Writing songs in your sleep

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: Bert
Date: 27 Mar 11 - 05:41 AM

The only time I did anything like that, I could only remeber the last line when I woke up.

So I had to write the song all over again.

Here 'tiz...

Another Broken Heart

Momma you are dressing up you're going into town
You'll be going dancing in some Honkey Tonk Lounge
You're gonna find some Cowboy and he's gonna let you down
Momma you don't need another broken heart

Momma there's us kids at home and you're our bestest friend
we can't bear to hear you cry for nights and nights on end
every time you break your heart it takes so long to mend
Momma you don't need another broken heart

So keep on changing partners as you dance around the hall
flirt with all them Cowboys and have yourself a ball
but if one of them should hold you tight be careful not to fall
Momma you don't need another broken heart

Momma you are dressing up you're going into town
You'll be going dancing in some Honkey Tonk Lounge
You're gonna find some Cowboy and he's gonna let you down
Momma you don't need another broken heart

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: Mr Red
Date: 27 Mar 11 - 10:13 AM

reggie miles
& anyone

Re: repeated dreams.

This usually refers to an unresolved problem. Your sleeping brain is trying to square a circle or something and hasn't got the data, or the skill or whatever to resolve the thing.

For further reading try finding a copy of "Creative Dreaming" by Dr Patricia Garfield. It was the culmination of her PhD on the subject of dreams . Getting a PhD on the subject was quite a feat 30 years ago.

There may be other books but that is the one that opened-up my mind to the possibilities.

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: GUEST,Canberra Chris (as guest)
Date: 27 Mar 11 - 08:52 PM

Yes! Quite often. Songs, tunes, poems, stories.

I think a hidden part of our mind just keeps working on stuff, while we are awake as well as while we are asleep, like the stars are still there day and night. Between sleeping and waking some leakage can occur. Sometimes also when awake 'an idea come into our head'. It feeds into dreams more easily, and sometimes we remember those.

But it helps if it generally doesn't intrude into our conscious thought. Some minds may just be more leaky than others. The downside is that I am day-dreamy, absent-minded, have to work to focus on normal life. I manage OK, but at the wrong moment I have tell that intriguing new tune to go away.

Dreams I think are of differnt kinds. Some are coherent, and if rememebered can provide whole created events including music or song. Some of these do seem special, others much what we would compose when awake. Other dreams are incoherent. But I did once wake and write in the dark the revealed key to the universe. Next morning I read on the pad: "To tie an indefinte number of holes to a string vest, said the Professor."

Chris

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: Mr Red
Date: 30 Mar 11 - 05:45 AM

Sounds more like the dream was telling you that there are holes in our knowledge. Extending the metaphor you could hint at the infamous unknown unknowns. Adding holes to a string vest means there is more we don't know we don't know than the things we know we don't know and are pursuing currently. Or it could be telling you that your string vest is wearing out and needs repair. Dreams can be like that - you are the best judge.

In my experience dreams are far more likely to point in the direction of the message and point from several viewpoints so you can triangulate. Less likely to give you the finished result that needs no honing.

Ideas that pop into your head within an hour of waking are likely to be from dreams, at other times they probably are triggered by some stimulous in your environment. Maybe in conjunction with all that immersion you have been doing (aka research) &/or unconscious dream recollection.

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: t.jack
Date: 30 Mar 11 - 10:38 AM

I will be working on a song ,get stuck on a word or verse. When i sleep, it happens. BANG! thats it! I`ll write it down and come morning my eyes feel they`ve been slugged.However there is a great word or words that have come out of a restless night..It is difficult on my partner as she also wakes up. So, when there is a full moon i tend to go to another room for the night.Sngs i have written maybe a month pass might come back and need editing??

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: GUEST,NoteCatcher
Date: 04 Apr 11 - 05:38 AM

This was a very intressting read! it seems that our brains have potential, its like with the brains of autistic persons but they can use in conrtrast to normal people who only through dreams can see its potential?

Anyway i also have been experiencing that i seem to compose wonderful tunes and melodies in my dreams. In my dreams i always preform on a stage before unkown people. The theme is almost always Opera where i express my feelings and sing with the tunes i come up with. I must say the music i have remembered is really sweet and touching much like some of Verdis or another great composer... to bad i cant remember it to its full content

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: Mr Red
Date: 04 Apr 11 - 05:51 AM

do more immersion.

Interestingly the New Scientist had an article this week, on memory.
Two things I gleaned from it were
1) short term memory (about 7 seconds ish) can only hold about 6 or 7 items - normally for normal people. But you can train it to up that to 7/8.
2) in swatting for exams (eg) you do better if you read-up for a spell then sleep awhile - but they seem to refer to a "nap" - power sleep.

So I would recommend playing some tunes you admire before going to bed. See what pops out of your head in the morning - or when you wake.

Dreams need feeding or all you will get is night starvation. As the old catch-paraphrase has it.

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: reggie miles
Date: 04 Apr 11 - 02:59 PM

An interesting Blues came via a dream that I had last night. At first, I could only recall a couple of lines, that I distinctly remembered from the dream. They echoed in mind as I groggily awoke. It was as if the words and music were somehow part of the dream, but I can't recall what the rest of the dream was about. I fleshed out what I thought the words were pertaining to for while, trying to maintain the rhythm and then got stuck and decided to go back to bed. When I awoke, a few hours later, I had another piece of the concept in my head from another dream. So, I used the idea to work up the rest of the song.

The thing that puzzles me, about this particular song, is that it falls so neatly into a musical formula that I've never ever used before in my songwriting. My songs are almost always not anything that I'd consider the norm, with regard to their musical structure. They, more often than not, seem to fall into other non-standard patterns of approach. This doesn't bother me. It's just odd to me that this song has such a standard form, one that I've never used before.

This seems to be my waking mind applying some musical aspects onto the writing process. Hey, that's perfectly fine by me. If I've got both my dream states and my waking thoughts working in tandem, I'm bound to get twice the amount of work done. ;o)

The melodic structure reminds me of something that BB King might use.

The Ruse by Reggie Miles © 4:44AM 4/4/11 All rights reserved

Gonna go with the flow
Believe one more lie
Even though I know
You love another guy

I will play the fool
Though my heart is breakin'
I will play the fool
There's no mistakin'

Your love isn't real
It don't matter how I feel
It's all just a ruse
That's why I've got the blues

I can't think straight
While in such pain
I know that it's too late
There's nothin' to gain

I will play the fool
While my heart is breakin'
I will play the fool
There's no mistakin'

Your love isn't real
You don't care how I feel
I fell for your ruse
And now I've got the blues

And it's such a pity
When love loses its way
In every hood in every city
It happens every day

I was blinded by the hope
That I was the only one
But I was just a dope
You tricked to have your fun

And I played the fool
While my heart was breakin'
I played the fool
And now there's no mistakin'

Your love was never real
You never cared how I might feel
Yes, I fell for your ruse
And now I've got the blues

Your deception, hoax and guile
Your dodge, your ploy, your sham
Worked for a little while
But now I'm wise to your scam

I was blinded by the hope
That I was your only one
But I was just a dope
You tricked to have your fun

So, I played the fool
As my heart was breakin'
Yes, I played the fool
And now there's no mistakin'

Your love was just a cheat
That left me sittin' on the street
Singin' 'bout your ruse
And how I got the blues

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: GUEST,It blew my mind
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 11:08 AM

now I don't know if anyone will even read this but I've just and the music that I heard in my dream made me serch the subject. Have I heard this song before or did I actually think it up myself? I don't know it sounded so well composed that I can't help thinking I've heard it before. But when I searched up the song from some of the lyrics which stood out (On the chorus section)I can find absolutely NOTHING. The lyrics which stood out where "When you're in the desert, you feel all alone" The thing that gets me is that this paticular soung was like some POWER BALLAD stuff. with legit live drums a powerful uplifting guitar (Not Electric..Acoustic) I woke up feeling like I was going to cry . It was that up lifting and powerful. such a beutifull sound. Now we all know dreams can take the form in the most craziest creative manner. The song kicked in after I had dreamed up what FELT like an action movie. I could even tell you 1 of the cast but it isn't really important. But yeah it kicked in on 1 of those "driving into the sunset" type sequences. Then I woke up like "WOAH" and proceeded to search for it on youtube and lyric sites based on the words I rememberd but found nothing. Maybe somebody could clarify whether this is actually a real song that I've heard but can't actually remember hearing. Or that maybe I made up this song in my sleep. either way I need to know because this song was something special. Thank you.

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 11:27 AM

I can't answer your question but I know exactly what you mean. Years ago I worked in an office and my desk was beside a lovely Nigerian chap. I have no idea whether or not he was musical in real life, but one night I dreamed that three or four of his friends were there visiting him at work and they were all singing what I knew (don't ask me how) was a traditional Nigerian song of the sea. It was too serene to be a work chantey so perhaps it was an invocation of some sort - I only knew that it was in some way addressed TO the ocean rather than simply being a song about it.

The thing is, that was possibly the most beautiful music I've ever heard in my life: deep, rich a capella harmony singing. I have no idea how Nigerian it was (knowing nothing about their cultural traditions) or whether my subconscious made it up or was playing back something I heard somewhere and then forgot. Certainly there was no real-life connection with this man and music, and I never met any of his friends from outside work.

Of COURSE I can't now remember the melody, only its beauty and something of its textures & colours. A fascinating issue, this one. But without being able to hear the music in question, one that is destined to remain shadowed in mystery.

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: nutty
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 12:21 PM

I have a friend who regards this experience as being "visited by the song fairy". I so loved this explanation that I wrote a song about it.

THE SONG FAIRY

LAST NIGHT THE SONG FAIRY CAME TO CALL
SHE CAME WHEN I WAS FAST ASLEEP
SHE BARELY MADE A SOUND AT ALL
AS INTO MY MIND SHE DID CREEP
SHE FILLED MY HEAD WITH SONGS SO FINE
THAT IN THE MORN I WOKE UP SINGING
SHE SAID THAT I COULD MAKE THEM MINE
AND WHEN SHE LEFT MY HEAD WAS RINGING

THE WORDS, THOUGH MIXED AND SPINNING ROUND
CAME GUSHING FORTH AT RECORD PACE
AND AS I QUICKLY WROTE THEM DOWN
WELL, OTHERS CAME TO TAKE THEIR PLACE
THEY TOLD OF SORROW AND OF LOVE
OF CHILDHOOD MEMORIES AND OLD AGE
OF NATURE AND THE HEAVENS ABOVE
AND SO THEY FILLED PAGE AFTER PAGE

THE TUNES, THEY CAME JUST LIKE THE WORDS
NOTE AFTER NOTE, EACH FOLLOWED ON
'TIL IN MY HEAD A VOICE I HEARD
AND IT WAS SINGING EVERY SONG
LAST NIGHT THE SONG FAIRY CAME TO CALL
SHE CAME WHEN I WAS FAST ASLEEP
SHE BARELY MADE A SOUND AT ALL
AS INTO MY MIND SHE DID CREEP

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: GUEST,Mark
Date: 03 Nov 11 - 08:14 PM

Just read the post by Blew My Mind after having nearly the same experience.   Almost exactly, but mine was not a power ballad, however did share the same song structure as one (multiple parts, some repetitive).   There was a brief pause, and a second song started, like listening to a CD, and then I "woke up" although I was really awake the whole time.   The music seemed to last about 60 to 90 seconds, and always happens inbetween wakefulness and sleep.

The music was the most crystal clear, loud, layered, amazing music I have ever heard. It did have vocals but I do not remember them nor the lyrics.   For sure this is a song I have never heard as I listen to lots of music, and would love this band if they actually existed!   This has happened the same way about 4 or 5 times in my life, and usually while napping in my bed.

I wish I knew what it means.   Also, interesting the few posts I have read mention feeling a sense of extasy, and waking up crying, which is exactly what happened to me.   If I could could just remember and reproduce the songs I would be famous! : )