Dreams are one of the most fertile grounds for creation. At the end of the day we are human beings, but also beings of dreams, to paraphrase Jack Kerouac. Just as it happened to this poet, and even to Albert Einstein with his theory of relativity, many musicians have encountered his songs in dreams.
For Carl Jung, they said a lot about our psyche, because in addition to being a means of expression of the subconscious, they are a reflection of what we experience when we are awake. So a , you could say, largely expresses everything we are, and from it we can learn more than we think. Perhaps that is why great artists and thinkers have been able to be in such organic contact with their dreams, since this requires a certain sensitivity and curiosity, and we would even say that the wisdom of someone who knows that in dreams they have a lot to discover is needed.
Many musicians have taken advantage of this kind of innate sensitivity to surf through their dreamlike subconscious, where they have found the melodies or lyrics of songs that end up being great hits. Some of these songs are frankly immortal, which speaks of the fascinating and unsuspected symbiosis between sleep and wakefulness, which are actually borderless territories, influencing each other all the time.
These are some of the songs that dreams have given to the world of music.
“Yesterday”, The Beatles (1965)
Paul McCartney got up in the middle of the night and went straight to his piano. From his dreams had emerged the inspiration for one of the most iconic melodies of all time.
“Purple Haze”, The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967)
Jimi Hendrix dreamed that he was walking under it and that a purple mist enveloped him. Of course, there is no fog under water, but that mystical and surreal dream became the song “Purple Haze.”
“#9 Dream”, John Lennon (1974)
The most dreamy of the Beatles, John Lennon, describes a dream he had. This song is literally dreamlike and incomprehensible: the chorus is a kind of prayer that says “Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé.” According to Lennon, his dream was not an inspiration, but simply a dream passage that he wanted to turn into a song (and which was positioned at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart).
“Five Years”, David Bowie (1972)
The song that opens the already dreamlike album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is about a hypothetical announcement of the end of the world. Bowie dreamed in 1971 that his father told him that he only had 5 years to live and that he should not dream again, and that is why he chose the time for the end of the world to be 5 years in the song.
“I Can’t Get no Satisfaction”, The Rolling Stones (1965)
Like McCartney, Keith Richards heard the riff of this song in his dreams, along with the legendary phrase “I can’t get no satisfaction,” which gives the song its name.
“Let it Be”, The Beatles (1970)
Another dream of Paul McCartney, this time from his mother, who had died when he was only 14 years old. In a night of deep dreams and intermittent insomnia, McCartney dreamed of his mother Mary, who told him, “Let it be.”
“The Prophet’s Song”, Queen (1975)
The lyrics of this song, which tells about a wise man who alerts humanity to a prophecy, come from a fever dream of guitarist Brian May, who at the time was dealing with hepatitis he contracted from an infected needle.
“Break it Up”, Patti Smith (1975)
This song is about Jim Morrison. It combines a dream Patti Smith had about The Doors frontman and the visit she made to his grave in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. In her dream, Smith helped Morrison (who was chained, like Prometheus, to a stone) to free himself.
“Every Breath You Take”, The Police (1983)
The main line of the song, which gives it its name, was dreamed up by Sting. With that phrase in mind he went to his piano and composed the song in 30 minutes.
“The Man Comes Around”, Johnny Cash (2002)
Queen Elizabeth of England told Johnny Cash in his sleep that he was like a crooked bush in the middle of a whirlpool. Years later he read something similar in the Book of Revelation and ended up putting together the dots that would lead him to write this song.
“How to Disappear Completely”, Radiohead (2000)
Thom Yorke said he dreamed that he was floating in the River Liffey, without being able to control it. This song seeks to talk about how it feels to float, Yorke in his dream. Although part of his inspiration also came from a talk with members of the band REM
“Enterlude”, The Killers (2006)
Vocalist Brandon Flowers dreamed of Kurt Cobain singing on top of a boat. He says he sounded like Bob Dylan. The melody of “Enterlude” came from what that navigator Cobain sang who sounded like Dylan.
“Gust of Wind”, Pharrel Williams (2014)
This song is about a man and a woman who lifts him up mentally and emotionally, like a natural force. It was inspired by Pharrel’s wife, Helen Lasichanh, to whom he sang it as soon as she woke up, telling her that it was about the divine force that she represents, like a gust of wind.