This Dream of You

Album: Together Through Life (2009)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In this song, a man dreams of a lost love. This dream, which the man sometimes mistakes for reality, is what keeps him going through his otherwise miserable existence: "I wonder why I'm so frightened of dawn/All I have and all I know/Is this dream of you/Which keeps me living on." Dylan hinted to The Telegraph that he is the man in this song: "...it's not a character like in a book or a movie. He's not a bus driver. He doesn't drive a forklift. He's not a serial killer. It's me who's singing that, plain and simple. We shouldn't confuse singers and performers with actors." Dylan added that if an actor had to sing this song, it would be "James Cagney or Mickey Rooney."
  • The lyrics open up with a man sitting in a "nowhere café." Dylan ambiguously elaborated on this café to The Telegraph: "It sounds like it's south of the border or close to the border... But if you have those kind of thoughts and feelings you know where the guy is. He's right where you are. If you don't have those thoughts and feelings then he doesn't exist."
  • This waltz-paced, Latin-flavored tune is the only song on Together For Life that Dylan has sole writing credit for. Grateful Dead lyricist, Robert Hunter, has co-writing credits on all the other tracks.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Facebook, Bromance and Email - The First Songs To Use New Words

Facebook, Bromance and Email - The First Songs To Use New WordsSong Writing

Where words like "email," "thirsty," "Twitter" and "gangsta" first showed up in songs, and which songs popularized them.

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie Combination

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie CombinationSong Writing

In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.

Adele

AdeleFact or Fiction

Despite her reticent personality, Adele's life and music are filled with intrigue. See if you can spot the true tales.

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.

Al Jourgensen of Ministry

Al Jourgensen of MinistrySongwriter Interviews

In the name of song explanation, Al talks about scoring heroin for William Burroughs, and that's not even the most shocking story in this one.