Where My Love Lies Asleep
"Where My Love Lies Asleep" is a song by Gene Clark, originally released on the album, White Light, in August 1971. It was covered by Dave Gahan and Soulsavers and is the eighth track on Imposter.
Lyrics
(from original recording)
There's no chains to her spirit
As she enters the doorway
Of dreams drifting free
Lightnings flash, rivers roar
Round the island she's sleeping
And the echoes soul
That speaks where she's sleeping
Where my love lies asleep
There's no past nor tomorrow
Only treasures to keep
There's no fears there to borrow
Through the hallways of wonder
Down the steps of the deep
And the secrets that drum
Where my love lies asleep
Past the suns in the morning
Past the stars in their sleep
All the worlds that are near
Where my love lies asleep
Dave's Take
"A friend of mine cleverly referred to this as a great song by 'the one Byrd in the shade'. This sounds a bit trite, but I really do think it's a beautiful song about letting somebody know just how much love them."1
My Take
I admit, I didn't know who Gene Clark was until I started doing the research for this review, but now that I do know, I'm pleasantly surprised! Gene is the founding member of The Byrds, who gave us classics like "Mr. Tambourine Man" (which was a Bob Dylan cover), "Turn! Turn! Turn" (which was a Pete Seeger cover), and "Eight Miles High." So let me now try to get this straight...Dave covered a guy who was part of a band who covered Bob Dylan, whom Dave is also covering on this album...are you following, yet? The music business sure can be an incestuous thing sometimes...
Anyway, this is basically folk rock. Now, if this were before 2003, then I would say probably many eyebrows would be raised at this musical choice by Dave, but he has done a lot of folk rock-type songs since then, hasn't he? I'm thinking of songs like "Hold On", "Maybe", and "Breathe" from Paper Monsters, for three, and of course, a lot of his Soulsavers stuff has dabbled in that sound, as well. Finally, there is harmonica on this, so I'm eager to hear Dave break out his, too, on his version!
Okay, so no harmonica, but the overall sound is warm and full, like the last rays of sunlight on a short autumn day, which is when I am listening to this. And Dave's voice is silky and smooth, with him applying a little country-style bend to it every now and then, though not as copiously as in the original. Hearing this makes me think that Dave could do decent covers of old country songs, though I'm not sure what fans would think about that. Anyway, this is a beautiful little love song, and Dave captures its simplistic beauty perfectly.
Music Video
There is no music video for this song.