I just had the most incredible lucid dream. And this is an extremely rare occurrence for me, as most of my dreams are nightmares, and are almost never, ever lucid.
I was playing guitar in a band who asked me to join them for this battle of the bands on a Thursday night. The drummer called me the evening before and spoke like he knew me, but I had no recollection of the group or the event. Still, it seemed like a fun time so I went with it.
I showed up at the gig with my gear (a really nice Sunburst Les Paul – hey, it’s my dream; may as well go big) and performed seamlessly with this otherworldly, spacey-sounding rock group. Female singer; bassist playing an upright, sometimes with a bow; friendly drummer from the phone call; and another guitarist.
Above: me on a Les Paul, the only time in my life. Dream source material?
What was amazing about the music, and particularly the lucidity part, is that these complete songs formed in my head while I was dreaming, while the imaginary musicians and I were executing them perfectly. It was beautiful and uplifting. And I knew it was lucid, because I remember having the thought in the dream, “it would be neat if the bass did this now,” or, “what if the other guitar player did this now?” And then they did, and it worked every time. Even the riffs and lines I was improvising meshed into place perfectly, in rhythm and melody. I would really like to hear this music again!
The closest thing I can think of right now to that music: Sigur Rós, “Dauðalogn”
The evening ended with me going to bed, ready to drift away under a thick layer of blankets. Except that a yellow jacket and a yellow dragonfly were buzzing above my head as I was trying to get to sleep. The yellow jacket got too close to my face, so I threw the covers off and shot straight up in bed.
Not only did that happen in the dream, but it happened as I did the same move consciously upon awakening at that exact second. Then I descended into awareness through that next 60 seconds or so which follows any realistically intense stupor, where you wonder, “Did that really happen? No? It was a dream? Wow.”
Photo: The British Library via Flickr.
