I had a dream a little bit ago in which I was listening to a pop song from the mid- or late-80s, the chorus of which was "Avignon," "Avalon" (not the Roxy Music song), or "Babylon" (not David Gray), repeated six or eight times. The lyrics, as far as I could tell, were something about a female fashion victim, listing the clothes she was buying (a leather skirt is the only specific item I can remember). The vocals sounded like some sort of peculiar blend of Sting and Phil Collins, and of the instrumentation I can only recall some solo piano passages.
In the dream while I was listening to this I was reading some sort of 1980s music magazine that was trying to seriously address the issue of women in rock who play instruments. One section of the article claimed that bands that wanted to project "authenticity" seemed to always have a female bassist with long, straight, blonde hair, and showed a selection of band photos supporting this (I didn't recognize any of the pictures as being those of any "real" bands). Throughout the magazine were ads for stereotypically 80s records, with an emphasis on new-wave cheesecake representations of women.
Any idea of what this dream could mean? Or am I recalling an actual but obscure 80s song or magazine?
― j.lu (j.lu), Saturday, 18 January 2003 22:14 (twenty-three years ago)
As Sigmund isn't answering I will provide interim response.
You dream, you say, of pop music. All educated new-age people know pop music is pushed out by government to sedate masses. Your dream tells you you must abandon fantasy of seducing your father, represented by prime minister who is behind the scenes intoning dirge. You think of 'Avalon' and 'Babylon' because you dream of the moments when you lay in Daddy's arms, never dreaming you would once walk out in the world cold and alone, miserably regretting imperative of adulthood. Feminist delusions are pasted over dream to hide desire to run back to Daddy.
What you do is learn to transfer dream of security to reality of mother instinct. Learn to like Heather Graham and think her your longlost daughter. I provide this service free to show that Freudianism is up with the times no need for Lacan and co.
― Anna Freud, Monday, 20 January 2003 02:10 (twenty-three years ago)
You must forgive Anna, without betraying therapist-patient confidentiality, I must tell you that she has some unresolved electra-issues, which is colouring her judgement with regard to female-male relationships and male authority figures. (Lacan ? Ha. Now, Derrida had some intriguing ideas.)
Un petite beaucoup du vetement dans le rue Vernet, n’est pas?
You make it a point to describe the music as a “blend of Sting and Phil Collins,” or the blond and the bland. You also point that it is not Roxy Music or David Gray, thereby confirming what the music you hear is not—interesting or something that connects to you emotionally.
The magazine clearly shows your conflict between an objectification of the female form, or specifically, your female form, and the need for subjectification. In simpler terms, your conflict between defining your Self through male eyes— how you perceive yourself to be seen, and a need to be in control— subjectification, and comfort in your own body.
Another connection can be made with your self-consciousness of the female form— the “authenticity” that you crave in the magazine is represented via any group’s bass player, or the ‘bottom’ of the band. The leather skirt provides a clue, but the confirmation is in your tag line, “j.lu,” or a familiarity with J Lo, perhaps.
The answer you seek is also within your dream in the chorus— I suggest a holiday dan le sur du France, shopping for leather goods followed by topless sunbathing on the Mediterranean.
― Sigmund Freud (SiggyBaby), Monday, 20 January 2003 15:53 (twenty-three years ago)