DAYDREAM NATION

also appears on:

• Screaming Fields of Sonic Love
• Dirty Boots EP (live '90)
• Washing Machine bonus CD (live '95)
• Daydream Nation deluxe reissue (LP, demo, live '89)
• 1991: The Year Punk Broke DVD (live '91)
• 11/05/88 "LIVE AT CABARET METRO 1988"
• 12/13/88 "LIVE AT CBGB'S 1988"
• 04/13/89 "LIVE IN MOSCOW 1989"
• 11/03/90 "LIVE IN IRVINE 1990"
• 08/17/02 "LIVE AT CABARET METRO CHICAGO, IL 2002"
• 06/24/06 "LIVE IN DALLAS 2006"
• 08/22/07 "DAYDREAM NATION LIVE IN GLASGOW, SCOTLAND 2007"
• 08/12/11 "LIVE IN BROOKLYN 2011"

Line-up:
Thurston - guitar
Kim - bass
Lee - guitar/vocals
Steve - drums

Lyrics   status: confirmed

???

I can't see anything at all, all I see is me
That's clear enough, that's what's important
To see me
My eyes can focus, my brain is talking
It looks pretty good to me
My head's on straight, my girlfriend's beautiful
It looks pretty good to me

Sometimes I speak, tonite there's nothing to say
Sometimes we freak, and laugh all day
Hold these pages up to the light
See the jacknife inside of the dream
A railroad runs through the record stores at night
Coming in for the deep freeze

Mary: a simple word
Are you there in the cold country?
Yr eyes so full, yr head so tight
Can't you hear me?
Remember our talk, that day on the phone?
I said I was the door, and you were the station
With shattered glass and miles between us
We still flew away in the conversation

My cup is full, and I feel okay
The world is dull, but not today
She thinks she's a goddess
She says she talks to the spirits
I wonder if she can talk to herself?
If she can bear to hear it

This is Eric's trip
We've all come to watch him slip
He's slipping all the way to Texas
Can you dig it?

I see with a glass eye, the pavement view
A shadow forming, across fields rushing
Through me to you
We tore down the world, and put up four walls
I breathe in the myth
I'm over the city, fucking the future
I'm high and inside your kiss

We can't see clear
But what we see is alright
We make up what we can't hear
And then we sing all night
Scattered pages and shattered lights
See the jacknife, see the dream
There's something moving over there to the right
Like nothing I've ever seen.

NOTES:

• Thurston used one of the band's oldest guitars, a Drifter with all the frets removed and strung up w/ 4 bass strings, on this song. Unfortunately, the guitar was stolen in '99, so it seems unlikely that this popular live staple will ever be performed again (and Hoarfrost seems to have taken its place as the token Lee song in the set).
• Update 9/11/02: Never listen to me, folks. Ironically, it was sonic guitar tech Eric Baecht who made it possible for this song to once again become a set staple on the Murray Street tour. He took a guitar he'd had lying around for years and converted it into a "new Drifter" for Thurston to play on the song, and it sounds just as great as ever! For those interested, seek out further info in the gearology.
• Lyrical inspiration from Andy Warhol's film "Chelsea Girls". The first verse is basically taken from the tripped-out speech of a character named Eric Emerson.
• Title used by Canadian band Eric's Trip.

ALTERNATE VERSIONS:

• On "Daydream Nation" deluxe - DEMO - 2:27

  June 1988 home demo recorded by Lee.

• On "Daydream Nation" deluxe disc - LIVE - 3:04

  Recorded live on 03/27/89 in Dusseldorf, Germany.

• On "Dirty Boots" EP - LIVE - 3:32

  Recorded live on 11/3/90 in Irvine, California @ Irvine Meadows. Preceded by Lee's remark "Alright, this is my shot. This is called 'Eric's Trip'"

• On "Washing Machine" 2xCD - LIVE - ?

  Recorded live on 9/12/95 in Paris, France @ Elysee Montmartre. Came on a bonus CD that came w/ some versions of Washing Machine.

• On "BLUES SCALE" film - LIVE - ?

  Recorded live on 09/01/91 in Rotterdam, Holland.