DREAM AS PORTALS & PORTENTS
It was long a convention of the love song for passion to be so strong that its love-interest was an obsession and the longing a torment. Is it any wonder that so many of these dreams never came true or were past any possibility of doing so? One wonders if these dreams were even or ever true. Maybe they were waking hopes so huge that there was no way the unconscious could accommodate them.
A for instance: A few months ago, my college sweetheart, of whom I often dream but who never fully commits to me, finally came in a dream and told me she was ready for marriage. She asked me to introduce her to my parents. I took her to my dad and introduced her by the wrong name. After he wished us well and was gone, my love threw a tantrum, saying that it was I who was not ready for her and exited the dream.
God knows, my dream tried hard to be the dream I had wanted to come true for decades, but I wouldn’t let it be. I learned a lesson from it that I hope I never to have to learn again, but now am thankful for. You can’t cheat an honest subconscious.
Most of my dreams these nights have a repetitiveness that makes me, as the song which inspired this medley is titled, “Afraid to Dream.” Last night, I dreamt I was the only American present at a British upperclass cocktail party in London, trying to impress everyone with my knowledge and expertise—and wrong about everything I said. I was an absolute asshole. The dream ended when my Oxford equivalent came bursting in to denounce me as a phony. He didn’t need to. Everyone already knew. A half hour after waking, I was still embarrassed by my behavior and, although dead tired, afriad to go back to sleep and continue my losing streak. .
Dreaming, as most often sung about, is not dreaming as Freud discovered it to be. Don’t get me wrong. Some dream-songs are very Freudian in terms of symbolism and required interpretation. But the songs here are more the kind of waking reveries we all have about dreams we wish we would have—as if to actually incorporate actual desire into a dream is some kind of legitimization. But even this is hardly fulfillment. Just look at how many dreams flash “vacancy” signs.
The one great departure is “Street of Dreams,” Victor Youngs’s incredible song about 42nd Street in New York when it was a drug addict’s parqadise and where cocaine, heroin and marijuanaa were readily available. The remainder are songs about dreaming when it was compulsive wishful thinking, with a lot of drinking and sorrow thrown in.
Meanwhile, as Andy Russell sings, “It’s Dreamtime.”
The Dorsey Brothers’ Concert Orchestra, Was It a Dream, 1928 (the arrangement for this 2-sider seems to have a Grofe touch)
Bing Cosby, Street of Dreams, 1932 (still the greatest recording of this song ever made)
Ruth Etting, I’ll Never Have to Dream Again, 1932
Connee Boswell, I’ll Never Have to Dream Again, 1932
Hildegarde, I Dream Too Much (Dorothy Fields-Jerome Kern), 1935
Benny Goodman (Betty Van. voc.), Afraid to Dream (Mack Gordon-Harry Revel), 1937
Connie Boswell, Afraid to Dream, 1937
Harry James (Helen Humes, voc.), I Can Dream Can’t I? 1937
Toni Arden, I Can Dream, Can’t I, 1949
Ruth Brown, I Can Dream, Can’t I, 1959
Gene Krupa (Helen Ward, box.) - One More Dream. 1938
Jimmie Lunceford (Danny Grissom, voc.), I Had a Premonition, 1941
Andy Russell, I Dream of You, 1945 (a really lovely song that was a huge hit)
Andy Russell and the Pied Pipers, It’s Dreamtime, 1947 (this was originally meant to serve as an overture)
Gene Krupa (Buddy Stewart voc.), Dreams are a Dime A Dozen, 1947 (this song deserves revival)
Ella Fitzgerald, Dream A Litttle Longer, 1949
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong, Dream a Little Dream of Me, 1950
Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie, Dream a Little Dream of Me, 1963
The Everly Brothers, All I Have to DO is Dream (Bordeaux Bryant), 1958
Count Basie, Lil Darlin’ (Neal Hefti), 1958 (later tranformed to a song with lyriocs called “Don’t Dream of Anbpdy else But Me”)
Bobby Darin, Don’t Dream of Anybody but Me (“Neal Hefti “Lil darlin” with lyrics) by Bart Howard), 1960 (He was Sinatra’s main heir)
Anita Kerr Singers, Don’t Dream of Anybody But Me (Bart Howard-Neal Hefti), 1964
Hemry Mancini, Dreamsville, 1959
Sarah Vaughan, Dreamsville (Ray Evans & Jerry Livingstone- Henry Mancini), 1964
Stacey Kent, Dreamsville, 2006