Dreamer
Jon and I first wrote a version of this song when we were about 15. I had been listening to a lot of Goo Goo Dolls at the time and I think this was my poor attempt at trying create something along the lines of Iris.
We then performed this at a friend’s party, with just Jon on an acoustic guitar along with a handful of covers. I often get quite bad post-performance anxiety and I remember afterwards feeling so embarrassed that I failed to hit the G4s at the end of the song and started drinking from a bottle of wine (no glass) and chipped the corner off my tooth. This was part of the inspiration towards the lyrics in Permanent.
When we formed the rest of the band, this was a song we brought to the table - we took a loose acoustic song and turned it into something far more fully fledged.
There’s a track on Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (I forget which) that clearly influenced Jon’s guitar solo here, as I remember we were both listening to it a lot at the time.
One of my favourite songs on the EP, and I was lucky enough to perform it at Jon’s not-wedding many years later. It was also where the EP name “The Cold Awakening” came from.
Lyrics
She was standing at the corner, waiting for me to show
If only this was real, and not a daydream
But when I think about her, I feel so good inside
If only she was just a little more keen.
Take me back, come on let me dream.
In my private world, of make believe.
The cold awakening is too much for me
But in my private world, I can make believe.
This mirage is built on fiction. but it feels so true to me
A place where I escape, enjoy my fantasies
When I’m stranded in the real world, there’s not a lot I can do
When I try to talk, I feel so tongue tied.
I made this world, to do you no harm
I made this world, to find the girl
But in reality, I’m just a dreamer
I’m just a dreamer
I’m just a dreamer
Make believe
In my dreams
Come with me
Take me back, come on let me dream
In my private world, of make believe
The cold awakening is too much for me
But in my private world, in my private world
I can make believe.
Make believe.