Mary Shelley's Dream

by PHYLLIS JOHNSON

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about

Played piano by ear age 5. Ran car battery dead listening to the Beatles. Taught herself guitar age 9. AM radio was her closest companion. Played trumpet age 10. Spun records endlessly. Hopeful. Obsessed with Rachmaninoff. Taught herself drums age 15. Infatuated with Gershwin. Inspired. Wrote 1st song age 16. Won piano scholarship age 17. Attended music school. Intrigued with all instruments. Sought to master as many as possible. Audition placed her under Prince's purple canopy. Did the Minneapolis funk/r&b thing. Returned to music school. Resolute. Wrote music day and night. Sang jazz in award winning vocal group. Choir received top national honors in Chicago. Featured in Down Beat Magazine. 1 of 2 awarded highest honors for outstanding vocal performance at Greeley Jazzfest. Earned Bachelor of Music degree. Happy. Wrote/recorded old school pop with original band. Played in popular alt-country band. Sustained vocal injury. Ended hopes of music career. Devastated. Doc said, "When given a lemon make lemonade." Continued writing/recording in spite of challenges. Fire destroyed studio. Defeated. Walked away from music for a season. Cathartically composed originals for her ears only. Accumulated hundreds of songs in backlog. Rebuilt studio. Determined. Resurrected songs from ashes. Now has catalog 25 years deep. Received requests to release music. Dream reawakens. Struggles with vocals but defiantly refuses to quit. Tracks mostly solo with occasional studio favors. Records slowly but tenaciously. Thankful. Her once agile voice is replaced with fragile, world weary one. Upon completion, collection will be appropriately titled, LEMONADE. Many more to come. Musical influences include the Beatles, Kinks, Byrds, Left Banke, David Bowie, Todd Rundgren, Elton John, Badfinger & Brian Wilson.

SEE "MARY SHELLEY'S DREAM" VIDEO HERE: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzDMDQDcleQ

lyrics

MARY SHELLEY'S DREAM

When Mary Shelley was a girl
She spun a yarn inside her curls
And in its telling frightened the world
Mary Shelley's dream

Relating stories passing time
Trading shivers down the spine
Her allegory Frankenstein
Was Mary Shelley's Dream

*Bridge*
Pressed between each page I turn
In the shadows hidden from sight
Lessons that we fail to learn
Like something that goes bump in the night

CHORUS
I can hear it breathing
And its cold heart beating
I fear that we're repeating Mary's dream

An apparatus was devised
To steal the fire from the skies
And deal the spark that opened the eyes
In Mary Shelley's dream

A grim creation sewn by hand
Reanimation on command
Life eternal that was the plan
In Mary Shelley's dream

*Bridge*
The fate the chained Prometheus
Son of the Industrial Age
Lays in wait for each of us
Once the beast is free of its cage

CHORUS

*Guitar/Piano Solo*

*Bridge*
Through the years it calculates
It ponders questions answers unknowns
Now it's clear there's no escape
The monster has a mind of its own

CHORUS (2 times)

credits

released October 21, 2015
Songwriting: Phyllis Johnson (music/lyrics)/Stefan Johnson (lyrics)
Phyllis Johnson: Vocals/Acoustic & Electric Guitar/Wurlitzer/B-3/Spooky Synth/Piano/Bass/Drums
Stefan Johnson: Classical Guitar Solo

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Phyllis Johnson Minneapolis, Minnesota

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