The Paul Butterfield Blues Band

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band – In My Own Dream (1997 Remaster)

Paul Butterfield was born, December 17, in 1942.

Growing up in Chicago’s Hyde Park, he was exposed to music at an early age. His first instrument was the flute and by high school was studying with the first-chair flautist of the Chicago Symphony, but the Blues had already begun to assert its influence on him..

He and Nick Gravenites would hang around outside Chicago Blues Clubs, listening to the music that drifted out to the street.

The two began playing together at various universities throughout the city.

Butterfield was enrolled at the University of Illinois, but the pull of Chicago’s blues clubs proved too strong and he dropped out and devoted himself full time to making music.

The impact of the first Paul Butterfield Blues Band LP in 1965 is impossible to overstate. Bands such as The Rolling Stones had begun to introduce the Blues to American commercial radio a few years earlier, but while Butterfield and his band offered their respects to those who came before them, they played the Blues in their own style, without deference or apology, and brought a harder, rock edge to what they played, influencing a generation of white musicians.

The Butterfield Blues Band had been through a number of personnel changes by the time this LP was recorded in 1968. Accordingly, Butterfield’s sound had changed with them, moving away from pure blues to add other ingredients.

The band at this time consisted of Elvin Bishop on guitar and vocals; Bugsy Maugh on bass and vocals; Philip Wilson, drums and vocals; Gene Dinwiddie on mandolin and tenor saxophone; David Sanborn on soprano, alto and baritone saxophones; Keith Johnson on piano and trumpet and Mark Naftalin on keyboards.

This number, the title track of the LP, nicely spotlights an underappreciated aspect of Butterfield’s abilities, his singing.

Bass Guitar: Bugsy Maugh
Saxophone: David Sanborn
Guitar: Elvin Bishop
Trumpet: Keith Johnson
Keyboards: Mark Naftalin
Guitar: Mike Bloomfield
Vocals: Paul Butterfield
Producer: Paul Rothchild
Drums: Philip Wilson
Writer: Paul Butterfield

Lyrics:
Lead vocal Chorus
I didn’t know.
I was such a fool.
And it took me a long time,
Just to find out,
That my head,
Is upside down.
What I was standing on,
You know, it wasn’t too solid ground, oh no.
To satisfy, (Chorus: To satisfy)
What I thought I’d be, (Chorus: What I thought I’d be)
I kept on living, ooo, yeah, (Chorus: I kept on living)
In my own dreams. (Chorus: In my own dream)
And everyday, (Chorus: Everyday)
I grew blinder. (Chorus: Everday)
Thought I was so strong, (Chorus: So much stronger)
I didn’t need nobody’s help.
Oh, the strongest river, (Chorus: Oooo)
Can’t flow up hill, wo, no.
To satisfy, (Chorus: To satisfy, oh yeah)
What I thought I’d be, oo, yeah (Chorus: What I thought I’d be)
I kept on living, (Chorus: I kept on living)
In my own dream. (Chorus: In my own dream)
You know, the tides of love, yeah
Are so strong.
You know, it carried me back
And showed me my wrong, yeah, ooo.
To satisfy (Chorus: To satisfy)
Yeah, what I thought I’d be (Chorus: What I thought I’d be)
I kept on living, oo, yeah (Chorus: I kept on living)
In my own dream. (Chorus: In my own dream)
Fading:
Now, everyday (Chorus: Everyday)
I grew blinder (Chorus: Everyday)
Thought I was strong (Chorus: So much stronger)
I didn’t need nobody. (Chorus: Ooooo)
But the strongest river
Can’t flow uphill, oh no
To satisfy, ooo (Chorus: To satisfy)
What I thought I’d be (Chorus: What I thought I’d be)