Behind the song: “Wide Awake and Dreaming”

Lyric:

Wide Awake and Dreaming

Will you whisper my name
when you’re wide awake and dreaming
of things worth believing
or just the joy of living?
If you open your heart,
will you tell me of
your longing for
something true
a love that stays by you?

An open heart
and kindred soul…

If you open yourself
to my deepest dreams and passions,
what shines through
will be my love for you
Will you search through the maze
of who we are
and what is true
and something more
that love we’re living for?

An open heart
and kindred soul…

(c)1998 Jonathan Varnell

My nephew, girlfriend and I on a lark decided to hit the beach one night.  I can’t remember what time it was when we chose to do this but it must have been early evening around five or six.  Since we were in Portland, OR, it meant an hour and a half from where we were at the time.

A few miles out of Seaside her car broke down.  Fortunately, I had my cellphone with me.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get service at all.  We must have waited about forty-five minutes or there abouts before a guy came by to give us a lift into town.  After arranging for a tow truck we got a two bed hotel and ordered a roll away for my nephew.

As we went to sleep, my girlfriend asked to hold my hand while she fell asleep, so I reached across the space and held it.  I didn’t fall asleep for quite a while and neither did my nephew.  For a time everything was quiet and then she started whispering my name in her sleep–at least, I think she was asleep, I don’t know.  I looked at my nephew and asked in whisper if he heard it too and he nodded.

All of it was bit surreal, to be honest, and I’m a skeptic.  So when I told her about it the next day she claimed not to remember it.  But the idea of her whispering my name in such an open, innocent manner stuck with me when I got back to Portland.  For some reason I put on the capo and began to play these chords the words began to roll out.

Later I played it for her and she got all quiet.  I recorded it as part of a song contest thing and for my own recollection.  She and I parted ways not to long after but not the song.  It stuck with me as a wistful desire for love and romance–to matter this much that a quiet whisper would have the power of a shout.

Tags: art, balanced living, behind the song, music, musician, recording, songwriting, true love