Toronto-based jazz pianist and composer Amanda Tosoff has emerged as one of… Read Full Bio ↴Toronto-based jazz pianist and composer Amanda Tosoff has emerged as one of the top new talents on the Canadian jazz scene. Originally from White Rock BC, Amanda grew up in a musical family, and attended Semiahmoo high school, renowned for its big band jazz program under award-winning educator David Proznick. In 2005, Amanda earned her degree in jazz performance from Capilano University, where she studied with Canadian jazz greats Ross Taggart, Mike Allen, Chris Sigerson, Ihor Kukurudza and more. Amanda has performed with a long list of internationally recognized talent, including such luminaries as Ingrid Jensen, Jon Wikan, Phil Dwyer, Jodi Proznick, Ian Hendrickson-Smith, Christine Jensen, Joel Miller, Brad Turner, Steve Wallace, Campbell Ryga and many others. She has received mentoring and private instruction from some of the greatest pianists in Canada and the United States, including Don Thompson, Brad Turner, Bruno Hubert, George Colligan, Phil Dwyer and Uri Caine.

A Dream Within a Dream
Amanda Tosoff Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Take this kiss upon the brow.
And in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow

You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand
How few yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep — while I weep!

O God! Can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! Can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

ooh, ooh
ooh, ooh

Overall Meaning

In Amanda Tosoff's song "A Dream Within a Dream," the lyrics draw heavily from the poem of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe. The opening lines, "Take this kiss upon the brow. And in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow," express a farewell and a confession of the singer's feelings. The following lines acknowledge that some may believe that the singer's days have been a mere dream. However, the uncertainty of whether hope has disappeared in a fleeting moment or never existed at all does not diminish its absence.

The second verse of the song describes the singer standing on a tumultuous shoreline, holding grains of golden sand in their hand. The sand slipping through their fingers symbolizes the transience of life and the inevitability of loss. They weep for their inability to hold onto what is slipping away. The plea to God to allow them to grasp tighter or save even one grain from the merciless waves reflects the desperation and helplessness the singer feels in the face of this fleeting existence.

The repetition of the final lines, "Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?" drives home the central theme of the song and Poe's poem. It questions the nature of reality and suggests that everything we experience may be illusory, no more than a dream within a dream. The haunting "ooh, ooh" vocals in the outro further emphasize the emotional intensity of the singer's introspection and the uncertainty that permeates their existence.

Line by Line Meaning

Take this kiss upon the brow.
Accept this symbol of affection and farewell.

And in parting from you now,
As I say my goodbyes to you,

Thus much let me avow
Let me confess this to you

You are not wrong, who deem
You are not mistaken to believe

That my days have been a dream
That my existence has felt like an illusion

Yet if hope has flown away
Even if my optimism has disappeared

In a night, or in a day,
During a dark period or in broad daylight,

In a vision, or in none,
In a vivid imagination or in the absence of one,

Is it therefore the less gone?
Does that make it any less lost?

All that we see or seem
Everything that appears to be reality

Is but a dream within a dream.
Is merely an illusion existing within another illusion.

I stand amid the roar
I find myself surrounded by the powerful noise

Of a surf-tormented shore,
Of a shoreline battered by crashing waves,

And I hold within my hand
And I possess in my grasp

Grains of the golden sand
Tiny particles of precious golden sand

How few yet how they creep
Despite their scarcity, they slowly slip away

Through my fingers to the deep,
Slipping through my fingers and sinking into the abyss,

While I weep — while I weep!
As I cry — as I cry!

O God! Can I not grasp
Oh God! Can't I hold tightly

Them with a tighter clasp?
Onto them with a stronger grip?

O God! Can I not save
Oh God! Can't I rescue

One from the pitiless wave?
Even a single one from the merciless wave?

Is all that we see or seem
Are all the things we perceive or appear to be

But a dream within a dream?
Nothing more than illusions existing within another illusion?

ooh, ooh
Instrumental refrain

Lyrics © DistroKid, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: TOM GILBERT, GUSTAV MAHLER, EDGAR ALLAN POE, INGA HUMPE, MORITZ EGGERT, EDGAR ALLEN POE, FRIEDRICH RUECKERT

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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