Was It In A Dream?

Eleven days ago I wrote a post ‘When I Feel Blue’ about the Everly Brothers hit song Dream for the New Daily Post, but that is neither here nor there concerning today’s prompt.  The next thought that came to my mind was Moody Blues On The Threshold Of A Dream album which actually has a song on it called The Dream.  I fooled around with this for a while and then I decided to pass.  I got a late start today, but I did notice that the only deadhead in the hameau already grabbed ‘Sugar Magnolia’, so I will do something else.  I decided to go with John Lennon #9 Dream, which I really like, even though it is rather simple and mostly meaningless.

John Lennon seemed to be fascinated more accurately obsessed with the recurrence of the number nine throughout his life and he admitted that he did not have any idea what this song was about.  I read some interpretations about the songs meaning being that John had a premonition of his death, that this was a drug hallucination, an incantation to produce mystic Shamanism magic and even about a UFO abduction.  This song is peaceful, yet eerie, and it can put you in an ethereal trance with its soul touching melodic, magical, confusing, elusive and mind bending lyrics that are present, but still remain intangible.  During the middle chorus and again at the end of this song #9 Dream, John sings these nonsense or foreign-sounding lyrics “Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse”, which is just a phrase that came to him in a dream and he decided to base a song around it.  This is one of John’s more peculiar songs and I am no expert in Foreign languages, but I have read that Awakawa means ‘situation’ or ‘case’ in Japanese, while poussé is French for ‘pushed’.  Was John trying to say ‘the situation pushes’ or ‘the plot thickens’?

This song came out on the Walls and Bridges album and it is probably the best song on this album.  John Lennon wrote and produced #9 Dream and it was recorded in July-August of 1974.  John sings lead vocals and plays acoustic guitar, with Nicky Hopkins on electric piano, Jesse Ed Davis on electric guitar, Eddie Mottau playing acoustic guitar, Ken Ascher on clavinet, Klaus Voormann playing bass guitar, Arthur Jenkins percussion, Jim Keltner drums, Bobby Keys on saxophone and May Pang, Lori Burton and Joey Dambra doing the backing vocals.  The girl whispering in this song is May Pang, John’s ex girlfriend and she sang on this song because the female vocalist scheduled for the session did not show up.  In 1980 John said about this song, “That’s what I call craftsmanship writing, meaning, you know, I just churned that out. I’m not putting it down, it’s just what it is, but I just sat down and wrote it, you know, with no real inspiration, based on a dream I’d had.”

So long ago
Was it in a dream?
Was it just a dream?
I know, yes I know
It seemed so very real
Seemed so real to me

Took a walk down the street
Through the heat whispered trees
I thought I could hear
Hear
Hear
Hear

Somebody call out my name (John)
As it started to rain
Two spirits dancing so strange
Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse
Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse
Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse

Dream, dream away
Magic in the air
Was magic in the air?
I believe, yes I believe
More I cannot say
What more can I say?

On a river of sound
Through the mirror go round, round
I thought I could feel
Feel
Feel
Feel
Music touching my soul
Something warm, sudden cold
The spirit dance was unfolding
Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse
Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse
Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse
Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse
Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse
Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse
Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse
Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse
Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse
Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse
Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse
Ah! Bowakawa, pousse pousse

Written for 6/24/18 Helen Vahdati’s This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time Song Lyric Sunday Theme where the prompt is “dream”.