Dreaming Of Dylan by Mary Lee Kortes is a Rollicking Good Read

Dream 103 / Dylan Vs. Paulsen
I am sitting at the kitchen table with my parents. I’m very young in the dream, only seven or eight years old, and the presidential election is coming. My parents are fighting about who to vote for: Bob Dylan or Pat Paulsen.

* * * *
Dreams are one of those amazing phenomenon that fall into that area of mystery as regards what it means to be human. Studied by psychologists and now the domain or neuroscience, who can definitively say where they come from or what they mean. One thing for certain, our minds produce pretty wild stories sometimes.

What is is that makes our dreams so vivid? The fun part, though, is sharing those dream anecdotes and stories with others, in part because often there doesn't seem to be any kind of logic to the dream at all. It just goes where it wants and you go with it.

And that's what makes these 115 dreams so much fun. Even if you're not a Dylan fan, you'll enjoy these stories because after a lifetime living in this world you will undoubtedly have formed a certain kind of image of the Nobel Laureate so that when he appears in dreams, he's often the caricature of his persona. Or not.

The book, published by BMG Books, is titled Dreaming of Dylan: 115 Dreams About Bob. The author is Mary Lee Kortes, a recording artist and performer who has actually opened for Bob, so in a sense she's already had a dream come true, I suspect.

I don't know how long it took to assemble this collection of dreams, but the final outcome is a totally first rate execution of concept. It's a beautiful book as well as totally entertaining, especially if you're a fan. The contributors come from all over the world, from painters to poets to Patti Smith.

If you're a Dylan fan, you already know where the title of the book comes from, the title of a song on Bringing It All Back Home. The spirit of the book itself is in alignment with another familiar song, Talkin' World War III Blues, which ends with this famous stanza:

Well, now time passed and now it seems
Everybody’s having them dreams
Everybody sees themselves
Walkin’ around with no one else
Half of the people can be part right all of the time
Some of the people can be all right part of the time
But all of the people can’t be all right all of the time
I think Abraham Lincoln said that
“I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours”
I said that

* * * *

One other feature of the book that is somewhat amusing is the irregular structure. That is, the dreams all have numbers but they are not in the order of the numbers. You might expect 1 to be first and 115 to be the last dream in the book, but then again, tell me a dream in which the story makes sense and I will tell you 50 where it's a jumble of unexpected juxtapositions. I think the absence of a table of contents and the jumbled structure just makes it all that much more fun.

Here's the author's dream, which she shares at the beginning of the book.

Dream 106 / Wrong Key
I was rehearsing for a Losers Lounge show (an NYC series that takes place at Joe’s Pub). I was scheduled to sing Townes Van Zandt's "No Place To Fall" and was rehearsing with the guy who is going to accompany me--Bob Dylan.

We were in a dark dirty white room, just the two of us. He was sitting on the floor strumming a lute and playing the song in a weird key.

"That’s the wrong key," I told him. "I sing it in D. What key are you playing it in?"

He looked up at me. "The key if I"

I was so annoyed. "There’s no such thing," I said.

“That’s the key I play it in,” said Bob.

--Marie Lee Kortes
Musician, Author / Brooklyn

Some of the dreams are more developed and more detailed, stretching two to four pages. Others are brief, and hilarious like this one.

61 / Space Visionary
I have had many dreams about Dylan, and he has never spoken to me in them until recently when he named a hill near where I grew up. “You can see the city from there," he said. But you can’t.

--Jeff Ward
Writer, Singer/Song Writer / Ireland

* * * *

Illustration for Dream 103 / Dylan vs. Paulsen

The titles alone are worth the read... Or, you can skip the words altogether and enjoy the illustrations, photos and design. Yes, Dreaming Of Dylan is an enjoyable experience any way you choose to engage it.

Here are some of the titles of the various dreams...

Desk Set
Fur
Sobering
What's In Your Freezer
Duet With Dog
Meet Me In The Morning
It'll Cost You
Walking The Room
I Dreamed Bob Dylan Had A Crush On My Mom
Time Traveler
O Captain
Not Alone

You can find the book here at Amazon. Dreaming of Dylan. I am confident it would make a great gift for any Dylan fan, including the Dylan fan in your life.

Related Links
For more about the author, visit https://maryleescorvette.com/about
Schedule for Duluth Dylan Fest 2019 
Fund Raiser for the Hibbing Dylan Project

Bob Dylan's Dream: A Poignant Lament

Interviewer: Do you read the Bible?
Bob Dylan: Of course. Who doesn't.
Interviewer: Do you read Shakespeare?
Bob Dylan: Yes
--Rome Interview, July 2001

Dylan is clearly a product of his time. What kind of music would he have produced had his career begun twenty years later instead of here in the 1950s Northland and Greenwich Village of the Sixties? Of course everything else would have been different, too. Peter, Paul & Mary would never have sung "Blowin' in the Wind." The Byrds would never have found fame with "Mr. Tambourine Man." The wild mercury sound of Blonde On Blonde... Could an album like that have been produced in the 80s? Paul, George and Ringo would never have been lured to Nashville to record after the breakup of the Beatles.

Had Dylan come along twenty years later he'd never have seen Buddy Holly at the Armory in Duluth just days before his music died. Dylan, or rather, Robert Zimmerman, would not have been born yet. His earth-shaking world tour with the Hawks, a.k.a The Band, would never have happened. He would have been four when he had his motorcycle accident and moved up to Woodstock.

No one knows what might have been had Dylan come of age into a different age. The only thing we really know is what actually did happen. The soil has as much to do with a seed's success as the seed, and in Dylan's case the fertile Greenwich Village scene could not have been better for a young 'un enamored with American roots music.

* * * *
I'm not sure exactly what it is about "Bob Dylan's Dream" that so resonates with us. Perhaps it's because Dylan so effectively captures the feeling of living inside what Hinchey calls "the cocoon of adolescence," before the realities of life and responsibility and the necessity of growing up force us to break out of that cozy security. What's striking is that he was himself but a youth when he wrote this, not yet 22. It's written as if he were an older man looking back on an idyllic earlier time, but it reminds me more of freshman year at college, hanging out in dorm rooms with new found friends.

While riding on a train goin' west,
I fell asleep for to take my rest.
I dreamed a dream that made me sad,
Concerning myself and the first few friends I had.


Those early years we often fail to appreciate or properly appreciate our friendships, taking so much for granted due to our lack of experience. When I moved away from Ohio, and later New Jersey, I never really stayed in touch with anyone. Social media has resulted in a few surprising contacts but the brevity of youth and our forward looking trajectory doesn't always cement these relationships for the long haul. I'm often impressed and even amazed when someone shares that she and her friend have been friends since kindergarten.

As we meet new people and encounter new ideas, we're often changed, our friendships re-arranged.

Unfortunately, like the Robert Frost poem about two diverging roads, many of the wonderful people who were once part of our lives get left behind. Occasionally it is due to our own neglect, or failure to value those treasured people. That is why this song is more lament than dream.

As we get older, and begin to understand ourselves a bit, we are less haphazard in our friendships. We begin to seek out like-minded people with values or interests similar to ours. It takes time. New interests or changes in geography test these friendships. And as we are flung forward by fate and circumstances, and choices -- for better or worse -- we disconnect and reconnect with many people of greater or lesser influence upon us.

Likewise as we get older we value the good in others more deeply, especially when there are those rare connections that seem like true gifts. But it is with great pain and dismay that I remember all the really special people whom I failed to value fully, and even sometimes hurt through my own insensitivity and self-centeredness.

So it is that in "Bob Dylan's Dream" the writer is drawn to a familiar Northern Minnesota scene, a memory of friends huddled around a wood stove on a chill winter day, warming up by the fireside on a day not unlike today where the thermometer reads 20 below zero and the packed snow squeaks from the cold.

* * * *
The first time Bob Dylan performed this song live was at Gerdie's Folk City on February 8, 1963. The last time, at the Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barrie, PA, November 15, 1991. Just before performing it, during an acoustic set that included Desolation Row and Don't Think Twice, he said, "Here's a song right here that's autobiographical."

The song originally appeared on his breakthrough second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. It has also been included on The Original Mono Recordings, released in 2010, as well as The Bootleg Series, Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos, which I've been listening to again this week. Finally, you can also hear it on Bob Dylan In Concert: Brandeis University.  (A 1963 recording.) Dylan has performed the song 50 times in concert.

The first time I wrote about this song was in September 2008.

It’s a song about old friends from his second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. As I listen to it again I am impressed at the maturity he demonstrated in these early songs.

Bob Dylan’s Dream

While riding on a train goin' west,
I fell asleep for to take my rest.
I dreamed a dream that made me sad,
Concerning myself and the first few friends I had.

With half-damp eyes I stared to the room
Where my friends and I spent many an afternoon,
Where we together weathered many a storm,
Laughin' and singin' till the early hours of the morn.

By the old wooden stove where our hats was hung,
Our words were told, our songs were sung,
Where we longed for nothin' and were quite satisfied
Talkin' and a-jokin' about the world outside.

With haunted hearts through the heat and cold,
We never thought we could ever get old.
We thought we could sit forever in fun
But our chances really was a million to one.

As easy it was to tell black from white,
It was all that easy to tell wrong from right.
And our choices were few and the thought never hit
That the one road we traveled would ever shatter and split.

How many a year has passed and gone,
And many a gamble has been lost and won,
And many a road taken by many a friend,
And each one I've never seen again.

I wish, I wish, I wish in vain,
That we could sit simply in that room again.
Ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat,
I'd give it all gladly if our lives could be like that.

If you have a friend whom you have known all your life since grade school, I consider you most blessed. If you have a friend whom you have not stayed in touch with because you moved away, get back in touch… and promise to meet again some day.

* * * *
Meantime, life goes on all around you. Don't let it pass you by.

Bob Dylan's Dream

About two months ago I got a new (used) car, and it has temporarily changed my lifestyle. The reason being is that it does not have a CD player so that I have been listening to the radio. It's probably a good cultural experience, listening to what people are talking about, and to the music that is airing these days after ten years of audio books.

One thing I noticed the other day while listening to a music station, there aren't a lot of song writers with the lyrical pen Dylan brought to the music scene five decades ago. That's probably harsh, but one song during yesterday's morning commute just made me cringe with its predictability and lack of originality. The song's only real value was the offering up of a simple tune with modern high-tech production values. It was sung by a guy whose name people know, and he's probably made money singing so he's happy. But what a yawner compared to the depth and melancholy connection that a Dylan transfusion offers.

This example may appear simple, but there is more to the song as it unfolds, and the endgame is a real payoff.

Bob Dylan's Dream

While riding on a train goin’ west
I fell asleep for to take my rest
I dreamed a dream that made me sad
Concerning myself and the first few friends I had

With half-damp eyes I stared to the room
Where my friends and I spent many an afternoon
Where we together weathered many a storm
Laughin’ and singin’ till the early hours of the morn

By the old wooden stove where our hats was hung
Our words were told, our songs were sung
Where we longed for nothin’ and were quite satisfied
Talkin’ and a-jokin’ about the world outside

With haunted hearts through the heat and cold
We never thought we could ever get old
We thought we could sit forever in fun
But our chances really was a million to one

As easy it was to tell black from white
It was all that easy to tell wrong from right
And our choices were few and the thought never hit
That the one road we traveled would ever shatter and split

How many a year has passed and gone
And many a gamble has been lost and won
And many a road taken by many a friend
And each one I’ve never seen again

I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
That we could sit simply in that room again
Ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat
I’d give it all gladly if our lives could be like that

Copyright © 1963, 1964 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1991, 1992 by Special Rider Music

Lost Friends

Those early years we often don’t fully appreciate our friendships. I moved away from Maple Heights, Ohio and never really stayed in touch with anyone. Our lives move forward into a new trajectory… and we meet new people.

But as we get older, and begin to understand ourselves a bit, we are less haphazard in our friendships. We begin to seek out like minded people with values or interests similar to ours. It takes time. New interests or changes in geography test these friendships. And as we are flung forward by fate and circumstances, and choices, for better or worse, we disconnect and reconnect with many people of greater or lesser influence upon us.

Unfortunately, like the Robert Frost poem about two roads diverging, many of the wonderful people who were once part of our lives get left behind. Occasionally it is due to our own neglect, or failure to value those treasured people.

As we get older, we value the good in others more deeply, especially when there are those rare connections that seem like true gifts. But it is with great pain and dismay that I remember all the really special people whom I failed to value, and even sometimes hurt through my own insensitivity and self-centeredness.

Here’s a song about old friends by Dylan from his second album, The Freewhelin’ Bob Dylan. As I listen to it again I am impressed at the maturity he demonstrated in these early songs.

Bob Dylan’s Dream
by Bob Dylan, in a tone most mournful…

While riding on a train goin' west,
I fell asleep for to take my rest.
I dreamed a dream that made me sad,
Concerning myself and the first few friends I had.

With half-damp eyes I stared to the room
Where my friends and I spent many an afternoon,
Where we together weathered many a storm,
Laughin' and singin' till the early hours of the morn.

By the old wooden stove where our hats was hung,
Our words were told, our songs were sung,
Where we longed for nothin' and were quite satisfied
Talkin' and a-jokin' about the world outside.

With haunted hearts through the heat and cold,
We never thought we could ever get old.
We thought we could sit forever in fun
But our chances really was a million to one.

As easy it was to tell black from white,
It was all that easy to tell wrong from right.
And our choices were few and the thought never hit
That the one road we traveled would ever shatter and split.

How many a year has passed and gone,
And many a gamble has been lost and won,
And many a road taken by many a friend,
And each one I've never seen again.

I wish, I wish, I wish in vain,
That we could sit simply in that room again.
Ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat,
I'd give it all gladly if our lives could be like that.

If you have a friend whom you have known all your life since grade school, I consider you most blessed. If you have a friend whom you have not stayed in touch with because you moved away, get back in touch… and promise to meet again some day.