Street of Dreams

by **Soulmonster** Tue Aug 17, 2010 9:47 pm

STREET OF DREAMS

Albums:

Chinese Democracy, track no. 4, November 2008.

Written by:
Axl Rose, Tommy Stinson and Dizzy Reed.

Musicians:
Axl Rose – lead vocals, backing vocals, keyboards, piano, guitar
Robin Finck – lead guitars, keyboards
Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal – lead guitar
Buckethead – lead guitar
Paul Tobias – rhythm guitar, piano
Richard Fortus – rhythm guitar
Tommy Stinson – bass, backing vocals
Dizzy Reed – keyboards, piano, synthesizer, backing vocals
Chris Pitman – keyboards, programming, sub bass, backing vocals, bass, 12 string guitar, mellotron
Bryan "Brain" Mantia – drums, percussion
Frank Ferrer – drums, percussion

Live performances:
'Street of Dreams' was played live for the first time on January 1, 2001, at the House of Blues, USA (at that time called "The Blues"). In total it has, as of {UPDATEDATE}, at least been played {STREETOFDREAMSSONGS} times.

Notes:
Early version of this song was called "The Blues".

Street of Dreams
From the alternative Red Hand album artwork
Credit to troccoli

Street of Dreams
From the alternative Grenade album artwork
Credit to troccoli

Lyrics:

All the love in the world couldn't save you
All the innocence inside
You know I tried so hard to make you
Ooo I wanna make you change your mind

And it hurts too much to see you
And how you left yourself behind
You know I wouldn't want to be you
Now there's a hell I can't describe

So now I wander through my days
and try to find my ways
To the feelings that I felt
I saved for you and no one else

And though as long as this road seems
I know it's called the street of dreams
But that's not stardust on my feet
It leaves a taste that's bittersweet
That's called the blues

I don't know just what I should do
Everywhere I go I see you
You know it's what you planned, this much is true
What I thought was beautiful, don't live inside of you anymore

I don't know just what I should do
Everywhere I go I see you
Though it's what you planned, this much is true, oh oh.
What I thought was beautiful, don't live inside of you anymore

What this means to me
Is more than I know you believe
What I thought of you now
Has cost more that it should for me

What I thought was true before
Were lies I couldn't see
What I thought was beautiful
Is only memories, oh, oh oh, oh oh.

What'd I tell ya, oh, oh oh, oh oh.
That's what I'd tell ya, oh, oh oh, oh oh.

Quotes regarding the song

For Dizzy the song was a highlight during the live shows since his keyboard playing was an integral part of the song:

I like playing 'Street of Dreams.' It’s a treat for me to come out and play the piano

Vindy.com, December 2011

Axl would later explain why the song was renamed:

The Blues was my first working title and I was never comfortable with it in the sense that I felt that should be used with a bluesier based song. And here in Hollywood with the walk of fame etc I had always seen that imagery in my head when I think of it. I also like the idea of the song having in affect two titles.

mygnrforum.com, December 12, 2008

After the album was released, Tommy would talk about his playing on the song:

That’s definitely one of the places where I tried to play melodically. Axl [Rose] had the majority of that song written, and I brought in the bridge bass line and progression.

Bass Player, June 2009

And Dizzy would talk about the writing process:

[On writing for Chinese Democracy]: There was no set formula. People who were in the band at the time tossed ideas around and we'd add parts or drop parts. People would try things on their own and we all contributed in our way and developed the songs into what they eventually turned out like on the album. With “Street Of Dreams” we were just playing around with it and one day I sat down and developed the bridge part and the intro and that became part of the finished song. There was a lot of work to put it together but I think the material worked out really well

Metal Express Radio, May 2012