Only a Dream - Mary Chapin Carpenter video free download


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Duration: 07:21
Uploaded: 2011/05/19

Taken from the "Jubilee: Live at Wolf Trap" performance and found on the album "Come On, Come On".

Mary Chapin Carpenter was born Feb. 21, 1958, in Princeton, N.J. Her father was an executive for Life magazine, and she spent part of her early life living in Japan. She grew up with a love of contemporary pop hits, although her mother's Woody Guthrie and Judy Collins records gave her some interest in country/folk music. She spent her time at home with her guitar, and her father encouraged her to perform at talent nights.

Enrolling in Brown University, Carpenter earned a degree in American civilization. Between college years she would play local bars and clubs in the Washington, DC area. By 1986, she was a local star, winning five Washington Area Music Awards. She released her 1987 debut "Hometown Girl", produced by guitarist/producer John Jennings.

She returns to Washington almost every summer to perform at the popular outdoor venue Wolftrap.

Only a Dream lyrics:

I can recall the sound of the wind

As it blew throught the trees and the trees would bend

I can recall the smell of the rain

On a hot summer night

Coming through the screen

I'd crawl in your bed when the lightning flashed

And I'd still be there when the storm had passed

Dead to the world, to the morning cast

Its light all around your room

We lived on a street where the tall elm shade

Was as green as the grass and as cool as a blade

That you held in your teeth as we lay on our backs

Staring up at the blue and the blue stared back

I used to believe we were just like those trees

We'd grown just as tall and as proud as we pleased

With our feet on the ground and our arms in the breeze

Under a sheltering sky

Twirl me about, and twirl me around

Let me grow dizzy and fall to the ground

And when I look up at you looking down,

Say it was only a dream

A big truck was parked in the drive one day

They wrapped us in paper and moved us away

Your room was no longer next door to mine

And this kid sister thing was old by that time

But oh how our dreams went bump in the night

And the voices downstairs getting into a fight

And the next day a silence you could cut with a knife

And feel like a blade at your throat

Twirl me about and twirl me around

Let me grow dizzy and fall to the ground

When I look up at you looking down

Say it as only a dream

The day you left home you got an early start

I watched your car back out in the dark

I opened the door to your room down the hall

I turned on the light

And all that I saw

Was a bed and a desk and couple of tacks

No sign of someone who expects to be back

It must have been one hell of a suitcase you packed

Twirl me about, twirl me around

Let me grow dizzy and fall to the ground

When I look up at you looking down

Say it was only a dream

Comments

9 years ago

iamintheburg

Much as I love and need Linda Ronstadt or Karen Carpenter for my own good, Mary C C and her solemn, true words touch me more deeply : for me, she's the distaff voice and soul to Jackson Browne. Her words, delivered so sincerely, almost like my mama saying " G'night, Gary " : simple and so very real and important. Her words and voice, my need and appreciation.

9 years ago

Steve Winchester

One of the greatest female singers & poets....ever!!!!

9 years ago

Steven Dunn

What a beautiful voice and a great performer. Harry Chapin, Mary Chapin Carpenter and I are from the same family. We have a common ancestor, Deacon Samuel Chapin - one of the founders of Springfield, MA from Paignton, Devon, England. There's a statue of him in Springfield called "the Puritan". 

9 years ago

Paddio17

Love MCC. 

9 years ago

Ian Tresidder

Beautiful, both song and voice.

9 years ago

Henrik Nielsen

The art of remembrance.

9 years ago

elizabeth burn

She is a treasure with her poetic lyrics and affecting music. This version always brings tears to my eyes for what wasn't but what could have been...

10 years ago

RJ McAllister

The fellow at the beginning is her longtime guitarist and friend, John Jennings. And, yeah, he's got it right. Been in love with this girl since "How Do"; still am.

10 years ago

Bill Berry

Seven minutes of real composing, no 30 seconds of one verse repeated over and over.

10 years ago

Lucia Perry

Love her music. She's a real poet.

10 years ago

Dean Jackson

I think you could almost make a movie from these lyrics, they create such a vivid mental image.

10 years ago

MG Dunn

Funny guy...do you even know what "pop" music is and recognize that some of the greatest music ever written is "pop" music and MCC is very much influenced by some of those great timeless melodies.

10 years ago

waswestkan

While that cooment was wild complaint shot to see where it sticks. Wasn't directed towards anyone Reads like an old fart bellyaching MCC is a couple years younger than I, Chesney a younger brother or cousin to use. Swift the next generation. While Swift is someone I'd listen too on a regular basis, I wouldn't dismiss her talent, she has talent. Isn't just like Carpenter, no why should it be? My tastes run from Stone to Jones. George that is, grandpa is alright but again only on occasion.

10 years ago

numericaljumbo

I used to listen to this song when I was going through a very rough period of depression in college. She's so talented! I need to put this album back on rotation.

10 years ago

davcnslt

I listen to her music as much as any on my collection. She soothes me.

10 years ago

celehan

Mary CC is one of the finest singer songwriters ever...musical poetry perfection.

10 years ago

tashamahal

I think the best comment here is from the gentleman at the beginning (who is he?) who says of MCC, "she can decode loneliness like no one else." So true. She is superb.

10 years ago

Bricar1952

For 1skinnyguy, you may never have had a sibling to love or fight with but you have a heart big enough to feel and life will be yours to grasp and enjoy....make it good for yourself, for the Great Spirit is kind and speaks softly to everyone.

10 years ago

1skinnyguy

I never had a brother or sister to live with, to share with, to fight with or to play with. . . yet I can identify with this story of longing and loneliness and loss, just from moving and relocating away from my friends, in my childhood. Mary Chapin's lyrics and storytelling interwoven through her wistful melody is heartbreaking and wonderful. I think this is one of most touching songs ever written.

11 years ago

Paula Reed

This song really affected me. I cry almost every time I hear it. I looked up to my big sister(s) and my parents fought a lot!

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