Everybody Needs A Dream
On a bad day he couldn’t hit a cow in the arse with a hand full of wheat. Anyway it was really weird how these melodies would just appear in my head out of nowhere, at any time.
Usually I was miles away from a piano or guitar and they would be down the gurgler by the time I got back to my joint. But some of these tunes would just keep on keepin’ on reappearing days, weeks or sometimes months later as if demanding attention.
I’d usually end up using these for a song at some time. So, here I am at the piano, this beautiful tune going around in my head. Through the window of this hundred old house, the skies are dark, menacing, the lightening flashing and the thunder booming (like a bloke banging a couple of 44 gallon drums together in the dunny).
The rain is pounding on the window. Inside my small lounge room it’s cozy and warm, with the open fire burning nicely. I started thinking or drifting or both at the same time, back to goals and dreams I’ve had (my expression when thinking and drifting at the same time is dangerously close to looking like a stunned mullet. )
How it was exciting having that vision of where I was going or what I was going to be. It was like having a purpose in life apart from all the normal stuff we all do. Most of the time I didn’t have much money but it didn’t bother me, because I knew one day I would have all the money I needed but more important I’d be doing something I loved to do.
My father thought I was a dreamer, and he was right. We never got really close because we had such different beliefs. Why did I act like I was already a successful musician? Why did I buy expensive clothes that I couldn’t afford? Why did I live in expensive suburbs sharing with 3 or 4 other people when I could afford my own place in the cheaper suburbs?
I was just living my dream! I believed I was a successful musician and took the action I needed to raise my standards and aspirations. As Carol McCall says in her article Listening (And Acting) for Money, I was living out my fantasy, accompanied by positive action, and it was a powerful vision.
My Dad took positive action for a fantasy of his too. His fantasy became a powerful vision, and because he took positive action, his dream was unstoppable.
He told me once that after WWII, a lot of Europe was war-torn. In particular, the city where we lived, Rotterdam had been almost flattened by bombs. Dad told me there were these big signs up around the city advertising Australia….. The land of sunshine, a new life, plenty of work for tradesmen, golden beaches.
He made up his mind we were going to Oz no matter what. Really that was his and my mother’s dream. If it wasn’t their dream or vision they wouldn’t have been able to justify the sacrifices and traumatic decisions they had to make.
They both came from large families, my mother had 5 sisters and 2 brothers, my dad had 4 sisters. They left everything behind, family, friends, their culture, BUT…. their vision was clear.
They were going to a new frontier, a new beginning, sunshine, blue skies, their own piece of land with a nice house, even their own car. We were the pioneers in our family. After we’d been in Australia for about a year and my parents sent numerous letters about our new home, the relatives started following.
They too, became caught up in my parent’s dream. Now all this time, I’ve been sitting at the Goanna, that melody still hanging around like a bad smell and suddenly these words started flowing into my head.
Up until then, I didn’t know if this song was going to be about Arthur or Martha or Skippy the Kangaroo. But, this is what I ended up with:
From my thoughts, this is the song I ended up with. One day I’d love to play you the melody that goes with it
Everybody Needs A Dream
Close your eyes reach for the skies whenever Happiness, it seems so far from view
We all know that dreams are made in heaven
And there’s someone watchin’ over you
Sail away into a world of make believe
Where wars and revolutions never start
And all the people truly love one another
No-ones tryin’ to tear it all apart.
Everybody needs a dream
Everybody needs a dream
When you’re out there on your own An’ the sun don’t wanna show
Why should you deny it, it’s there for you to try it.
There’s someplace you can go…
You may be asking what this has to do with you?
If you have a dream and wish it to come true, keep dreaming and never give it away. Take positive action and you will have a powerful vision.
I have shifted my internal beliefs and my dreams are coming true.
Like the song in a famous musical called South Pacific, “Happy Talky Talky” says “If you don’t have a dream, How you gonna make a dream come true?
Ooroo, John (and Julieanne) from Down Under
