Oh, I dream a highway back to you, love
A winding ribbon with a band of gold
A silver vision, come and rest my soul
I dream a highway back to you

John, he's kicking out the footlights
The Grand Ole Opry's got a brand new band
Lord, let me die with a hammer in my hand
I dream a highway back to you

I think I'll move down into Memphis
And thank the hatchet man who forked my tongue
I lie and wait until the wagons come
And dream a highway back to you

The getaway kickin' up cinders
An empty wagon full of rattling bones
Moon in the mirror on a three hour Jones
I dream a highway back to you

Oh, I dream a highway back to you, love
A winding ribbon with a band of gold
A silver vision, come arrest my soul
I dream a highway back to you

Which lover are you, Jack of Diamonds?
Now you be Emmylou and I'll be Gram
I send a letter, don't know who I am
I dream a highway back to you

I'm an indisguisable shade of twilight
Any second now, I'm gonna turn myself on
In the blue display of the cool cathode ray
I dream a highway back to you

I wish you knew me, Jack of Diamonds
Fire riding, wheeling when I lead 'em up
Drank whiskey with my water, sugar in my tea
My sails in rags with the staggers and the jags
I dream a highway back to you

Oh, I dream a highway back to you, love
A winding ribbon with a band of gold
A silver vision, come molest my soul
I dream a highway back to you

Now, give me some of what you're having
I'll take you as a viper into my head
A knife into my bed, arsenic when I'm fed
I dream a highway back to you

Hang overhead from all directions
Radiation from the porcelain light
Blind and blistered by the morning white
I dream a highway back to you

Sunday morning at the Diner
Hollywood trembles on the verge of tears
I watched the waitress for a thousand years
Saw a wheel inside a wheel, heard a call within a call
I dreamed a highway back to, you

Oh, I dream a highway back to you, love
A winding ribbon with a band of gold
A silver vision, come molest my soul
I dream a highway back to you

Step into the light, poor Lazarus
Don't lie alone behind the window shade
Let me see the mark death made
I dream a highway back to you
I dream a highway back to you

What will sustain us through the winter?
Where did last years lessons go?
Walk me out into the rain and snow
I dream a highway back to you

Oh, I dream a highway back to you, love
A winding ribbon with a band of gold
A silver vision, come and bless my soul
I dream a highway back to you
I dream a highway back to you

Oh, I dream a highway back to you, love
A winding ribbon with a band of gold
A silver vision, come and bless my soul
I dream a highway back to you


Lyrics submitted by HagbardCeline, edited by chuxvom, Dawne

I Dream a Highway Lyrics as written by Gillian Howard Welch David Todd Rawlings

Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

I Dream A Highway song meanings
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18 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    This song definitely has some of my favorite lyrics ever, particularly the title and the verse:

    "Sunday morning at the diner Hollywood trembles on the verge of tears I watched the waitress for a thousand years Saw a wheel inside a wheel, heard a call within a call I dreamed a highway back to you"

    Absolutely perfect

    b0sendorferon April 07, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This is the greatest, most narcotic, hypnotic song I've ever heard. I know what bits of it are about, but overall it has me stumped. The first verse is about Johnny Cash getting thrown out of the Grand Ole Opry for kicking out the footlights during a show, but some of the other references have me bewildered. I've been listening to this song for two eyars over and over again and still it catches me by the heart.

    bearhunteron March 21, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Alright, after much discussion, I believe I figured out what this song really is about.

    The whole song is about a car-ride. She's driving somewhere & all these things are running through her head-johnny cash, moving to memphis, this mystery man "jack of diamonds" etc...

    "a winding ribbon with a band of gold" is the road. "silver vision come bless my soul" silver vision is sleep.

    This is probably one of the most amazing songs I have ever heard in my entire life & I hope what I just posted will make some sense out of it.

    road to joyon April 07, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Hypnotic describes the song well, it has a woozy recurrent feeling about it as though the song is itself a dream. I think the song's about mourning a dead lover who appears to her as a ghost (a silver vision) that comes in turns to 'rest' (soothe), 'arrest' (capture), 'molest' (turn on), 'convalesce' (heal) and finally [twice] to 'bless' (protect? sanction?) her soul.

    The song describes her despair, getting wasted on whiskey, contemplating suicide, sitting long into the night in front of a TV displaying white noise.

    Then waking hung over with the soft (porcelain) glow of the morning light she heads to the diner. She feels comforted by the ghost and given permission (blessed) to continue her life.

    Paegaon June 05, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Year-late response to bearhunter: I think the "John" of line 5 has a double meaning -- the verse is definitley a reference to John Henry, the legendary railroad spike driver who pit his own strength with a hammer against the newfangled steam-powered spike driving machine that was going to put him out of work. John Henry won the spike-driving race, but died of exhaustion in the process. I have heard 1940s-era Black work songs about John Henry that have him declaring, "before I let your steam driver beat me down / would die with my hammer in my hand". So the line "Lord let me die with a hammer in my hand" is basically a prayer for the strength to never give up.

    Also there's a verse about John Henry in Elvis Presley Blues, which is on the same album.

    tweedwolfscreamon March 31, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Also, an unrelated note about the lyrics: "My sails in rags with the staggers and the jags" is borrowed from Stan Roger's 1976 east-coast canadian folk song Barrett's Privateers. The sloop on which the narrator enlists to sail as a privateer is described "she'd a list to the port and her sails in rags/and the cook in the scuppers with his staggers and jags".

    tweedwolfscreamon March 31, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Thanks for the background info tweedwolfscream :)

    Paegaon June 05, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    does this song, in its entirety really having meaning? i mean, its 10 minutes long. isn't is quite possible that its a personal experience that she has, maybe a long road she's been traveling on? it may have references to things within and without, but that doesn't give the entire song meaning. i just really love the verse: "saw a wheel within a wheel, heard a call within a call." and the phrase "i dream a highway back to you." is so romantic, i could leave it in a love note to my ex-boyfriend. anyway, i love this song. i still have no idea what it means in its entirety. but i'm ok with that.

    missraspon August 17, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    you be Emmylou and I'll be Gram

    Whit0685on April 08, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Oh my god, I don't even really care what this is about....he lyrics are perfect even if they mean nothing. I like the idea that this is all during a car-ride, but part of me also thinks that this is just free association. A lot of times when i write poetry I'll end up with a few pages of stanzas that are completely unrelated to each other. Maybe she did something like this but then connected them with the "I dream a highway" chorus. Either way this song is hauntingly beautiful and I feel lucky to know about it.

    musicISmytrueloveon August 21, 2009   Link

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