Famous Dreams,Dreams that came true-Do you have one you can add~ FReeper Canteen ~ March 15-07

[fatima]

~Famous~

Paul McCartney Finds "Yesterday"
In a Dream Paul McCartney is one of the most famous singer/ songwriters of all time. According to the Guinness Book of Records, his Beatles song "Yesterday" (1965) has the most cover versions of any song ever written and, according to record label BMI, was performed over seven million times in the 20th century. The Beatles were in London in 1965 filming Help! and McCartney was staying in a small attic room of his family's house on Wimpole Street.

One morning, in a dream he heard a classical string ensemble playing, and, as McCartney tells it: "I woke up with a lovely tune in my head. I thought, 'That's great, I wonder what that is?' There was an upright piano next to me, to the right of the bed by the window. I got out of bed, sat at the piano, found G, found F sharp minor 7th -- and that leads you through then to B to E minor, and finally back to E. It all leads forward logically. I liked the melody a lot, but because I'd dreamed it, I couldn't believe I'd written it. I thought, 'No, I've never written anything like this before.' But I had the tune, which was the most magic thing!"

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Inspired By a Dream In the summer of 1816, nineteen-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and her lover, the poet Percy Shelley (whom she married later that year), visited the poet Lord Byron at his villa beside Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Stormy weather frequently forced them indoors, where they and Byron's other guests sometimes read from a volume of ghost stories. One evening, Byron challenged his guests to each write one themselves. Mary's story, inspired by a dream, became Frankenstein. "When I placed my head upon my pillow, I did not sleep, nor could I be said to think... I saw -- with shut eyes, but acute mental vision -- I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together.

I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous Creator of the world. ...I opened mine in terror. The idea so possessed my mind, that a thrill of fear ran through me, and I wished to exchange the ghastly image of my fancy for the realities around. ...I could not so easily get rid of my hideous phantom; still it haunted me. I must try to think of something else. I recurred to my ghost story -- my tiresome, unlucky ghost story! O! if I could only contrive one which would frighten my reader as I myself had been frightened that night! Swift as light and as cheering was the idea that broke upon me. 'I have found it! What terrified me will terrify others; and I need only describe the spectre which had haunted me my midnight pillow.' On the morrow I announced that I had thought of a story. I began that day with the words, 'It was on a dreary night of November', making only a transcript of the grim terrors of my waking dream."

St. Patrick Follows His Dreams Surprisingly little is known about the life of St. Patrick, one of the most well-known saints in Christianity. The common belief that he drove snakes out of Ireland is now believed to be false. Some believe that the "snakes" in the story may be a metaphor for Pagans and Heathens. Patrick incorporated traditional Pagan rituals and symbols into his efforts to convert the Irish, who had traditionally practiced earth-based spirituality, to Christianity. For example, Patrick used bonfires at Easter services because the people honored their gods with fire.

It is known that he was born into a wealthy, but not particularly religious family. When Patrick was sixteen years old, he was taken prisoner by a group of Irish renegades who brought him to Ireland, where he was held in captivity for six years. He was put to work as a shepherd and became a devout Christian in his isolation, dreaming of converting the Irish people to Christianity. He finally escaped and according to his writing, God spoke to him in a dream. Patrick interpreted the dream as a sign that he was to leave Ireland. After walking nearly 200 miles, Patrick had another dream. This time an angel told him to return to Ireland as a missionary. Patrick followed his dream and was ordained as a priest after fifteen years of study. By this time, part of Ireland's population practiced Christianity, so the legend that St. Patrick introduced the religion is not completely accurate. Irish culture is a dreaming culture, centered around storytelling, poetry and myth. Many of the stories about him were exaggerated in the Irish tradition of weaving wonderful tales to record their heritage.

"I can but give an instance or so of what part is done sleeping and what part awake…and to do this I will first take…Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I had long been trying to write a story on this subject. For two days I went about wracking my brains for a plot of any sort, and on the second night I dreamed the scene at the window and a scene afterward split in two, in which Hyde, pursued for some crime, took the powder and underwent the change in the presence of his pursuers. All the rest was made awake, and consciously. Robert Louis Stevenson, A Chapter on Dreams, 1892.

"About ten days ago, I retired very late. I had been up waiting for important dispatches from the front. I could not have been long in bed when I fell into a slumber, for I was weary. I soon began to dream. There seemed to be death-like stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered downstairs. There the silence was broken by the same pitiful sobbing, but the mourners were invisible. I went from room to room; no living person was in sight, but the same mournful sounds of distress met me as I passed along. It was light in all the rooms; every object was familiar to me; but where were all the people who were grieving as if their hearts would break? I was puzzled and alarmed.

What could be the meaning of all this? Determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and so shocking, I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered There I met with a sickening surprise. Before me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a throng of people, some gazing mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully. "Who is dead in the White House?" I demanded of one of the soldiers "The President" was his answer; "he was killed by an assassin! Then came a loud burst of grief form the crowd, which awoke me from my dream. " Ward Hill Lamon, Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847-1885, 1911.

[AZamericonnie]

?

[luvie]

LOL! Nearly! :D

[AZamericonnie]

Rats! lol

FR is crawling so bad for me right now....yeah....that's my story!:)

[fatima]

It has been slow.I am just glad I was able to get the thread up.

[BIGLOOK]

Happy Birthday Writer 33!

[fatima]

Madame C.J. Walker - From Dream to Millionaire

Madame C.J. Walker (1867-1919) is cited by the Guinness Book of Records as the first female American self-made millionaire. She was also the first member of her family born free.

Madame Walker founded and built a highly successful African-American cosmetic company that made her a millionaire many times over. Walker was suffering from a scalp infection that caused her to loose most of her hair in the 1890’s. She began experimenting with patented medicines and hair-care products.

Then, she had a dream that solved her problems:

“He answered my prayer, for one night I had a dream, and in that dream a big, black man appeared to me and told me what to mix up in my hair. Some of the remedy was grown in Africa, but I sent for it, mixed it, put it on my scalp, and in a few weeks my hair was coming in faster than it had ever fallen out. I tried it on my friends; it helped them. I made up my mind to begin to sell it.”

Walker was an entrepreneur, philanthropist and social activist. She best sums up her rise from a childhood in the poor south to being the head of an international, multi-million dollar corporation in the following quote:

"I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations....I have built my own factory on my own ground."

[Tanniker Smith]

Do you write science fiction as well?

I've tried. Not successfully. I've reread some of my old stuff and at least now I can realize how badly it was written, so I'm learning anyway.

My one professional sorth story sale was sort of science fiction, it an adventure story in a specific sf setting (owned by someone else). It was a small press -- they didn't qualify for 2nd class postage because of their low circulation. (That said, I did get to write something else for them, and there was that sale to Mad Magazine. 8P)

[luvie]

LOL! Then stick to it!

It's kind of crawling for me, too. That #200 had to be tacked on to the end! I thought for sure some smarty would beat me! :D

[Tanniker Smith]

Rover? As a birthday greeting?

[Tanniker Smith]

Happy Birthday!

[The Mayor]

It is getting warmer and almost all the snow is gone... Now we get thru the mud season and we'll be clear for spring..

[The Mayor]

Your Welcome.. : )

[The Mayor]

Hi!

[luvie]

hee-hee...I can believe the Mad Magazine! :D

[ScubieNuc]

Your story is beautiful. God does use angels to help us at times.

I have a story that is not as great, but it is valuable to my Mom.

When I was 3 years old, I got meningitis. My fever spiked up to 106 and I went into a coma. (Of course, I don't remember any of this.) My older brother and parents were kept at the hospital for 3 days straight, because the doctors believed I was going to die, and they wanted my brother to be able to say "good-bye."

Obviously, my parents were praying hard and not getting any sleep. On the third day, my Mom fell asleep for a brief time on a couch. She says that she had a very vivid dream where a beautiful older man with a pure white beard told her that I would be alright. When he touched her on her shoulder, she woke up.

She went up to my room, and I was still in a coma. She walked over to me and touched me on my shoulder and said "wake up, honey." I came to.

Month's later, I was playing under the dining room table talking to my favorite stuffed animals. According to my Mom, I didn't know that she was listening to my conversations with my animals. Apparently I was telling my bunny that "the white bearded man took me up to heaven and I got to meet Jesus. Jesus then fixed my hurt and the bearded man brought me back down to the hospital."

I don't remember any of this, (except for being in the hospital) and my Mom never talked to anyone about her "white bearded man" dream. She also says that no one talked to me about going up to heaven, so she feels that my conversation was confirmation of angelic intervention.

I post this with some hesitation. I know that some people pray to angels and put too much attention on angels. I do believe that angels do interact with us, but I also believe that we are not to pray to them or give them the reverance that is due to Jesus.

Sincerely

[luvie]

Oh, lovely pre-spring mud!

I wouldn't know about that.

Our dirt comes in the form of spring sandstorms.

We had visitors from Houston last week who woke up to a
sandstorm and thought it was fog....brown fog? LOL!

[leda]

hmmmm sleeping on the couch doesn't sound
like too much fun, so it's off to bed. :)

what a fun thread tonight, fatima, thanks!

nighters!

[The Mayor]

Brown fog... : )

Sounds like L.A.
I lived in Tucson for many years and know all about that.

[XEHRpa]

Wow! Your angel story is very compelling. And I agree with you that we should not pray to angels. They are God's messengers...The Man upstairs is the one doing the heavy lifting. But I again agree with you that angels interact with us. If I recall, the "guardian angel" concept comes right out of Scripture, though I can't recall the chapter & verse.

Thanks for sharing that wonderful witness.

[BIGLOOK]

He'll understand.

Do a favor and send me your best recommendations for books. I'm waiting for the latest Crichton and DeMille novels to come out in paperback.