Welch and Rawlings have collaborated on seven critically acclaimed albums, five released under her name, and two released under the name Dave Rawlings Machine. Her 1996 debut, Revival, and the 2001 release Time (The Revelator), received nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Her 2003 album, Soul Journey, introduced electric guitar, drums, and a more upbeat sound to their body of work. After a gap of eight years, she released a fifth studio album, The Harrow & The Harvest, in 2011, which was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Welch was an associate producer and performed on two songs of the soundtrack of the Coen brothers 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a platinum album that won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2002. She also appeared in the film attempting to buy a Soggy Bottom Boys record. Welch, while not one of the principal actors, did sing and provide additional lyrics to the Sirens song "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby." In 2018 she and Rawlings wrote the song "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" for the Coens' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, for which they received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Welch has collaborated and recorded with Alison Krauss, Ryan Adams, Jay Farrar, Emmylou Harris, the Decemberists, Sam Phillips, Conor Oberst, Ani DiFranco, and Robyn Hitchcock.
Gillian Howard Welch was born on October 2, 1967 in New York City, and was adopted by Mitzie Welch (née Marilyn Cottle) and Ken Welch, comedy and music entertainers. Her biological mother was a freshman in college, and her father was a musician visiting New York City. Welch has speculated that her biological father could have been one of her favorite musicians, and she later discovered from her adoptive parents that he was a drummer. Alec Wilkinson of The New Yorker stated that "from an address they had been given, it appeared that her mother ... may have grown up in the mountains of North Carolina". When Welch was three, her adoptive parents moved to Los Angeles to write music for The Carol Burnett Show. They also appeared on The Tonight Show.
As a child, Welch was introduced to the music of American folk singers Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and the Carter Family. She performed folk songs with her peers at the Westland Elementary School in Los Angeles. Welch later attended Crossroads School, a high school in Santa Monica, California. While in high school, a local television program featured her as a student who "excelled at everything she did."
Welch and Rawlings incorporate elements of early twentieth century music such as old time, classic country, gospel and traditional bluegrass with modern elements of rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, jazz, and punk rock. The New Yorker's Alec Wilkinson maintained their musical style is "not easily classified—it is at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms".
The instrumentation on their songs is usually a simple arrangement, with Welch and Rawlings accompanying their own vocals with acoustic guitars, banjos, or a mandolin. Welch plays rhythm guitar with a 1956 Gibson J-50 (or banjo), while Rawlings plays lead on a 1935 Epiphone Olympic Guitar.The New Yorker's Wilkinson described Rawlings as a "strikingly inventive guitarist" who plays solos that are "daring melodic leaps". A review in No Depression by Andy Moore observed that Rawlings "squeezes, strokes, chokes and does just about everything but blow into" his guitar.
Many songs performed by Welch and Rawlings contain dark themes about social outcasts struggling against such elements as poverty, drug addiction, death, a disconnection from their family, and an unresponsive God. Despite Welch being the lead singer, several of these characters are male. Welch has commented, "To be commercial, everybody wants happy love songs. People would flat-out ask me, 'Don't you have any happy love songs?' Well, as a matter of fact, I don't. I've got songs about orphans and morphine addicts." To reflect these themes, Welch and Rawlings often employ a slow pace to their songs. Their tempo is compared to a "slow heartbeat", and Cowperthwait of Rolling Stone observed that their songs "can lull you into near-hypnosis and then make your jaw drop with one final revelation".
I Dream A Highway
Gillian Welch Lyrics
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A winding ribbon with a band of gold
A silver vision, come and rest my soul
I dream a highway back to you
John, he's kicking out the footlights
The Grand Ole Opry's got a brand new band
Lord, let me die with a hammer in my hand
I think I'll move down into Memphis
And thank the hatchet man who forked my tongue
I lie and wait until the wagons come
And dream a highway back to you
The getaway kickin' up cinders
An empty wagon full of rattling bones
Moon in the mirror on a three hour Jones
I dream a highway back to you
Oh, I dream a highway back to you, love
A winding ribbon with a band of gold
A silver vision, come arrest my soul
I dream a highway back to you
Which lover are you, Jack of Diamonds?
Now you be Emmylou and I'll be Gram
I send a letter, don't know who I am
I dream a highway back to you
I'm an indisguisable shade of twilight
Any second now, I'm gonna turn myself on
In the blue display of the cool cathode ray
I dream a highway back to you
I wish you knew me, Jack of Diamonds
Fire riding, wheeling when I lead 'em up
Drank whiskey with my water, sugar in my tea
My sails in rags with the staggers and the jags
I dream a highway back to you
Oh, I dream a highway back to you, love
A winding ribbon with a band of gold
A silver vision, come molest my soul
I dream a highway back to you
Now, give me some of what you're having
I'll take you as a viper into my head
A knife into my bed, arsenic when I'm fed
I dream a highway back to you
Hang overhead from all directions
Radiation from the porcelain light
Blind and blistered by the morning white
I dream a highway back to you
Sunday morning at the Diner
Hollywood trembles on the verge of tears
I watched the waitress for a thousand years
Saw a wheel inside a wheel, heard a call within a call
I dreamed a highway back to, you
Oh, I dream a highway back to you, love
A winding ribbon with a band of gold
A silver vision, come molest my soul
I dream a highway back to you
Step into the light, poor Lazarus
Don't lie alone behind the window shade
Let me see the mark death made
I dream a highway back to you
I dream a highway back to you
What will sustain us through the winter?
Where did last years lessons go?
Walk me out into the rain and snow
I dream a highway back to you
Oh, I dream a highway back to you, love
A winding ribbon with a band of gold
A silver vision, come and bless my soul
I dream a highway back to you
I dream a highway back to you
Oh, I dream a highway back to you, love
A winding ribbon with a band of gold
A silver vision, come and bless my soul
I dream a highway back to you
The song "I Dream A Highway" by Gillian Welch is a wistful ballad about yearning for a lost love. The lyrics are replete with vivid metaphors and surreal imagery that paint a picture of a person who is haunted by the memory of their lover and dreams of reuniting with them by taking a winding ribbon, a highway, back to them. The singer mentions several different characters, events, and places throughout the song, such as John kicking out the footlights at the Grand Ole Opry, or the singer wanting to move to Memphis to thank the hatchet man who forked their tongue. The lyrics also have a sense of otherworldliness, with references to being an "indisguisable shade of twilight" and dreaming of "radiation from the porcelain light."
In the third verse, the singer changes the narrative to a dialogue between themselves and their lost love, possibly named Jack of Diamonds. They playfully reference Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons, two country music legends who often performed together, and ask each other to assume their identities. In the final verse, the singer becomes more introspective and philosophical, asking what will sustain them through the winter and lamenting the loss of the lessons learned in the past year.
Overall, "I Dream A Highway" is a beautiful and haunting ode to unrequited love, filled with rich and evocative lyrics that capture the complexities of human emotion.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh, I dream a highway back to you, love
The singer dreams of a road that leads back to their loved one
A winding ribbon with a band of gold
The road is winding and beautiful, like a ribbon with a band of gold
A silver vision, come and rest my soul
The singer envisions a shining, peaceful road that will bring them solace
I dream a highway back to you
The artist dreams of this road leading them back to their loved one
John, he's kicking out the footlights
A man named John is creating a raucous disturbance
The Grand Ole Opry's got a brand new band
A famous country music venue has a new musical group
Lord, let me die with a hammer in my hand
The singer desires to die with dignity, perhaps in a meaningful occupation
I dream a highway back to you
Despite the chaos around them, the artist continues to dream of a road leading back to their loved one
I think I'll move down into Memphis
The artist is contemplating a move to Memphis, Tennessee
And thank the hatchet man who forked my tongue
The artist wants to meet someone who caused them strife, but instead of seeking revenge, they want to thank this person for making them stronger
I lie and wait until the wagons come
The singer is biding their time until they can make their move and go back to their loved one via this highway
And dream a highway back to you
The artist continues to dream of this road that leads them back to their love
The getaway kickin' up cinders
The singer is on the run, with cinders flying up in their wake
An empty wagon full of rattling bones
The singer's vehicle is empty and making noise
Moon in the mirror on a three hour Jones
The singer sees the moon in the mirror while driving down a long road called Jones, which lasts three hours
I dream a highway back to you
The road remains a constant in the artist's mind, despite the uncertainty of their travels
Which lover are you, Jack of Diamonds?
The artist is addressing someone named Jack of Diamonds and questioning if they are a lover
Now you be Emmylou and I'll be Gram
The singer and Jack of Diamonds take on roles of two famous musicians, Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons
I send a letter, don't know who I am
The singer sends a letter without a clear sense of their own identity
I dream a highway back to you
The road remains a constant fixture in the artist's mind, even as they grapple with their own sense of identity
I'm an indisguisable shade of twilight
The artist sees themselves as a unique blending of light and dark
Any second now, I'm gonna turn myself on
The artist is on the cusp of a big change, possibly a shift in their own consciousness
In the blue display of the cool cathode ray
The singer sees themselves reflected in the blue light of a cathode ray tube TV
I dream a highway back to you
The road still stands as a symbol of the artist's search for their loved one, even as they undergo personal changes
I wish you knew me, Jack of Diamonds
The singer desires to be truly known by someone named Jack of Diamonds
Fire riding, wheeling when I lead 'em up
The singer is a dynamic, confident figure when they are in control
Drank whiskey with my water, sugar in my tea
The singer enjoys complex and non-traditional flavors
My sails in rags with the staggers and the jags
The artist feels broken and ragged, but is still pushing forward despite setbacks
I dream a highway back to you
Despite the challenges they face, the artist continues to dream of a road leading back to their love
Oh, I dream a highway back to you, love
The singer still longs for a road leading back to their loved one
A winding ribbon with a band of gold
This road will be beautiful and winding, with a golden band running down the center
A silver vision, come arrest my soul
The artist envisions a road that will calm and soothe their soul
I dream a highway back to you
The dream remains alive in the artist's heart
Now, give me some of what you're having
The artist desires to share in someone else's experience
I'll take you as a viper into my head
The singer is willing to take risks and explore new things
A knife into my bed, arsenic when I'm fed
The artist is willing to introduce danger and poison into their life
I dream a highway back to you
The road remains the ultimate goal for the singer, as they navigate through perilous paths
Hang overhead from all directions
Something ominous hangs over the singer, surrounding them from all sides
Radiation from the porcelain light
The singer is surrounded by artificial light that emits harmful radiation
Blind and blistered by the morning white
The artist is blinded and wounded by the harsh morning light
I dream a highway back to you
In the midst of the chaos and pain of their surroundings, the artist continues to dream of the road leading back to their love
Sunday morning at the Diner
The singer is at a diner on a lazy Sunday morning
Hollywood trembles on the verge of tears
Something big and dramatic is happening in Hollywood, causing a lot of emotion
I watched the waitress for a thousand years
The artist is lost in thought, watching the waitress for a long time
Saw a wheel inside a wheel, heard a call within a call
The artist experiences a moment of transcendence, where they see a deeper meaning to life
I dreamed a highway back to, you
Even in the midst of this powerful experience, the artist still dreams of the road leading back to their love
Oh, I dream a highway back to you, love
The singer's dream remains the same, even in times of intense emotion and wonder
A winding ribbon with a band of gold
The road of the artist's dream is always the same, beautiful and golden
A silver vision, come molest my soul
The road in the singer's dream is revealed to be both beautiful and difficult, causing a disturbance in their soul
I dream a highway back to you
The dream continues, even as the singer faces new challenges
Step into the light, poor Lazarus
The singer wants someone named Lazarus to experience the light and be freed from darkness
Don't lie alone behind the window shade
The artist encourages Lazarus to come out from behind the shadows and live life to the fullest
Let me see the mark death made
The artist desires to see the scars that Lazarus has endured in life
I dream a highway back to you
Even as the singer seeks to help others, their own dream continues to burn bright
What will sustain us through the winter?
The singer is seeking to find what will sustain them through a tough time
Where did last years lessons go?
The artist is wondering if the lessons they learned in the past are still with them now
Walk me out into the rain and snow
The artist desires to go out into the elements, to experience life in its fullness
I dream a highway back to you
The artist's ultimate dream remains a constant, even as they seek new experiences and ways to sustain themselves
Oh, I dream a highway back to you, love
The singer's love and desire remains steadfast, as they seek to find the road leading back to their beloved
A winding ribbon with a band of gold
The road continues to be the most beautiful thing the artist has ever imagined
A silver vision, come and bless my soul
The singer still imagines the road to be a source of great blessing and peace
I dream a highway back to you
Ultimately, the singer's dream has not changed: to find the road that leads them back to their love.
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DAVID TODD RAWLINGS, GILLIAN HOWARD WELCH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind