Hold Fast to Dreams

Christina and I were waiting at the bus station, talking about the best songs about dreams. She noted that it would be fun to have a mix tape entirely composed of dream songs. I promised to send her one.


Hold Fast to Dreams

1. Depeche Mode, "Dreaming of Me"
2. Fleetwood Mac, "Dreams"
3. New Order, "Dreams Never End"
4. The Everly Brothers, "All I Have to Do is Dream"
5. Blondie, "Dreaming"
6. Otis Redding, "I've Got Dreams to Remember"
7. Tom Waits, "Innocent When You Dream (78)"
8. TV on the Radio, "Dreams"
9. Caetano Veloso, "Dreamland"
10. Miles Davis, "Moon Dreams"
11. Nico, "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams"
12. Tom Petty, "Runnin' Down a Dream"
13. Eurythmics, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"
14. The Jam, "Dreams of Children"
15. Patsy Cline, "Sweet Dreams"
16. Roy Orbison, "In Dreams"
17. Van Morrison, "These Dreams of You"
18. The Human League, "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of"
19. Fiona Apple, "Sleep to Dream"
20. Bob Dylan, "Series of Dreams"

The one rule we decided on for this mix is that it had to be straight from my music library--no internet help. Even then, I had over 200 songs to choose from, not including Aerosmith's "Dream On", which I could have sworn was on my computer but apparently was wiped out somewhere in the Hard Drive Crash of '07. It might not have even made the final cut (putting it on a mix is a little like putting "American Pie" on a mix these days), and there were plenty of others cut for being too nightmarish, which may warrant its own mix tape. But what I've got here more than suffices.

Dreams are big in sythpop and new wave, inspiring some of the best songs by Depeche Mode, New Order, Blondie, Human League and Eurythmics, but the dream MVP is obviously Bob Dylan, who's been recording great songs about dreams from his 20s through his 60s. I settled on "Series of Dreams," the gorgeous closing track to his first Bootleg Series album, which sweetly ties the '80s new wavers to the rock pioneers (Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison, The Everly Brothers) who grace this mix. Hold fast, Christina.

Brooklyn Calling

Does this look like the kind of mix that would have "I Just Called to Say I Love You?" Go to the mall.



Brooklyn Calling

1. Foo Fighters, "This is a Call"
2. Queensrÿche, "Revolution Calling"
3. The Rolling Stones, "Come On"
4. Muddy Waters, "Long Distance Call"
5. The Beatles, "You Won't See Me"
6. X, "Your Phone's Off the Hook But You're Not"
7. The White Stripes, "Hello Operator"
8. Chuck Berry, "Memphis"
9. The Grateful Dead, "Operator"
10. Kraftwerk, "The Telephone Call"
11. Blondie, "Hanging on the Telephone"
12. Al Green, "Call Me (Come Back Home)"
13. Lou Reed, "New York Telephone Conversation"
14. The Notwist, "Pick up the Phone"
15. Love, "The Red Telephone"
16. Penguin Cafe Orchestra, "Telephone and Rubber Band"
17. Prince, "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore"
18. The Mothers of Invention, "You Didn't Try to Call Me"
19. The Clash, "London Calling"
20. Bob Dylan & The Band, "Long Distance Operator"
21. Tom Waits, "Telephone Call From Istanbul"
22. The Cure, "Wrong Number"
23. The Replacements, "Answering Machine"

23 songs that are less annoying than "I Just Called to Say I Love You" or "Call Me Maybe."

I put this together for some volunteers who will be making calls to help re-elect the President this weekend. For their sake, I'm not including the Dillinger Escape Plan or the Beastie Boys, although those might have been too distracting anyway. Thus, Brooklyn Calling doesn't get any heavier than "This is a Call," which, since Dave Grohl wrote it, will offend exactly no one.

Like many of my half-decent ideas, this one started with the Sound Opinions podcast. Every week, Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot kick off their call-taking segment ("On Sound Opinions, everyone's a critic, so give us a call on our hotline...") by playing a great song about the phone. Had I not heard them on Sound Opinions, I never would've picked out Chuck Berry's "Memphis" or "Come On," the Rolling Stones' first-ever single (also written by Berry) as phone songs. Kot and DeRogatis have also included "Operator," "The Telephone Call," "Call Me," "New York Telephone Conversation" and others on their show. Finally, thumbs up to Sound Opinions for featuring "Hanging on the Telephone," which I prefer to Blondie's more famous phone song.

Much has changed since the days of switchboard operators, and despite the underlying phone theme, many of these songs are hard to apply to the work that we do on the campaign. The most relatable songs here are definitely "Wrong Number," "Answering Machine" and "Your Phone's Off the Hook But You're Not."