dream.  I'll be in touch next week with another story. 

~Amy