Interpreting dreams
Is hard. But just having them
Sometimes is harder.
"Series of Dreams" is just that, a series of dreams. This leftover track from the 1989 album "Oh Mercy" was released two years later on the first edition of the Bootleg Series. It's a terrific song, and sounds very much of a piece with the rest of late 1980's pop as it was wending its way into the warmer sounds of the 1990's. It has a kind of glacial majesty that U2 was able to achieve when they didn't ruin it with Bono's homilies to the brotherhood of man and the upper-class alienation of European cities and Wim Wenders films. And it has a good beat. I suspect that opening "Oh Mercy" with it would have not balanced well with the other songs, all of which are more slight in their production. I like this as a standalone. It's too much of a mountain to compete with a bunch of hills.
Series of dreams:
- Nothing comes to the top.
- Everything stops, wounded, at the bottom.
- Nothing specific. Someone wakes up and screams.
- No exit. Time and tempo fly.
- Umbrella is folded. Someone throws it in your path.
- Your cards are no good unless you're playing interstellar poker.
- Numbers were burning.
- He witnesses a crime.
- Running.
- Climbing.
Things he wasn't doing in the series of dreams:
- Nothing too scientific
- Making any great connection
- Falling for intricate schemes
- Nothing that would pass inspection
- Looking for special help
- Going to great extremes (He's already gone the distance)
Is hard. But just having them
Sometimes is harder.
"Series of Dreams" is just that, a series of dreams. This leftover track from the 1989 album "Oh Mercy" was released two years later on the first edition of the Bootleg Series. It's a terrific song, and sounds very much of a piece with the rest of late 1980's pop as it was wending its way into the warmer sounds of the 1990's. It has a kind of glacial majesty that U2 was able to achieve when they didn't ruin it with Bono's homilies to the brotherhood of man and the upper-class alienation of European cities and Wim Wenders films. And it has a good beat. I suspect that opening "Oh Mercy" with it would have not balanced well with the other songs, all of which are more slight in their production. I like this as a standalone. It's too much of a mountain to compete with a bunch of hills.
Series of dreams:
- Nothing comes to the top.
- Everything stops, wounded, at the bottom.
- Nothing specific. Someone wakes up and screams.
- No exit. Time and tempo fly.
- Umbrella is folded. Someone throws it in your path.
- Your cards are no good unless you're playing interstellar poker.
- Numbers were burning.
- He witnesses a crime.
- Running.
- Climbing.
Things he wasn't doing in the series of dreams:
- Nothing too scientific
- Making any great connection
- Falling for intricate schemes
- Nothing that would pass inspection
- Looking for special help
- Going to great extremes (He's already gone the distance)
Hello Robert, thank you for this interesting analysis. Join us inside Bob Dylan's Music Box and listen to all the great versions http://thebobdylanproject.com/Song/id/550/Series-of-Dreams
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