An odd song from a dream

It's very rare that I remember my dreams. But last night - or rather this morning - I not only remembered my dream but a song that was a part of it.

I was in a bar. I was seeing it all from the point of view of someone who was very, very drunk. But I was aware that I was not drunk myself. It was as if I were in another person's body. They were drunk but not me. Very weird. There was a song playing on the old jukebox and I remember thinking, "I've never heard that song before" and so, in the dream, I memorized the words. This morning when I woke all those words were still there in my mind so I wrote them down exactly as they'd come out of the jukebox, i made no changes.

It was a novel idea for a song - it was a standard 12-bar blues (named for the fact that each verse is a repeated 12 bars of music) but in this case it was written from the point of view of a man who was in his 12th bar of the evening! Probably the character I was inhabiting in the dream.

All very strange. But here it is...complete with a hint of Oscar Wilde in the penultimate verse.

12 BAR BLUES

I got the 12 bar blues pounding in my head

I got the 12 bar blues pounding in my head
Feeling like tomorrow
I may wake up dead

Her name was Margarita that much I recall

Her name was Margarita that much I recall
I found out too late
She's not a good girl at all

I remember saying the drinks are all on me

I remember saying the drinks are all on me
On me? More like in me
Now I can hardly see

Make mine a gin and tonic I heard the Englishman say

Make mine a gin and tonic I heard the Englishman say
His accent made it sound
Like a line from a Shakespeare play

There's a cowboy in the corner fast asleep beneath his hat

There's a cowboy in the corner fast asleep beneath his hat
He may be a famous actor
Who found fame ain't where it's at

The jukebox looks quite ancient but it's singing it ain't broke

The jukebox looks quite ancient but it's singing it ain't broke
Every title on it sounds
Like the punch line of a joke

There's a couple at a table she's asking him to go

There's a couple at a table she's asking him to go
She wants to get him home
Before he's crippled down below

These places have no mirrors so we can't see he scars

These places have no mirrors so we can't see he scars
We're drowning in the gutter
But we're looking at the stars

The ceiling's changing places - changing places with the floor

The ceiling's changing places - changing places with the floor
For the 12th time I promise
I ain't doing this no more

©2012 Dave Tutin

Comments

[Michael Vines]

That is amazing. Coincidentally, I was talking to a musician I know yesterday named Kyf Brewer (know him?) and I asked him about how he writes his songs, what instrument he uses, and whether he picks out a melody or just sings it, and he kind of laughed sheepishly and said, "I write 'em in dreams."

[Dave]

I do not know Kyf...but if he dreams all his songs he's really streamlined the process. It beats sweating over keyboard and fretboard for days on end trying to get something right!

Not sure if I'll ever use this one, however, not my usual style - although I do like some of the lines in it.

Here's to never being "crippled down below."

[Paul Cammarota]

I don't know... McCartney swears he woke up with "Yesterday" in his head. Played it for George Martin to see if he recognized the tune. He didn't. McCartney was sure there was no way he'd thought/dreamt/composed it on his own. But apparently he did.

[Dave]

Well, it sure as hell is not Yesterday...but I see your point. The story says he woke with the melody but no lyrics and that for a long time it was called Scrambled eggs...same syllables as Yesterday.

[Studio Maven]

Coincidentally 12 steps is also the main slammy jammy of a particular organization that pertains to refraining from bar time activities. Keith Richards also claimed to have dreamed up the riff for Satisfaction. You may be wired to another consciousness son. Keep a tape recorder by your bed. Be careful that nefarious media outlets do not get a hold of other bedtime activities in case you become justly famous. Take some quality antacids and edit, edit, edit. How #$%&*^% complicated has life become? Sheesh.

[Dave]

I'm amazed nobody has written the 12-Step Blues. Perhaps they have and I just haven't heard it.

[Jeff Shattuck]

Very cool story and song. I know I've dreamt of songs in dreams, but I've never been able to remember even a note. You should record this, maybe with the Ukelele, give it a twist!

[Dave]

I might use it - might not. We'll see. If I can write a 12 bar melody that works. I don't think Ukulele goes with "pounding in my head" - maybe something more like Dylan's Lonesome Day Blues.