The key to a door to a world like that

Some songs sound way more cheerful than they actually are, don't they?

I can't remember the dream that I had last night 

But I woke with delight and excitement and then when I tried 

To remember the dream that I had last night 

It was gone but the feeling I had in the dream stayed on 

When I'm awake and I look around me 

I can faithfully record everything that I see 

Most of my memories tend to be sad 

So I wish I could remember the dream that I had 

I can't remember the dream that I had last night 

If I could I would write it out, underline the highlights 

Of the dream that would now redefine my life 

Be a new road map, affirmation and guiding light 

When I'm awake I note all that I see 

And remember it with photographic accuracy 

Most of my memories tend to be bad 

And I'm sad I can't remember the dream that I had 

Why can't I remember it when I can't forget unpleasant thoughts? 

I want to push them away 

They creep like weeds, 

like weeds they cover all the flowerbeds 

I can't remember the dream that I had last night  

But the simple fact that my mind could concoct such a thing 

As the incredible dream that I had last night 

Is a clue to the key to a door to a world like that 

My daily life doesn't interest me 

It's a never-ending litany of pain and ennui 

This waking nightmare is driving me mad 

And I wish I could remember the dream that I had 

Why can't I remember the dream that I had? 

Wish I could go live in the dream that I had

Leaving out the whistles and bells

This Twelfth Night, I look at a string of blue Tardises shining against the curtain, and our tree, gradually decorated by our daughters in the week leading up to Christmas.

The presents underneath have gradually disappeared; we opened the last gifts this evening.

Tomorrow, as was our tradition before leaving Victoria, and is becoming so again, a couple of long-time friends will come to dinner and help us put away the tree for another year. We may leave up the other lights until Candlemas.

This evening, enjoying the quiet glow for one last time, I stumbled across an old favourite song, by a group that takes its name from one of my favourite movies. The song is about another blue light, a canary-shaped nightlight which is and isn't your friend, and muses about a lighthouse, its ancient ancestor.

I'm your only friend
I'm not your only friend
But I'm a little glowing friend
But really I'm not actually your friend
But I am...

Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch,
Who watches over you,
Make a little birdhouse in your soul.
Not to put too fine a point on it,
Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet.
Make a little birdhouse in your soul.

I have a secret to tell
From my electrical well.
It's a simple message and I'm leaving out the whistles and bells,
So the room must listen to me,
Filibuster vigilantly.
My name is "blue canary", one note spelled l-i-t-e.
My story's infinite;
Like the Longines Symphonette, it doesn't rest.

There's a picture opposite me
Of my primitive ancestry,
Which stood on rocky shores and kept the beaches shipwreck free.
Though I respect that a lot,
I'd be fired if that were my job,
After killing Jason off and countless screaming Argonauts.
Bluebird of friendliness,
Like guardian angels, it's always near.

(And while you're at it,
Keep the nightlight on inside the
Birdhouse in your soul.)

There wasn't a readily available internet when this song was first popular, and in checking a few details, I discovered a cover in an equally quirky television series of the aughts, Pushing Daisies. This fan video captures a few seconds of it, along with a number of other old favourites sung by Kristin Chenoweth, who played a smitten pie-shop proprietor named Olive Snook in the show. Her singing partner for "Birdhouse in Your Soul" is none other than Ellen Greene, the original Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors. (Their eye-patched driver is Swoosie Kurtz.)

"Candle on the Water", which we hear briefly later in the fan-vid, also has strong memories for me. Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime. Maybe I already have...