There are two boys sitting near me speaking French, and for the life of me i’m sure i should be able to understand what they are saying. In my dreams i still speak fluent French… i know vocabulary and grammatical rules and stylistics and everything. Of course, the dreaming brain is like a magic decoder ring, so really it could all be gibberish and my brain could be informing me that it was perfect French. The only reason i believe that i’m really speaking French (other than having worked out essays for French class while sleeping) is music.

Last night just before waking up i dreamt of Tori Amos fronting Ani DiFranco’s band, and at the end of the chorus of “Strange Little Girl” she suddenly broke into “Father Lucifer.” At first glance this just seems like a silly dream incoherency, but a cursory glance to my guitar after i woke up revealed that both choruses are in the same key and share two of the same chords. I didn’t quite remember how to play “SLG,” but i’m sure that when i get home i’ll be able to easily reproduce the transition from “you really should, really should be going” to “nothing’s gonna stop me from floating.”

Of all the Tori Amos songs i know my brain picked two i’ve never heard in concert, and mushed them together in a way that wouldn’t even require a key-change or capo-shift on my guitar. So, damnit, i really should be able to tell what these two guys are saying about me.