Dream On...by Steven Tyler, Aerosmith

This is an old song. It came out when I was in my teens. I wonder how many times I've heard it? I no longer own the album(or cassette or 8 track--I had a great 8 track player in the seventies.)

It's a ballad about dreams--paying your dues, learning . It moves along, mellow, thoughtful-

--and then it changes. Tyler drags it up an octave and suddenly the mellow dream on becomes intense, urgent. A desperate, hard rocking wail--this is important, take notice, get committed!

Because that is what it takes to see a dream come true. It won't happen with 'merrily we roll along...' Those of us who are writers, or artists--we know this. Others might think we are nuts for all the hours we put in, for what seems to be small reward. But we are seeing the future, the path, a vision.

I'm not a huge Aerosmith fan, I  was more into Tom Petty, John Mellancamp and Fleetwood Mac back in the day. But this song is pretty much my favorite rock ballad. It was written by an artist, and performed by one. Nothing pisses me off more on American Idol than to hear someone sing it as a straight ballad, with out the  octave higher intensity. I was on pins and needles during Steven Tyler's AI performance. I feared--he's old, he won't be able to do it. So  relieved and thrilled when he sang it the way it should be sung. Thank you, Mr Tyler.

Every time that I look in the mirror,
All these lines on my face gettin' clearer
The past is gone,
It went by like dusk to dawn
Isn't that the way,
Everybody's got their dues in life to pay
I know,
Nobody knows,
The way it comes and the way it goes
I know that everybody's sinned,
You got to lose to know how to win

Half my life's in books' written pages,
Lived and learned from fools and from sages
You know it's true - all the feelings come back to you

Sing with me,
Sing for the year,
Sing for the laughter and sing for the tears
Sing with me,
If just for today,
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord'll take you away 

Maybe tomorrow the good Lord'll take you away

Dream on,
Dream on,
Dream on,
Dream on 'til your dream comes true
Dream on,
Dream on,
Dream on,
Dream on 'til your dream comes true

Dream on,,Dream on, Dream on, Dream on, Dream on, Dream on, Dream on

Sing with me,
Sing for the year,
Sing for the loved and sing for the tears
Sing with me,
If just for today,
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord'll take you away 

Maybe tomorrow the good Lord'll take you away