Houston Don't Dream About Me

My instant favourite off Before the Frost . . . is Houston Don't Dream About Me. It just touches my soul and it has from the moment I heard it the first time I listened to BTF. Hearing it live at Penn's Peak was incredible!! I love "harder" rock songs by TBC as much as the next fan, but something about the storytelling, slower songs always gets to me. As Crowesbase details, Houston Don't Dream About Me was "[r]ecorded at Levon Helm's home studio, "The Barn" in Woodstock, NY in front of a small audience." It's been played nine times live so far but I'll be interested in seeing how often it's actually played on this long tour.

I feel like this quote is perfect for Houston Don't Dream About Me:

For a writer there's tons of inspiration, not just the world within us. As time moves on, your perception changes. You know a lot more about being in love when you've lost it and been in it and had what you thought was love but didn't, at least as long as you have an active process with your own history and mythology and mental state," Robinson says.

My favourite lyric from Houston Don't Dream About Me is "I ain't never going back / Yes sir that's a fact / As you waved your cowboy hat / And sang 'The Yellow Rose Of Texas'." Again, I just love the imagery and you can picture the story perfectly when you hear the song . . . leaving town in pickup truck with nothing but the open road and the one you love. It's a recurring theme in TBC songs but, to me, Houston Don't Dream About Me is about leaving home and how good that is but how you can never really leave. Sometimes you just have to jump feet first to follow your dreams and you can keep home in your heart, no matter how far you go.

Another week in the drivers seat
With your feet up on the dashboard
Rain it kept a steady beat
As I watched you dream of Houston

I ain't never going back
Yes sir that's a fact
As you waved your cowboy hat
And sang 'The Yellow Rose Of Texas'

Just trying to make high ground
Has kept us on the run
There's no crime in toeing the line
Cause fortune is smiling on us baby
And we're gonna walk in the sun

I might dream about Houston
But Houston don't dream about me
If I could keep this between the lines
Who knows what will be

Loose change days and motel nights
Day old coffee dollar postcards
State trooper's flashing lights
As we listen to the thunder

As we talk about our past
So we see our coming future
You tell me you know love can last
While staring out the window

Just looking for a place to hide
A place to ease our minds
A place away from yesterday
Close to tomorrow away from the sorrows
Of living other people's time

I might dream about Houston
But Houston don't dream about me
If I could keep this between the lines
Who knows what will be

How long how long
Till we feel the change
How long how long
Will the skies be gray
How long how long
Will it be this way
How long how long
Will she stay

I might dream about Houston
But Houston don't dream about me
If I could keep it between the lines
Who knows what will be

I might dream about Houston
But Houston don't dream about me
If I could keep it between the lines
Who knows what
Who knows what
Who knows what will be