With seven albums of original material and guest appearances on dozens of r… Read Full Bio ↴With seven albums of original material and guest appearances on dozens of recordings; from the Bammie-winner's contribution on Cake's million-selling "Prolonging the Magic" to (most recently) doing lead guitar duties with The Little Willies, his band with Norah Jones, Campilongo's virtuosity and originality has inspired a generation of guitar players. His songwriting uses a palette of Blues, Country, Jazz and Rock with a sensitivity and wit that has also earned him the broad fan base most instrumental guitarist never enjoy.

Campilongo's career began in the mid 1970s when he studied guitar in his native San Francisco with the eccentric Bunnie Gregoire, who taught the pre-teen to embrace everything from George Van Eps to John Denver. Campilongo recalls, "Before Bunnie I used to just randomly buy records if there weren't that many songs on them, I didn't care who the artist was. A banner day would be discovering a double album that only had two songs on it. So I ended up with John Coltrane Live in Japan and John McLaughlin's Devotion with Larry Young on organ. I listened to those records until they melted and I still do to this day (on CD). Eventually, I found Roy Buchanan's first album and all bets were off, I was going to be a guitar player." Jim's first instrument was purchased with Green Stamps.

In addition to Chet Atkins and Roy Buchanan, Jim began to be deeply affected by Muddy Waters and the Sex Pistols. Around this time he was given a 1959 Telecaster by an appreciative student in exchange for successful bass lessons. "Playing that '59 Tele changed everything for me," Campilongo remembers, "It was like it told me to get serious." Soon after, he formed the hugely popular Ten Gallon Cats, which featured pedal steel guitar and Jim's ever-expanding Country/Jazz vocabulary. They recorded three CDs.

Jim broke from the Cats and reached a creative pinnacle in his existing body of work with 1998's Table For One, a collection of winsome and elegant compositions praised by Billboard as, "Americana at its most touching". Guitar Player affirmed the CD as a showcase for Campilongo's "darkly romantic melodicism". The record also garnered Campilongo a new level of recognition.

In 2002, Campilongo pulled up stakes and moved to New York, where he formed his Electric Trio, which toured Europe and Scandinavia and recorded the acclaimed CD American Hips, lauded by Guitar Player as "easily his best effort to date". No Depression raved, "Campilongo meets himself every time he picks up his instrument; that brand of artistic bravery is rare and to be treasured." Since 2004 the "Campy Trio" reigns each Monday night at New York's Living Room, a residency that Time Out New York recommended as "one of the city's strongest".

Jim's new CD, entitled Heaven is Creepy is set for an August, 2006 release. Jim currently lives in Brooklyn.

Sweet Dreams
Jim Campilongo Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Sweet dreams of you every night I go through
Why can't I forget you and start my life anew
Instead of having sweet dreams about you
You don't love me, it's plain I should know

I'll never wear your ring, I should hate you
The whole night through
Instead of having sweet dreams about you

Sweet dreams of you, things I know can't come true

Why can't I forget the past, start loving someone new
Instead of having sweet dreams about you

Overall Meaning

The song "Sweet Dreams" by Jim Campilongo is a ballad about heartbreak, specifically about the pain of being unable to move on from a past love. Campilongo's lyrics in the first verse dwell on the way that this former love interest still haunts the singer's dreams, visit after visit. The lyrics express a sense of frustration and resignation, as the singer expresses a desire to move on and forget their ex, but is unable to overcome their feelings of love and longing. The lyrics in the second verse expand on this theme, as the singer acknowledges that their unrealistic hopes and desires for this lost love prevent them from embracing the possibility of finding new love or happiness. Ultimately, the song is a melancholy meditation on the difficulty of letting go of the past and embracing the present.

Line by Line Meaning

Sweet dreams of you every night I go through
I can't help but dream of you every night.

Why can't I forget you and start my life anew
I wish I could move on from you and start a new life without you.

Instead of having sweet dreams about you
But all my dreams are still about you.

You don't love me, it's plain I should know
I know you don't love me, but it's still hard to let go.

I'll never wear your ring, I should hate you
I'll never marry you, I probably should hate you for leading me on, but I still can't help loving you.

The whole night through
And all night long, I can't help but think of you.

Sweet dreams of you, things I know can't come true
I dream of things with you that I know can never happen in reality.

Why can't I forget the past, start loving someone new
I wish I could move on from you and love someone new, but it's hard to let go of the past.

Instead of having sweet dreams about you
But I can't stop dreaming of you.

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: DON GIBSON

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it