Tanya Donelly (born July 14, 1966, in Newport, Rhode Island) is an American… Read Full Bio ↴Tanya Donelly (born July 14, 1966, in Newport, Rhode Island) is an American singer/songwriter and guitarist based in New England who cofounded Throwing Muses with stepsister Kristin Hersh, then went on to work in The Breeders and Belly in the 1990s. In the late 1990s, she settled into a solo recording career, working largely with musicians connected to the Boston music scene.

Donelly is best known for her Grammy-nominated work in the mid-1990s as lead vocalist and songwriter for Belly, when she scored a national radio and music television hit with her composition "Feed the Tree." Belly recorded on Sire/Reprise Records and 4AD; Donelly's solo works have been released on Warner Brothers Records and 4AD.

Over the years she has listed several musical influences. In one interview she named her guitar-playing influences as Marc Ribot, the Beatles, and former bandmate Hersh. More recently she mentioned Leonard Cohen as a songwriting hero, citing her then-current listening favorites as Lucinda Williams and Joan Wasser, and listing Boston-based groups like the Dambuilders, Pixies, and Count Zero as past favorites. Although Donelly mainly performs her own original songs, she has in recent years added covers by Robyn Hitchcock, Nina Simone, and the Beatles to her repertoire.

Life is but a dream
Tanya Donelly Lyrics

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And a shadow fell
Bringing sleep to all
Life is but a dream
Ours

When you disappear
You are everywhere
Life is but a dream

Ours

In our beauty sleep
In big sleep together
Nothing ever ends
Nothing lasts forever

You'll come back again
I am waiting then
Life is but a dream
It's ours

Life is but a dream

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of the song, "Life Is but a Dream" by Tanya Donelly, are an apt representation of the fleeting and transient nature of life. The opening lines, "And a shadow fell, Bringing sleep to all," set the mood for the song- the inevitability of death and how it is something that we all must face. The next line, "Life is but a dream, Ours," conveys that life is like a dream- always changing and unpredictable, and each one of us is living our own dream.

The verse "When you disappear, You are everywhere" seems to suggest that death is not the end but a beginning of a new life, and when we do pass away, we become a part of everything and everyone. The line "In our beauty sleep, In big sleep together," speaks of the idea that we are all connected in some way, even in our sleep. And the last line "Nothing ever ends, Nothing lasts forever," gives the feeling that even though people come and go in our lives, their memories and impact on us never truly fade away.

The chorus "You'll come back again, I am waiting then, Life is but a dream, It's ours," connotes that even though people may leave us, we will always hold on to their memories and the lessons that they taught us. The song is a beautiful representation of the idea of the circle of life, how everything is temporary but also how everything and everyone is connected in some way.

Line by Line Meaning

And a shadow fell
As darkness envelops us, bringing rest and calm to everyone.

Bringing sleep to all
Bringing peace, calm and rest to all creatures around us.

Life is but a dream
Life is a transient state, full of fleeting moments and fleeting opportunities.

Ours
It belongs to us

When you disappear
When you are gone

You are everywhere
Your essence is present everywhere.

Life is but a dream
Life is not real, it's just a figment of our imagination.

Ours
The life we experience is personal to us, and belongs only to us.

In our beauty sleep
In the deep state of peaceful sleep, when our mind is calm and undisturbed

In big sleep together
When we all take the last sleep, our final peaceful journey.

Nothing ever ends
Nothing ever truly ceases to exist, it just transforms to another form.