I Dreamed I Dream

The second song on Sonic Youth's first EP is called "I Dreamed I Dream."

This song dates back to 1981 and was originally titled "Where The Red Fern Grows."

This song features vocals by both Kim Gordon and Lee Renaldo.  After the crashing end of Burning Spear, "I Dreamed I Dream" starts off with a slow bass drone in the form of a G chord, slowly switch to F# and E. Small guitar picking accompany a steady one chord guitar strum. With Lee singing the reverberated vocals in the background,  Kim repeats several lines "all the money is gone" working you, fucking you, working you fucking you". The abstract lyrics and the one chord drone/strum give a small hint as to wear the band will be heading in the future. Most of the lyrics were written by drummer Richard Edsen.

I have always been surprised on how "quiet" this song comes off. Early live recordings indicate a much fuller range of noises carrying the song.  This song was included on the "Screaming Fields of Sonic Love" cd and an episode of the Sopranos in 2007. This track best represents the band in that era and gives a unique perspective on the no-wave scene and where it was headed. Several compilations from the No Wave era include this song. Sonic Youth was obviously trying to branch out from improve noise and try to orchestrate their jams into actual songs or pieces from a larger performance. 

A demo of this song surfaced on the 2006 re-issue which was recorded a few months prior the EP recording. The performance isn't as tight and does not contain any lyrics. This song has not been performed since 9-18-81. I could be wrong though.