The Importance of Dreams in Music

Dreams can be strange and varied; they can be welcomed; they can be feared. They usher in the unknown; they cannot be controlled in any way.

They also figure mightily in plays, poems and music lyrics. Let’s dance on the tops of the waves and see how the subject has been handled over the centuries, as we tie together William Shakespeare, John Milton, Cole Porter, Patsy Cline and Roy Orbison.

What better way to start than with Shakespeare? Hamlet, the man who could not make up his mind, pondered over whether to remain passive in light of his father’s murder or to take action. If he remained passive, he would have to “suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” in silence; if he wanted to avenge his father’s death, he would have had to “take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them.”

Then the thought came to him; if he opposed his “troubles,” he might die. And if he died, he might sleep. On the good side, in this sleep, he might “end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation devoutly to be wish’d.”

But then turning the question over in his mind, he realized that there was a catch: “To die, to sleep; to sleep: perchance to dream; ay, there’s the rub; for in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause…”

And if any man liked to take a pause to think things over once again, it was our dear Prince Hamlet.

The next man to consider dreams in sleep was John Milton. His first wife was the love of his life; and when she died, he was heart-broken. He re-married twice, but the third marriage was more about convenience than anything else, for he was blind and needed someone’s help. He wrote massive poems, epics, such as Paradise Lost; but he also wrote delicate sonnets. One that has stayed with me since my undergraduate days is his 23rd Sonnet. He had gone to bed and was deep in a dream state. In this state, he saw his first wife, who he called “my late espoused saint,” brought back to life. While all the while knowing that he would see her again “in Heaven without restraint,” he saw her in this dream coming toward him, “vested all in white, pure as her mind; her face was veil’d, yet to my fancied sight love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shin’d so clear as in no face with more delight.”

Closer she came but as she inclined to embrace him, he woke up “and day brought back my night.” A blind poet could see in his dreams, but not during his waking hours. The pain, the irony, the tragic outcome of the coming of the day: John Milton sought dreams to give him some respite from the pain of living.

Let’s fast forward from 1657 to 1934. Cole Porter wrote a stunning score for a musical called Anything Goes. It had two scripts, because the initial libretto written by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse revolved around a shipwreck. Just weeks before the show was to open, the SS Morro Castle had a fire at sea, causing the deaths of 138 passengers and crew. The libretto needed to be re-written, and a new book-writing team was born to do it–Howard Lindsey and Russel Crouse. Their last great project was the libretto for The Sound of Music.

However, one song, called “All Through the Night, stands out. Here are some of the key lyrics:

“All through the night,
From a height far above,
You and your love brings me ecstasy!

When dawn comes to waken me,
You’re never there at all!
I know you’ve forsaken me
Till the shadows fall,

But then once again I can dream, I’ve the right
To be close to you all through the night.”

We see the same ironic separation between a man, Billy Crocker, and his love, Hope Harcourt. In this case, the lovers are not separated by death, but by the gulf created by Hope’s mother, who has arranged for Hope to marry Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. The two lovers sing of their love in the purest of terms. Each sees the other coming “from a height far above.” In the same way that Milton experienced the loss of his vision of his first wife, Billy and Hope sing that “when dawn comes to waken me, you’re never there at all!” Finally the verse admits “But then once again I can dream, I’ve the right to be close to you all through the night.”

While it was performed as a duet, I am inclined to believe that Porter intended this to be sung by Billy, who is clearly chasing Hope. I believe that Porter discovered Milton’s 23rd Sonnet while studying at Yale and was influenced by it. In sum, it is much more an ardent plea for unrequited love than it is a mutual admission of obstructed love.

Let’s listen to Chris Groenendaal and Frederica Von Stade singing this duet from the John McGlinn restoration recording in 1989. Please note the change in tempo from the opening verse to the chorus.

Frank Sinatra sang the same song as a solo ballad on the Colgate Comedy Hour. See whether you agree with me that this song is much more effective, even with the slower tempo, as a solo.

In the 1943 Rodgers and Hammerstein hit show, Oklahoma!, there is a dream sequence as Laurie’s fears are reduced to a Agnes de Mille ballet. Here is a clip of the almost 15 minute “Dream Ballet” from the 1955 movie.

As we move into more modern times, we have two songs that were sung by popular singers, both released in 1963. The first is sung by Patsy Cline in 1963 during her classic Decca sessions, called “Sweet Dreams.”

The second is a song sung by Roy Orbison, called “In Dreams.” We are providing a clip of the 1963 song, as it was recorded in 1988 during a live performance, called “Black and White Night.” If you don’t yet have a copy of the DVD, please buy one soon. It is irreplaceable. Here are the key lyrics; note how close they are to Milton and Porter in intent.

“I close my eyes then I drift away
Into the magic night, I softly say
A silent prayer like dreamers do
Then I fall asleep to dream my dreams of you

“In dreams I walk with you
In dreams I talk to you
In dreams you’re mine all the time
We’re together in dreams, in dreams

“But just before the dawn
I awake and find you gone
I can’t help it, I can’t help it if I cry
I remember that you said goodbye”

Of course, you will also be noting Roy’s “friends” on stage with him–Bonnie Raitt, Jennifer Warnes, k.d. Lang, Tom Waits, J.D. Souther, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen and many more.

See you all next week.