musical dreams

I’m not sure how common this is, but once in awhile during dreams I’m able to compose pretty catchy music. Usually it happens when I’m listening to the radio in a dream, and invariably I remember the song perfectly after waking up and for years to come.

Some years ago in a dream I heard Paul McCartney on the radio, and though the lyrics of the song were utter nonsense in usual dream style, the music was definitely McCartneyesque, and I still remember the song as clearly as if it were a real one. That one was called “Plenty of Evils, Plenty of Possibilities,” and I was quickly assured with laughter by my Beatles-worshipping best friend that no such tune really exists in the catalog.

Last night it was a sort of 1930’sesque, light-hearted song in praise of the moon, accompanied by a repeated peppy xylophone riff. The lyrics weren’t even too bad in this case, though somewhat nonsensical:

“One… two… colder than a candle…
Three… four… brighter than the summer snooooooooowwwwwww…”

The title of the song was “Circular,” which I suppose is a worse one-word song title for the moon than John Coltrane’s “Satellite” (probably my favorite Coltrane song; it’s an extended modal riff on the old standard “How High the Moon”; listen to it on iTunes some time).