Till the Dreaming’s Done and I Will Walk With You. Here are two love songs which, under normal circumstances, would be highlights for most albums. However, I have grouped them together in a brief review for reasons that will become apparent.
Till the Dreaming’s Done is a daydreamy little song which rests on a simple rhyme: “North, South, East and West, Uptown, downbound and all the rest” It’s a short, sweet, simple song – and seems almost out of place on this album of strongly-held sentiments. In fact, the beauty of the song probably lies in its simplicity. It brings us back down gently, as if in a hot air balloon on a sunny day, after the determined expression which characterises all the previous songs.
I Will Walk with You is a steady love song, stressing the virtues of loyalty and sticking together through thick and thin: “…There’s always another wall, sometimes you feel so small. You could pick me up when I fall, be there when I call…”
The characteristic Hornsby “bonehead” drum rhythm once again sets the pace. Thematically, the song is quite similar to Bruce’s Fields of Gray, written some years later.
Clearly I Will Walk With You, on any other album, would be one of the highlights. Perhaps it would have been on Scenes from the Southside, had it been placed elsewhere on the album. However, its particular position on the Scenes from the Southside setlist means that the song, in the context of the album, can only really be regarded as a mere prologue to The Road Not Taken.
Carwyn Tywyn
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Till the Dreaming's Done
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Oakland, CA
Solo show; soundboard
November 1 1998