I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
"I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" | |
---|---|
Song by Bob Dylan | |
from the album John Wesley Harding | |
Released | December 27, 1967 |
Recorded | October 17, 1967 |
Genre | Folk rock |
Length | 3:53 |
Label | Columbia |
Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan |
Producer(s) | Bob Johnston |
"I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" is a song by Bob Dylan that was originally released on his 1967 album John Wesley Harding. It was recorded at the first John Wesley Harding session on October 17, 1967.[1] It has been covered by many artists, including Joan Baez on her all-Dylan album Any Day Now, as well as by Vic Chesnutt, Eric Clapton, John Doe, Thea Gilmore, Adam Selzer and Dirty Projectors.[2] In addition, Jimi Hendrix at one point intended to cover this song, but felt it was too personal to Dylan and instead covered a different song from the album, "All Along the Watchtower".[3]
"I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" is a pensive ballad.[4] Like the rest of the John Wesley Harding album, the music of "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" uses spare, unobtrusive musical accompaniment.[4] The primary instruments are an acoustic guitar and drums.[4] The lyrics describe a dream that is enigmatic and subject to interpretation.[4] However, the lyrics do convey a deeply felt sense of guilt, as well as a vision of faith, righteousness, fear and betrayal.[4][5] The sense of guilt is particularly prevalent in the final verse:[4]
I dreamed I saw St. Augustine
Alive, with fiery breath
And I dreamed I was amongst the ones that put him out to death
Oh, I awoke in anger, so alone and terrified
I put my fingers against the glass
And bowed my head and cried
The opening couplet of the song paraphrases the song "Joe Hill" by Alfred Hayes and Earl Robinson, which begins with the lines "I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night / Alive as you or me."[1][6] "Joe Hill" was a folk song written as a tribute to the union organizer Joe Hill, who was viewed by supporters as a martyr after he was convicted of a motiveless murder based on weak evidence.[1][6] The reference is ironic, since the song seems to deny the existence of modern martyrs to lead humanity towards salvation.[6]
The St. Augustine in the title has often been linked to
One analysis of the song, primarily cited by American Dylan scholar Anthony Lewis (not to be confused with American author Anthony Lewis), links the lyrics to John Milton's Methought I Saw my Late Espoused Saint. Often chronicled as Milton's 23rd sonnet, the poem tells the story of a man whose late wife came to him in a dream, only to be pulled away by the arrival of morning. The similarities between "in a voice without restraint" (Dylan) and "in Heaven without restraint" (Milton), "Oh I awoke in anger, so alone and terrified; I put my fingers against the glass and bowed my head and cried" (Dylan) and "But Oh! as to embrace me she inclin'd, I wak'd, she fled, and day brought back my night" (Milton), and the title of the works themselves have given rise to this comparison.
In a 2005 poll of artists published by Mojo, "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" was listed as the #76 greatest Bob Dylan song of all time.[9]
Dylan played the song live, in a slow waltz arrangement, at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1969,[1] a performance included on Isle of Wight Live, part of the 4-CD deluxe edition of The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969–1971). He also played the song live on the Rolling Thunder Revue in the 1970s, as may be heard on the box set The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings, and with the Heartbreakers in the 1980s, but has rarely performed the song live since.[1]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55652-843-9.
- allmusic. Archived from the originalon June 27, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
- ISBN 978-0-312-13062-6.
i dreamed i saw st. augustine hendrix.
- ^ allmusic. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
- ISBN 0-312-68790-7.
- ^ ISBN 1-56025-185-9.
- ^ ISBN 0-9723592-0-6.
- ISBN 0-19-503622-0.
- ^ "The 100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs". Mojo. September 2005. Retrieved 2009-07-10.