Dreams are a funny old thing, aren't they. I have several reoccurring ones. I have dreams that I am back at school, I have dreams that my old bassplayer Paul Hircombe, who passed away in 2012, has come back to life and wants to join the band. I have a dream that Kim Basinger is my girlfriend and her favourite pub is the Railway Tavern in Mill Hill (don't tell the wife, and it's not a rude dream, we just sit there watching football on the telly with her telling me it is more exciting than going out in Hollywood, whilst she drinks pints of bitter). It is funny really because we talk about all of our dreams coming true, but I can't say any of those wold really make me happy, apart from Paul coming back from the dead. In fact it is rare to the point of almost never happening that I have dreams that I would want to come true. Often, I dream that I am single and living in a grotty flat on Mollison way, having made bad life choices. I once had a dream that Bob Marley had come back from the dead and was doing a massive festival in the Totteridge valley. I had been recruited into his band, but I realised that I didn't know any of the songs and I felt like a complete lemon, with all of the world looking on.
On one occasion I dreamed that Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 3-1. I woke up in the middle of the night in a state of excitement. I woke Clare up and told her to remind me to put some money on it, as they were playing later that day. She was cross but agreed. When the scores came in, she said "Where are you taking me with your winnings" as the score had come up. I had completely forgotten, so hadn't placed a bet and was cross thats he hadn't reminded me. Mind you, I was also pleased that City had one. Perhaps the most shocking case of a dream coming true was a story my Father used to tell. The rear gunner in his Wellington F/O John Charles Murphy told him he'd had a terrible dream. He was dying in flames, having been shot up by a night fighter, over the Ploesti oilfields in Romania. He asked Dad whether they could duck the operation if Ploesti was the target. Dad said no. Sadly, his dream came true. The rest of the crew bailed out, but he couldn't and died.
Over the years there has been much debate as to why we dream. Even dogs dream, as any dog owner will tell you. They will woof and their legs will move. Sometimes they will wake up startled. Psychologists sort of agree that it is the brain running through various difficult scenarios in life, so we are well prepared for them. I guess that if ever Kim Basinger wants to become my girlfriend, I will know where to take her on our first date and what to buy her. I'm less sure I am prepared for Paul to return from the dead and join the band. In the dream it seems like a perfectly ordinary situation, but I can honestly say it would disturb me should it happen. Some people have suggested that dreams are portals into alternative realities where other versions of ourselves exist and different lives are lead. If there is any truth in this, I am glad I am in this version.
What is interesting to me is how many very important people in my life, and many of the things I've done are deleted. Most often I am my teenage self or in my early 20's and the people who appear by and large are figments of my imagination, or people I met very casually. These days I rarely have naughty dreams, which is a great pity, and when I do it is my teenage self and the future has not unfurled in the way that this life has. I often wake up more puzzled than anything, when I try and make sense of the completely ridiculous situations I find myself in. The only real saving grace is that the situations are at times a good inspiration for songs. Not that in the way that I dream a great tune, but it reminds me of a ridiculous situation that is ripe for a song by The False Dots. One of the most annoying things is occasionally I dream I am working with the band and we are playing an absolutely banging tune, with a nailed on solid gold hook. The trouble is that when I wake up, the riff disappears. It is almost like a wind up. The human mind is a very complicated thing. I am convinced that we do get glimpses into things that are useful, but I think we are all too stupid to use the information properly.
One of the more interesting benefits of AI is ot does actually let you recreate your dreams, or segments of them, if you can remember them and can be bothered to do the storyboard. As I mentioned, I have had many dreams about my schooldays and stern nuns clobbering me. This is not a sexual thing, as people who went to St Vincents Primary School and similar establishments will tell you. To us, they looked and acted like Daleks from Dr Who. They always seemed very stern and miserable when we were at school. I joked to a mate about this a while back and he said "Do you reckon when we go home, they'd put on Ska music on the school record player and skank around to it, because you can't be that miserable all the time". I'd like to think they did and that in their dreams their existence was happier than the grim reality they faced with us every day. I made a little video based on this, using a picture of my old headmistress, Sister Gabriel. I did not do it to be disrespectful. I genuinely hope that somewere in her life was a bit of happiness that she never shared with us kids. Sadly, in her real life, she left a shadow that still gives me nightmares. When people say "I hope all your dreams come true", she is the one who always makes me think 'I bloody well hope not'.
In the bible, there were plenty of examples of the Angel of The Lord coming to various people with messages and missions in dreams. As a fairly sceptical person, this does trouble me, as some of the most central planks of the worlds greatest religion are based on such dreams. If the Good Lord came to me in a dream and set me a mission, that was vital to humanity, I do worry that the message would meet the same fate as the message about Man City winning 3-1. I'd awake being terribly excited, then forget all about it.
In the title of this blog, I promised you that all of your dreams will come true, if that is what you really want. Of course it is not in my remit to grant that wish, but if you could have all of your actual dreams come true in your life (without the power to stop the ones you don't like coming true), would you really want it. I know very few people who would take it. Of course there is the odd one that would be pretty nice, but if we had to take all of them, no thanks!
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