☝️ Key Points
- The song is about a complex and inexplicable dream
- It's about the search for identity and understanding in a confusing world
- The dream contains beautiful images and beings that talk about God
- There are moments of confusion and loss of one's own identity
- In the end, the dream leads to a feeling of knowledge and self-discovery
Interpretation
In the lyrics of the song "The Dream Song" by
Joan Baez, it is about a dream that the singer had. The dream is about a naked, barefoot girl whom she speaks to by a river. Although the girl's mouth doesn't move, strange scenes appear in front of them. The dream is beyond the limits of understanding and shows beautiful beings under a vast sky, talking about God as if they could define Him. It is a dream of music for the deaf and colors for the blind.
Then, the leaves turn into a thousand tears and the singer finds herself in a crazy mirror labyrinth, but she can't find her own face. A voice comes closer and reassures her. She thinks she has woken up and her mother is standing in front of her, but her heart breaks like the ribbons in her mother's hair. Her hair ribbons turn into streets surrounding a not so perfect world.
In a corner of the dream, there is a man with a blue guitar. Although the guitar has no strings, the music touches the stars. His long dark curls turn into gold before her eyes. The barefoot girl smiles to the side and it feels real.
Then, a thousand birds fly away with joyful noise and the angels in the sky rejoice. The singer recognizes her own face and her own voice. It's just a dream, one of those dreams that keep going and have scenes like in a gypsy song.
When she truly wakes up, she is caught between dream and reality. She doesn't know who she is. It was a dream within a dream.
So, the lyrics of the song "The Dream Song" are about the complex and unexplainable elements of a dream and the feelings it evokes. It is a song about the search for identity and understanding in a confusing world.