Dreamworld

first off, the lyrics above are wrong. i have listened to this song thousands of times and studied live performances of it, so i’m certain that 95% of what i’m about to post is correct (there are 1 or 2 instances where i remain uncertain).

the genius of the lyrics lie in the fact that they are all interwoven run-on sentences. this plays to the idea of a “dreamworld” where things drift together and are indistinct, but still evocative of a whole picture. the narrator of the story seems to be recalling things from a several year span, possibly even generations, past, which explains why his sentences and memories are blurred.

now i will examine things verse by verse (excluding the chorus, because i think that’s self explanatory)

she was the girl with the string around her neck came with a boy who could only give her less

“string around her neck” is a reference to her poverty and also to her social position. she’s beholden to people above her. saying that the boy she loves could “only give her less” means that he’s even worse off than her financially and socially.

it could be more if she learned to never expect(ing)

she obviously expects a “normal” life with this boy, and has traditional hopes and dreams that he can never give her. the narrator thinks they could have had a wonderful life if she was content with his simply loving her, but she wants more. when blake says “expect” he also adds “ing” to the end, which is a nod to her being pregnant (she’s expecting a baby)

now it’s she it’s her and him and then a baby next

her pregnancy is obviously out of wedlock and not expected at all. the “NEXT” is very abrupt and ushers in a new phase of this couple’s story.

the wedding bells won’t ring but she could care less how you exist. . . . . . when you’re living in a dream world

for whatever reason, they are unable to get married. maybe they didn’t have enough money or maybe he didn’t want to marry her after he found out she was pregnant, or maybe this is a reference to the next verse, where we find out the boy goes to war. either way, she doesn’t care what other people think, she’s holding out hope that things will right themselves in the end, because she’s living “in a dream world”. in other words, she’s deluding herself.

he grew up drinking milk from the cow, from the farm(ing) was the trade his father’s father father’s father made

now the narrator switches to tell the boy’s side of the story. blake echos the “expecting” in the first version by adding “ing” to farm. you get two phrases out of that: “he grew up drinking milk from the cow, from the farm” and then “farming was the trade his father’s father’s father’s father made” (ie “to make a living at something”). the first phrase eludes to his having lived a very simple life up until he meets the girl. the last phrase tells us that the boy is the son of a family who has farmed land for generations. he’s never been rich, his family has never been rich, and he seemingly will never be more than what they have already been.

carry the words “father made” over to the next sentence and you get:

father made him go and give back to his country

that’s a very old world, “first generation” type of idiom. the father, an immigrant, wants his son to give back to the family’s adopted country by joining the army. so he does and:

he gave his (both) knees over seas, to fight the disease it’s spreading fast over maps and don’t look back

“the disease” is either a reference to fascism, which means this story is taking place during WWI or to communism, which would suggest something more like korea or vietnam. either way, the boy becomes embroiled in the war, is severely injured, and isn’t looking back to the girl and baby he left behind.

it is a lie out of science fiction (reads) just like a child “a to z” or “0 1 2 3” (three) times the size of the people that came before me & you & what we do for money this greed & jealousy turn to me

this is the most complicated verse. “it is a lie out of science fiction” and then “science fictions reads just like a child” are the first two entangled phrases. the former is an expression of how both the boy and the girl feel cheated by their lives. the are living a life that is a “lie” straight out of a grotesque “science fiction” story, and not one from a beautiful “dreamworld”. “science fiction reads just like a child, a to z or 0 1 2 3 is a reference to their childish former selves, the ones that thought they could change their destinies into something better than what they had known before. i think it’s also a reference to the baby that was born at the beginning of the story.

carry the 3 into the next sentence and you have “3 times the size of the people that came before me and you”. this conjures up images of the afore mentioned “science fiction”, and is also possibly a reference to the ideas about large, unattainable personas they may have had at the beginning of the song.

the greed and jealousy is an obvious reference to forsaking our ideals for more immediate and attainable gratification.

see i’m the man with a plan to use my hands they’re touching yours you’re the girl who wanted it more like every story will fade from love to lie the clover under your feet is shooting stars in the night the people under your feet are shooting stars in the night the people, all that you meet, they're living in a dreamworld

the man with the plan that she “turns to”, i think is a guy the girl has moved on to, after her boy either doesn’t return from war, or returns too damaged for her to accept as part of her perfect “dreamworld”. “use my hands” is a sort of double entendre that could mean he has a honest trade using his hands, but when coupled with the next line it has shades of sexual innuendo. so even though she has met someone new, the relationship is an imitation of what came before, a cycle she can’t break. and indeed, “the people, all that you meet, they’re living in a dreamworld” is kind of an affirmation that everyone has dreams, but most of them are impossible ones that constantly get shot down by the harsh realities of the world.

all in all, i love this song, and to whomever referenced fleetwood mac, yes, it has a distinctly FM vibe, which makes it all the better!

less criticizing, more song meanings

honestly, i dont really like this song a whole lot.

blake's vocals seem a bit shot and too hush.

I do like the music though, really beachy and relaxing, i'm just not a huge fan of the vocals.

yeah, i agree with the first comment. i wish you could hear blakes vocals better. the music is okay, it seems everything on the new album is really repetative. not their best work.

i can't believe i've read so many negative things about this song so far. i think it's gorgeous and the guitars are great.

i have no idea, lyrics almost remind of something like built to spill, the're just all over the place and make minimal sense....

maybe supposed to be like that, to give the feel of a pretend dreamworld, like when you live in a dream world, nothing makes logical sense, and it seems like they are singing to one person, or to one group of people, or maybe its political and its to the people of the US or the world or whatever, this is all just speculation.

no, i guess its about one girl, a love song. how she's been delutional in the relationship, living in her head about the perect idea of it all, and its not perfect and maybe all the relationships she has arent real, in the sense that they arent really working out, i bet blake wrote this one, the lyrics sound elected-like but we wont find out for TWO MORE DAYS mmkay done for real

Definitely about escapism to me. Just, talking about people living their lives that suck and pretending they're somewhere else. and how almost everyone is unhappy and trying to escape and you might not even realise it because they seem fine on the outside.

this sounds way too much like stars.