Ghost on the Canvas - Share your thoughts!

[Dee]

You are welcome, Cowpoke.
I like your new avatar, btw.

I am still pondering, too. Perhaps again watching the official video directed by Kii Arens and Jason Trucco for Surfdog Records will give us new insights:

[Cowpoke]

No no it isn't a stretch at all. How could I have missed the painting reference in "other they color their dreams"! Very good. This opens up all kinds of thoughts.
Thanks for brooding with me on this Dee!

Cowpoke (back to brooding)

[Dee]

Very disheartening interpretations, Mike. Thanks so much for researching and sharing your thoughts. Could very well be in line with the songwriter's meaning.

We dream in color,
Others they color their dreams

Are these lines simply more word play in "Ghost"?

The second line is beautiful to me...coloring one's dreams could be...making one's dreams come alive? Giving life to your dreams? You give your dreams color. You make them real. You make them true.
Perhaps PW is saying, hey, we all dream in color (black and white are colors, right?) "We dream" -- it's a passive statement.
But some people are on a different level. They color their dreams -- a statement of action. They act on their dreams and make them reality. Their dreams are visions of what can be or will be.
To continue with the Van Gogh theory: there are others who do more than dream of, say, a simple wheatfield. They paint or color their dreams, they give life to their dreams by putting their brushes on the canvas of life and creating...well, a masterpiece of art such as Van Gogh's Wheatfield with Crows.

Okay, this theory is a stretch!

Dee

[Mike Joyce]

That is a difficult question Cowpoke,
And as you say it is open to a varity of interpreptations by the listen as robduloc points also points out. Nice story BTW rodduloc. I have never heard of that situation before. I used to dream in black and white when I as young, but that was because I couldn't afford a colour dream licence.
Anyway I found these lyrics when I was looking for clues to possible meanings of that line.Not sure if it helps or not.
It seems to me as if the writer is saying that dreams are more hopeful than the reality of life, or that the life they lead is fulfilling and full of colour, some people may not be so lucky and try to ignore the situation they are in, deny it, if you like so they colour their dreams.
Cowpoke,you mentioned Van Gough and insanity, which I think is also another way to see it, although a more extreme situation. But which certainly holds true. However I am thinking more of the general state of affairs most of us live with. That is to say, we have a life which is just not bringing us any form of joy or satisfaction, whether that be personally or in a relationship, but we put on a brave face to the rest of the world and that I guess, is colouring our dreams and the reality we are living. Of course that is just my opinion.
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/starship/w ... 29689.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Cowpoke]

And Rob, when you didn't dream in color, did you color them yourself? Thanks for sharing that story. Come to think of it, I don't really know if I dream in color or in black and white. I will have to take notes the next time I dream .

[robduloc]

In loving memory of my father*

[robduloc]

I never dreamed in color until my early fifties, always grey and in my late forties a hint of red, that's a long time to never dream in color, I always assumed it had something to do with some other frequency, and then I remember my first dream with a little color, purple.

Does that say something?

I dreamed of lilacs coming to bloom at the house I inherited, it was tied with all the bulbs that go to sleep in Winter and wake up in Spring, nature's time clock, it's pretty grey around here up until that time when everything explodes full bloom.

A song can mean a lot of things to the composer or producer, but somewhere a song needs to be handed over to the listener, and take on new found meaning, a split or break up, reunion, first love, Ghost On The Canvas will always mean to me, that I have grown older and become my parents, to love everyone and be faithful to my dreams. Your love interest will keep you alive and going.

God wants you busy never giving up~

I have heard a song is like a flower, the main chorus is introduced and the mood peaks when the bridge is introduced, the change in melody or tone is like a flower bursting or blossoming in front of your face, most rewarding to turn the final chorus with eyes and ear anew.

[Cowpoke]

While this thread has gone in all kinds of directions (which I love) I still have not tackled the last verse of Ghost on the Canvas. So, whether you guys like it or not, here I go again!

We dream in color,
Others they color their dreams

Now we have gone through a lot of explanations what this place between life and death really is. Is it some mystical place that we can sometimes see and even enter? Or is the state in which an Alzheimer's patient lives? Or does it refer to works of arts that are dead objects yet depict life so vividly. With this last verse, Paul Westerberg, at least in my eyes, point to yet another possibility, namely: the world of dreams and sleep.

(Dee has briefly referred to this as well, when she quoted an interview with Paul, in which he said "the writer is a suicidal maniac who talks to Van Gogh in his sleep".)

But yes of course, when we sleep or dream we are in a place between life and death. So could it be that the whole song has been about dreams? I don't think so, I really think Paul Westerberg is a very accomplished composer who is able to add different layers to this lyrics. And then... those two lines say more than just "we dream" they talk about dreaming in color whereas "others they color their dreams".

Two very evocative lines, which to me almost defy exact explanation. It's like I know what he means but I cannot put in any other words. Those poetic lines are the only way to express that particular truth. But... I am not satisfied with that so first of all I am going to brood over those lines. Who wants to brood with me?

[robduloc]

continue~

[robduloc]

My tribute to Hal*

1). What did 007 say to the Double Agent on their honeymoon?

"Hugs not Bugs".

2). This guy is so clean he likes to rinse his water bottles before recycling them.

3). What did the little bird say to the other bird about the worm.

"Tastes just like chicken to me"!

4). What do you say when someone prefers to stich their wound?

"Suter Self"~

And last but not least, groan*.

5). Which Glen Campbell Chart Topper spawned a blockbuster musical by Barbara Streisand?

"Yentl On My Mind"

thank you, everybody... jokes run over by a bus...