14 March 2011

You can't always get what you want

I am at an outdoor music festival, the sort of affair where you camp in the woods for a couple of nights and listen to jam bands all day. It seems to be the particular festival that I go to every year [although its physical layout in the dream is not accurate to the real festival].

I have a pipe; I seem to have a plan to "get the pipe ready" before finding someone from whom to buy some weed. "Getting the pipe ready" seems to mean lighting it four times. Lighting the pipe itself four times; it seems to light like a candle. I am walking through the large, mostly empty field, stopping every now and then and lighting the pipe, then blowing it out. After I have lit it the required number of times, I start on my way back to my trailer [I don't really have any trailer; I always bring a tent to this thing] where I plan to put away my pipe before setting out to locate some pot. When the trailer is in sight but before I reach it, I hear the opening French horn line of "You Can't Always Get What You Want." I'm singing along with this line, and then singing along with the lyrics of the first verse which seems to have been layered over the French horn part. It's really beautiful and I was very disappointed that my alarm woke me at just this moment.

*****

I had a dream featuring this festival a few months ago. The version of the fest in that dream was different from both the version in this dream and the real-life fest.

Recently I decided that I want to learn to play the saxophone. I have been reading about them and looking around to buy one. I was thinking about what that French horn line would sound like on the saxophone, either in the dream or just after I woke up, I'm not sure which. I think the pipe in the dream represented another kind of pipe, the musical kind. Last night's episode of The Simpsons featured guest stars Cheech and Chong; that could be somewhat responsible for the particular form the representation took. The common association of marijuana with musicians is probably also involved. Also, recently my piano teacher has been prodding me to play "Memory of a Free Festival," which may have put festivals on my mind.

The appearance of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" might show I am trying to accept the reality that I am not going to be a professional performer, but also that I am trying to embrace my new pursuits ("sometimes you get what you need") of writing and perhaps playing the saxophone.

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