The Fear

This is the sound of someone losing the plot/
making out that they're okay when they're not.

I had a particularly disturbing dream last night: I was dying, and tortured by the realization that my consciousness would not cease upon death. I would be damned for eternity with my own burdened thoughts.

There couldn't be a more apt song in my head upon waking.

Artist: Pulp
Year: 1998
Rating: Hot!

Superball

(You'll have to play this video once to be amused by the hamster, and once to actually hear the song! "Nibbler" is quite distracting, but cute.)

This song has been in my head for weeks, but today was the first time I woke with it. Unbelievably, this is the first Aimee Mann song hitting the blog, despite the fact that she's one of my faves, and that I've seen her at least three times live. This morning, the song was ushered in by a dream: I was having a conversation with Aimee (clearly, we were on a first-name basis in my dream), and with some 20-somethings who had never heard her stuff. I was recommending albums they should listen to. The dream, in turn, I'm sure, had been prompted by a false sense of intimacy I'm feeling with her and with another indie rock hero of mine, Ted Leo, who have been touring together and being all lovey on the Twitter. Damn, wish I'd seen them on stage together.

Artist: Aimee Mann
Year: 1995
Rating: Luke Hot

Dreams of Merlin

I had a dream this morning in which my dear friend Marck and I were at an open mic. The performer on stage challenged audience members to stand up and sing if they thought they had a good command of the Eagles' oeuvre. Marck and I simultaneously and defiantly arose. The performer then presented us with the sheet music to a song about Merlin the magician, and proceeded to teach me chords on a banjo.

I woke up, flummoxed to try to find an Eagles song about Merlin; the song that then arose in my brain was "Tin Man" by America, evoking another Arthurian character, Sir Galahad.

In a seemingly unrelated occurrence, I learned via the Facebook this morning that Marck had just been listening to a mix I'd made years ago, entitled "My Fantasy K-Tel Album," on which I clustered an array of enticingly schmaltzy and wonderful 70s and 80s gems. This is surely a piece of evidence that Marck and I are tapped into the collective unconscious. I think today might be ripe for some trans-continental telekinesis experiments.



Artist: America
Year: 1974
Rating: Luke Hot

Love Theme from Superman (Can You Read My Mind)

Would've been excellent if I'd dreamt of flying.

Artist: John Williams
Year: 1978
Rating: Warm

Vogue

I had a dream that Madonna was my "lady-friend" and that I was buying her a pair of heels as a gift. It was all very butch-femme. Only, in the dream, I realized I couldn't possibly afford shoes that Madonna would actually deign to wear.

I woke up with "Vogue" in my head.

Artist: Madonna
Year: 1990
Rating: Warm

Note: Unbelievably, this is the first Madge song that's made it into the blog. I've had other songs of hers in my head over the span of the project, but none upon waking til now.

Layla

The guitar riff instantly registered in my head upon waking this morning. It came soon after a dream in which I was making a martini for an old high school classmate who I really never even knew in high school. One of the most recognizable songs in the rock canon, I never bother to listen to it all the way through anymore when it turns up on the radio, since it's been so ridiculously ubiquitous my whole life. But upon listening now, I realize that the piano outro is pretty much the best part of the song.

Artist: Derek and the Dominoes
Year: 1970
Rating: Warm

Just

I woke with the refrain: You do it to yourself, just you/You and no one else, after an intense dream about an ex-girlfriend of mine. It seems connected somehow, but I don't know if the indictment was meant for her or for me. Probably us both. Also, at first I wasn't sure whose song it was. The vocal sounded Billy Corgan-nasally-'90s, so I rolled over in bed and consulted Amber, my resident Smashing Pumpkins expert. She didn't recognize the lyric. Then I remembered it was Radiohead.

Artist: Radiohead
Year: 1995
Rating: Luke Hot

Purple Rain

Dreamed that Amber and I were going to rent Purple Rain. On my way to the video store, a former therapy colleague of mine ran down the street toward me: he'd been shot in the leg. I comforted him and ran to find help. I found my former clinic supervisor, but she wasn't able to hear my screams for help. I ran back to my colleague and futilely tried to dress his wound. I woke up.

It's been an intense week, people.

Artist: Prince & The Revolution
Year: 1984
Rating: Hot!

Upside Down

Had an intricate, apocalyptic dream last night about getting caught in massive tidal waves and ending up on a boat with the last remaining humans. Woke up with "Upside down you turn me" in my head. If only the apocalypse could be choreographed to disco diva music...

Artist: Diana Ross
Year: 1980
Rating: Hot!

Rain in the Summertime

Wow. The late-80s rocker mullet is in full-force on this U2ish tune from The Alarm. The song appeared in a dream, and I attributed it to an artist named "Donny Meast," noting to myself that his name was similar to Donny Most, aka Ralph Malf, from Happy Days. Dreams are weird.

Artist: The Alarm
Year: 1987
Rating: Lukewarm

Uncle John's Band

Weirdly intense dream last night: I was on death row for the petty crime of smoking pot! I felt incredulous about the mockery of justice that was taking my life, and I was terrified. I ingested a poisoned liquid administered by the prison staff and eventually felt myself drifting off to eternal sleep. It was then that I woke up with this Dead tune in my head.

Their walls are built of cannon balls; their motto is "Don't tread on me."

Artist: The Grateful Dead
Year: 1970
Rating: Warm

Who Taught You To Live Like That?

Just before I woke up this morning, I was dreaming that I was at a Sloan show, but for some reason, guitarist and sometimes-singer Jay Ferguson was missing in action. I approached the stage and asked Chris Murphy, bassist and usual lead singer, if I could sing one of Jay's songs. We picked this one, a favorite from from 2006's Never Hear the End of It. I sang it, and the crowd went wild.

Artist: Sloan
Year: 2006
Rating: Hot!