The original K.Dot, Karen J. Dalton (born Karen J. Cariker (July 19, 1937-M… Read Full Bio ↴The original K.Dot, Karen J. Dalton (born Karen J. Cariker (July 19, 1937-March 19, 1993) was an American folk blues singer and banjo player associated with the early 1960s Greenwich Village folk music scene, particularly with Fred Neil and The Holy Modal Rounders as well as Bob Dylan.

Dalton, whose heritage was Cherokee, was born Karen J. Cariker in Enid, Oklahoma. Her bluesy, world-weary voice is often compared to that of iconic jazz singer Billie Holiday. She sang blues, folk, country, pop, Motown - making over each song in her own style. She played the twelve string Gibson guitar and a long neck banjo.

In his 2004 autobiography, Bob Dylan wrote this in his description of discovering and joining the music scene at Greenwich Village's Cafe Wha? after arriving in New York City, New York, United States in 1961: "My favorite singer in the place was Karen Dalton. Karen had a voice like Billie Holiday and played guitar like Jimmy Reed... I sang with her a couple of times."

Dalton's second album, In My Own Time (1971), was recorded at Bearsville Studios and originally released by Woodstock Festival promoter Michael Lang's label, Just Sunshine Records. The album was produced and arranged by Harvey Brooks, who played bass on it. (Harvey Brooks played bass also on the Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, on the Bob Dylan album Highway 61 Revisited and on the Richie Havens album Mixed Bag.) Piano player Richard Bell guested on In My Own Time. Its liner notes were written by Fred Neil and its cover photos were taken by Elliot Landy. Less well-known is Dalton's first album, It's So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You the Best (Capitol, 1969), which was re-released by Koch Records on CD in 1996.

Both Dalton's albums were re-released in November 2006: It's So Hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You The Best, on the French Megaphone-Music label, included a bonus DVD featuring rare performance footage of Dalton. In My Own Time was re-released on CD and LP on November 7, 2006 by Light In The Attic Records.

The version of the song Something on Your Mind (composed by Dino Valenti) that is sung by Dalton on her album In My Own Time is the soundtrack during the ending credits of the 2007 film Margot at the Wedding, which was written and directed by Noah Baumbach and starred Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Known as "the folk singer's answer to Billie Holiday" and "Sweet Mother K.D.", Dalton is said to be the subject of the song Katie's Been Gone (composed by Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson) on the album The Basement Tapes by The Band and Bob Dylan. She struggled with drugs and alcohol for many years. It has been widely reported that she died in 1993 on the streets of New York City after an eight-year battle with AIDS.

However, an article in Uncut magazine confirmed that Dalton was actually being cared for by the guitarist Peter Walker in upstate New York during her last months.

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A cult singer, 12-string guitarist, and banjo player of the New York 1960s folk revival, Karen Dalton still remains known to very few, despite counting the likes of Bob Dylan and Fred Neil among her acquaintances. This was partly because she seldom recorded, only making one album in the 1960s - and that didn't come out until 1969, although she had been known on the Greenwich Village circuit since the beginning of the decade. It was also partly because, unlike other folksingers of the era, she was an interpreter who did not record original material. And it was also because her voice - often compared to Billie Holiday, but with a rural twang - was too strange and inaccessible to pop audiences. Nik Venet, producer of her debut album, went as far as to remark in Goldmine, "She was very much like Billie Holiday. Let me say this, she wasn't Billie Holiday but she had that phrasing Holiday had and she was a remarkable one-of-a-kind type of thing.... Unfortunately, it's an acquired taste, you really have to look for the music."

Dalton grew up in Oklahoma, moving to New York around 1960. Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders, who was in her backup band in the early '70s, points out in his liner notes to the CD reissue of her first album that "she was the only folk singer I ever met with an authentic 'folk' background. She came to the folk music scene under her own steam, as opposed to being 'discovered' and introduced to it by people already involved in it." There is a photograph from February 1961 (now printed on the back cover of the It's So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You the Best reissue) of Dalton singing and playing with Fred Neil and Bob Dylan, the latter of whom was barely known at the time. Unlike her friends she was unable to even capture a recording contract, spending much of the next few years roaming around North America.

Dalton was not comfortable in the studio, and her Capitol album It's So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You the Best came about when Nik Venet, who had tried unsuccessfully to record her several times, invited her to a Fred Neil session. He asked her to cut a Neil composition, "Little Bit of Rain," as a personal favor so he could have it in his private collection; that led to an entire album, recorded in one session, most of the tracks done in one take. Dalton recorded one more album in the early '70s, produced by Harvey Brooks (who had played on some '60s Dylan sessions). Done in Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, it, like her debut, had an eclectic assortment of traditional folk tunes, blues, covers of soul hits ("When a Man Loves a Woman," "How Sweet It Is"), and contemporary numbers by singer/songwriters (Dino Valente, the Band's Richard Manuel). The Band's "Katie's Been Gone," included on The Basement Tapes, is rumored to be about Dalton.

In My Own Dream
Karen Dalton Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I didn't know
I could be fool
It took me a long time
To find out
My mind
Is upside down
What I was standing on
Too solid ground

To satisfy
That's what I thought I'd be
I kept on living in my own dream
In my own dream

Everyday
I grew blinder
Oh I thought I was so strong
I didn't need nobody's help
Oh but the strongest river
Can't flow up hill

To satisfy
That's what I thought I'd be
I kept on living in my own dream
In my own dream

To satisfy
That's what I thought I'd be

I kept on living in my own dream, own dream
In my own dream

Overall Meaning

Karen Dalton’s song “In My Own Dream” speaks to the experience of realizing that the life you’ve built for yourself is not the life you truly want. The opening lines, “I didn't know I could be fool / It took me a long time to find out,” articulate a sense of naivete or ignorance on the part of the singer, who has gradually come to recognize that their own beliefs and expectations have led them astray. The image of being “upside down” underscores the disorientation and confusion that comes with this realization, and suggests that the singer has been fundamentally out of touch with reality for some time.

The second verse introduces the notion of self-sufficiency as a source of pride or strength for the singer. They emphasize repeatedly that they “didn’t need nobody’s help,” implying that they were content to rely solely on themselves. However, they come to realize that even the strongest among us have limitations, and that trying to live up to an ideal of total independence can be isolating and ultimately unfulfilling. The refrain, “To satisfy / That's what I thought I'd be / I kept on living in my own dream,” underscores the need for self-awareness and self-examination, to ensure that we’re not inadvertently pursuing someone else’s dreams or objectives.

Overall, “In My Own Dream” is a poignant reflection on the process of coming to terms with one’s own limitations, and the importance of reevaluating our priorities from time to time.

Line by Line Meaning

I didn't know
I was not aware

I could be fool
That I was capable of being foolish

It took me a long time
It took me a while

To find out
To become aware

My mind
My thoughts and feelings

Is upside down
Is in chaos and confusion

What I was standing on
What I believed was true

Too solid ground
Was not as solid as I thought

To satisfy
To meet my desires and expectations

That's what I thought I'd be
That's what I expected to achieve

I kept on living in my own dream
I continued to live in my own fantasy world

Everyday
Every day

I grew blinder
I became more unaware

Oh I thought I was so strong
I believed I was resilient

I didn't need nobody's help
I thought I could handle it on my own

Oh but the strongest river
Even the strongest force in nature

Can't flow up hill
Cannot defy the laws of nature

In my own dream To satisfy That's what I thought I'd be I kept on living in my own dream, own dream In my own dream
Refrain: I continued to live in my own unrealistic world

Writer(s): BUTTERFIELD

Contributed by Alyssa H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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