Johnny Copeland was born March 27, 1937, in Haynesville, LA, about 15 miles south of Magnolia, AR (formerly Texarkana, a hotbed of blues activity in the 1920s and '30s). The son of sharecroppers, his father died when he was very young, but Copeland was given his father's guitar. His first gig was with his friend Joe "Guitar" Hughes. Soon after, Hughes "took sick" for a week and the young Copeland discovered he could be a front man and deliver vocals as well as anyone else around Houston at that time.
His music, by his own reasoning, fell somewhere between the funky R&B of New Orleans and the swing and jump blues of Kansas City. After his family (sans his father) moved to Houston, Copeland was exposed, as a teen, to musicians from both cities. While he was becoming interested in music, he also pursued boxing, mostly as an avocation, and it is from his days as a boxer that he got his nickname "Clyde."
Copeland and Hughes fell under the spell of T-Bone Walker, whom Copeland first saw perform when he was 13 years old. As a teenager he played at locales such as Shady's Playhouse — Houston's leading blues club, host to most of the city's best bluesmen during the 1950s — and the Eldorado Ballroom. Copeland and Hughes subsequently formed The Dukes of Rhythm, which became the house band at the Shady's Playhouse. After that, he spent time playing on tour with Albert Collins (himself a fellow T-Bone Walker devotee) during the 1950s, and also played on stage with Sonny Boy Williamson II, Big Mama Thornton, and Freddie King. He began recording in 1958 with "Rock 'n' Roll Lily" for Mercury, and moved between various labels during the 1960s, including All Boy and Golden Eagle in Houston, where he had regional successes with "Please Let Me Know" and "Down on Bending Knees," and later for Wand and Atlantic in New York. In 1965, he displayed a surprising prescience in terms of the pop market by cutting a version of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" for Wand.
After touring around the "Texas triangle" of Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, he relocated to New York City in 1974, at the height of the disco boom. It seems moving to New York City was the best career move Copeland ever made, for he had easy access to clubs in Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Boston, all of which still had a place for blues musicians like him. Meanwhile, back in Houston, the club scene was hurting, owing partly to the oil-related recession of the mid-'70s. Copeland took a day job at a Brew 'n' Burger restaurant in New York and played his blues at night, finding receptive audiences at clubs in Harlem and Greenwich Village.
Copeland recorded seven albums for Rounder Records, beginning in 1981 and including Copeland Special, Make My Home Where I Hang My Hat, Texas Twister, Bringing It All Back Home, When the Rain Starts a Fallin', Ain't Nothing But a Party (live, nominated for a Grammy) and Boom Boom; he also won a Grammy award in 1986 for his efforts on an Alligator album, Showdown! with Robert Cray and the late Albert Collins. Although Copeland had a booming, shouting voice and was a powerful guitarist and live performer, what most people don't realize is just how clever a songwriter he was. His latter-day releases for the PolyGram/Verve/Gitanes label, including Flyin' High (1992) and Catch Up with the Blues, provide ample evidence of this on "Life's Rainbow (Nature Song)" (from the latter album) and "Circumstances" (from the former album).
Because Copeland was only six months old when his parents split up and he only saw his father a few times before he passed away, Copeland never realized he had inherited a congenital heart defect from his father. He disovered this in the midst of another typically hectic tour in late 1994, when he had to go into the hospital in Colorado. After he was diagnosed with heart disease, he spent the next few years in and out of hospitals, undertaking a number of costly heart surgeries. Early in 1997, he was waiting for a heart transplant at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. As he was waiting, he was put on the L-VAD, a recent innovation for patients suffering from congenital heart defects. In 1995, Copeland appeared on CNN and ABC-TV's Good Morning America, wearing his L-VAD, offering the invention valuable publicity.
Despite his health problems, Copeland continued to perform and his always spirited concerts did not diminished all that much. After living 20 months on the L-VAD — the longest anyone had lived on the device — he received a heart transplant on January 1, 1997 and for a few months, the heart worked fine and he continued to tour. However, the heart developed a defective valve, necessitating heart surgery in the summer. Copeland died of complications during heart surgery on July 3, 1997.
Dream
Johnny Copeland Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I tossed and I turned
That old feeling's still the same
It was so real, I woke up cold and sweating
I wonder did I call her name?
In the dream she was right there with me
Right there with me in the bed
"Never leave me" is what she said
But when I reached out to hold her
Oh, I woke my wife instead
Once again, once again, I had the dream
Six years since I've seen her
Ain't no doubt about what it means, no, no
I tried hard not to think about her
But all she left me was this dream
All she left me was the dream
All she left me was a dream
A dream
All she left me was the dream
I dreamed I called her name
I dreamed I held my baby in my arms
Oh, what a dream
The song "Dream" by Johnny Copeland is a melancholic blues-rock number that details the recurring dream that the singer has been having for six years. The song's lyrics convey the deep sense of loss and longing that the singer feels for his lost lover, whom he has not seen for years. The dream that he has is a vivid and emotional one, as he tosses and turns, feeling the same old feeling all over again. The dream hits him like a ton of bricks, and he wakes up cold and sweating, unable to shake off the feeling.
The singer goes on to describe how his lover was right there with him in the dream, in the bed with him, asking him to never leave her. Her voice and presence are so real that he reaches out to hold her, only to wake up and realize that it was all a dream. It is evident that he deeply loved this woman, and the loss that he feels without her is a recurring theme in his life, as evidenced by the recurring dream.
Furthermore, the singer tries hard not to think about her, but all she left him with was this dream. The dream is all that he has left of her, and he has come to accept it as his only connection to her. The song ends with a repeat of the fact that all she left him with was the dream, leaving the listener with a sense of sadness and loss.
Line by Line Meaning
Last night once again I had the dream
The dream keeps reappearing in his mind.
I tossed and I turned
He couldn't sleep peacefully while the dream was on his mind.
That old feeling's still the same
The emotions related to the dream are still intact.
It was so real, I woke up cold and sweating
The dream was very vivid and affected him to the point of causing physical reactions.
I wonder did I call her name?
He questions if he actually did call out to the person in the dream.
In the dream she was right there with me
The person in the dream was physically present near him.
Right there with me in the bed
The dream indicated that they were lying next to each other on the bed.
She said, "Bobby, come and kiss me"
The person in the dream directly spoke to him and called out his name.
"Never leave me" is what she said
The person in the dream expressed their desire to not be separated from him.
But when I reached out to hold her
He tried to touch the person in the dream.
Oh, I woke my wife instead
He actually reached out to his wife who was sleeping beside him, mistaking her for the person in the dream.
Six years since I've seen her
It's been years since he last met the person in the dream.
Ain't no doubt about what it means, no, no
He knows what the dream is signifying, without any confusion.
I tried hard not to think about her
He attempted to suppress his memories of the person in the dream.
But all she left me was this dream
He now associates this dream with everything the person in the dream represented.
All she left me was the dream
The dream is the only thing that remains in his life related to the person in the dream.
I dreamed I called her name
Another instance where he recalled dreaming about the person's presence.
I dreamed I held my baby in my arms
He also dreamt of holding a baby, but the significance is unclear within the context of the song.
Oh, what a dream
The dreams were intense and overwhelmed him.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: BRUCE M BROMBERG, ROBERT WILLIAM CRAY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@jtrice6852
Wonderfully soulful vocals and lyrics from Cray, and Collins' spine-tingling solo at the 1:58 mark sounds like his telecaster was being struck by lightning. Proof that a few lingering exceptional words and notes can be more compelling than lots of fast and furious playing.
@raymondwilliams818
Classic blues song. Slow and easy, telling the story, instruments and vocals full of fire and emotions. 3 powerful blues guitar players delivered the message.
@cristianomelo6150
Classico do BLUES, essa música tem o solo de guitarra mais bonito que já ouvi na minha vida.Isso é Música.
@draghitatismanaru837
Wonderfully soulful vocals....
@wanderingwade8877
The Collin's tone can cut through anything.
@skeletonmakesgood
The Master of the Telecaster!
@tommybarnes3511
Amen bro!
@cesarsouza969
Sensacionaal!
@erikambrogi7966
One of the All Time Classic Blues songs performed by 3 of the Greats, Collins, Copeland and Cray. they were teachers “
@joestephan1111
This song is not Blues Rock. It's Real Blues by three of the greats!💙💙💙 For Jodie wherever she may be💔