Dreams & Songs – Gov’t Mule
“Dreams & Songs”
Gov't Mule
FROM
Revolution Come…Revolution Go
(2017)
In a Relix interview around the time of this album’s release, Warren Haynes, when asked about this particular song, said he explicitly wrote it while reflecting on the famous cliché “You Can’t Go Home Again” – He noted that while you are on a lifelong journey, looking back makes you realize exactly how much you have lived through and how much you, and the places you came from, have changed.
I agree and as usual he captures things so beautifully in his lyrics. For me, I can’t go home again, but not because it has changed, but because I have.
Over the course of my life I have been learning to recognize all the stuff I have been carrying, to actually feel the weight of the things that have burdened me, and to drop them. And often, as Kelly Carlin once told me, to look at them and say “What the fuck, why do I have that – it isn’t even mine!”
Life is heavy, and the only way through the mess is through “Dreams & Songs” – like this one.
I posted the lyrics below and I encourage you to read through them.
I agree and as usual he captures things so beautifully in his lyrics. For me, I can’t go home again, but not because it has changed, but because I have.
Over the course of my life I have been learning to recognize all the stuff I have been carrying, to actually feel the weight of the things that have burdened me, and to drop them. And often, as Kelly Carlin once told me, to look at them and say “What the fuck, why do I have that – it isn’t even mine!”
Life is heavy, and the only way through the mess is through “Dreams & Songs” – like this one.
I posted the lyrics below and I encourage you to read through them.
Lyrics
My whole life’s been filled with songs and dreams
When I was a child I had a time machine
Little did I know it would go too fast
Little did I know I could see the future
But not the past
Leave it all behind come what may
Always thought I’d be coming home someday
Little did I know that life is hard
Here I am now staring out a window
In my old backyard
Is there any comfort to be derived
In knowing that most of our lives
Can never be the same
We can never go back home
And those that can are lucky I guess
To somehow escape from this mess
Me I can only do it in dreams and songs
Trying to fill the hole while running the race
Leaves an even bigger empty space
But a moving target is harder to kill
Never was one for taking it easy
Or standing still
Nowadays I find myself again
Throwing stones of caution to the wind
Nothing’s really changed but the scenery
Staring into my child’s eyes I realize
What it all means to me
Is there any comfort to be derived
In knowing that most of our lives
Can never be the same
We can never go back home
And those that can are lucky I guess
To somehow escape from this mess
Me I can only do it in dreams and songs
Is there any comfort to be derived
In knowing that most of our lives
Can never be the same
We can never go back home
And those that can are lucky I guess
To somehow escape from this mess
Me I can only do it in dreams and songs
When I was a child I had a time machine
Little did I know it would go too fast
Little did I know I could see the future
But not the past
Leave it all behind come what may
Always thought I’d be coming home someday
Little did I know that life is hard
Here I am now staring out a window
In my old backyard
Is there any comfort to be derived
In knowing that most of our lives
Can never be the same
We can never go back home
And those that can are lucky I guess
To somehow escape from this mess
Me I can only do it in dreams and songs
Trying to fill the hole while running the race
Leaves an even bigger empty space
But a moving target is harder to kill
Never was one for taking it easy
Or standing still
Nowadays I find myself again
Throwing stones of caution to the wind
Nothing’s really changed but the scenery
Staring into my child’s eyes I realize
What it all means to me
Is there any comfort to be derived
In knowing that most of our lives
Can never be the same
We can never go back home
And those that can are lucky I guess
To somehow escape from this mess
Me I can only do it in dreams and songs
Is there any comfort to be derived
In knowing that most of our lives
Can never be the same
We can never go back home
And those that can are lucky I guess
To somehow escape from this mess
Me I can only do it in dreams and songs
— Warren Haynes
The Conversation