Lonesome Dreams

***Lonesome Dreams*** is Lord Huron's debut album. The narrative of the album follows characters from a series of adventure novels by George Ranger Johnson. The songs are not credited to particular characters, but the music videos and fictional novels provide some context. The official lyrics are available in the CD and vinyl liner notes.

The novel series unfolds non-chronologically, following the wide-ranging adventures of several characters - chiefly Huron, Admiral Blaquefut and Helena - whose stories intertwine. It is set in "a world like ours, but compressed, enhanced, and exaggerated." A 2013 version of Johnson's website indicates the track list of the album *Lonesome Dreams* is the chronological order of the story, so this article is organized in that sequence.

According to Ben Schneider, the inspiration for *Lonesome Dreams* came from a trip to Indonesia, during which he took samples of gamelan music, and from evening drives through the desert in the United States.  *Lonesome Dreams* and *Strange Trails* "exist within the same world, but they are separated by time, location and different characters."

## Songs

*\*Bonus final track for streaming and UK CD*
"The Stranger" from Into the Sun is additionally included as a bonus track on the US an UK CD editions. "When Will I See You Again" and "Son of a Gun" from Mighty also appear as bonus tracks on the UK CD edition. The EP songs were were remastered for this release. Unlike "Setting Sun," these songs are not considered part of the album's narrative, although they may be connected like much of the band's music.

## "Ends of the Earth"

*Further information: "Ends of the Earth"*

In "Ends of the Earth," Huron describes the landscapes and adventures of the world that call out to him and asks a female character to join him. He tells her that just because he's ready to die for her doesn't mean he is ready to stay: his wanderlust is too strong to remain in one place. At the end of the song he say he will set out on his journey alone.

In the "Ends of the Earth" music video, animated characters are depicted on a train in the Old West. There is a woman with a parasol who hides a locket in a lock box, a prisoner who escapes from custody, and a cowboy who dances with the woman. The escaped convict steals the woman's locket and other train passengers' valuables, but the cowboy bumps into him while dancing, and the locket bounces free. The convict then fights the cowboy and the woman knocks out the convict with her parasol. He is apprehended. Then, in a mysterious and cataclysmic scene, all the people on the train disintegrate to skeletons, as the cowboy and woman lean in for a kiss. The video ends on a shot of the couple's graves.

At the beginning of the "Ends of the Earth" video, there is an advertisement for Vernon's Chubbies.

## "Time to Run"

*Further information: "Time to Run"*

In "Time to Run," Huron explains that it is time to run, saying "they'll string me up for all that I've done, I'm going soon, gonna leave tonight by the light of the moon, I did it all for you, well, I hope you know the lengths I've gone to" to the female character and again asks her to run away with him to find a life way out west. It is not clear what he did, but he tells her "I wanted everyone to know that you're the girl for me" and to not tell anyone where he went because they will come looking for him.

In the "Time to Run" music video, Huron is running away across the desert, with Sri Tumbleweed's cronies in hot pursuit.

## "Lonesome Dreams"

*Further information: "Lonesome Dreams (song)"*

In "Lonesome Dreams," Huron describes haunting and lonesome dreamscapes, where he lands on an island coast where the only souls he sees are ghosts. The landscape initially feels familiar to him, and though he searches all day, he never finds anyone. As the song goes on, the place feels less and less familiar to Huron and he feels exceedingly lost and lonely.

Ben Schneider explained that the song "chronicles Huron's first encounter with Admiral Blaquefut."

In the music video, Huron washes up on a sandy shoreline. He has a photograph of an admiral and a map with him. He searches the island and encounters Blaquefut, the man in the portrait, speaking to three ghosts. Blaquefut initially tries to attack Huron, but he shows him the photograph, which stops the assault. Huron and Blaquefut then spend time together, looking at the map and the stars for navigational purposes, and building a raft, which they use to leave the island. The song marks the "beginning of their epic journey and friendship"

## "The Ghost on the Shore"

"The Ghost on the Shore" is from the perspective of a man who laments "I'm just a man but I know that I'm damned, all the dead seem to know where I am." It's possible, though not known, that this song is from Blaquefut's point of view, as he is seen in the "Lonesome Dreams" music video on an island of ghosts. The singer expresses the view that he is the lord of the lake, which suggests it is actually from Huron's perspective, given the name of the band. Regardless of narrator, he does not want to leave the lake, and claims that all who sail the coast will remember the tale of the ghost on the shore. Nevertheless, the song ends with "I'm going away for a looong time," suggesting a change of heart, a reluctant departure, or perhaps that the existence of the tale means that metaphorically his spirit will never leave the lake, even if he does physically.

## "She Lit a Fire"

In "She Lit a Fire" Huron searches the land for a female character, presumably Helena. He says that she left no trace, but haunts his thoughts, so he looks in the mountains, deserts, seas and forests. When he last saw her "she was dancing all alone" and he now believes that was his chance, so he'll "search the world until there's no place left to go, and if she leaves it" he says he will follow.

In the music video, Huron, Blaquefut, and another friend watch a camp where a man is tied up as a prisoner by Sultan Jack and his masked henchmen. Huron sees a woman, who is hard at work while Jack lounges on cushions and his masked henchmen stand guard. The woman spots Huron and runs away into the forest. He follows her, tracking her by the strips of blue fabric she leaves behind. He encounters her drinking from a stream, but the henchman appear in pursuit of her and attack Huron while she flees. Meanwhile, Blaquefut and the other friend rescue the prisoner from the camp. Huron fights the henchmen at the stream all day, with the woman knocking out the last man who was just about to attack Huron from behind. The night passes. In the morning, Huron and the woman embrace by a waterfall, when Blaquefut and his friends show up. The woman vanishes down the river while Huron is distracted, leaving only a strip of blue fabric.

## "Setting Sun"

*Further information: "Setting Sun"*

"Setting Sun"\* describes the brooding and possessive thoughts of a man who is angered by his lover, a girl who is spending time with a boy she calls her friend. He is sickened by her perceived lies and says "the time to forgive is gone," as he believes she is cheating on him. The man ends the song with the ambiguous line "I'll be taking a life this evening when the sun sets" - it is not clear if he intends to kill the girl he is singing about, her friend, or perhaps himself.

*\*"Setting Sun" appears as the final bonus track on the album but is listed here in chronological narrative order.*

## "I Will Be Back One Day"

In "I Will Be Back One Day," the narrator, presumably Huron, describes where he wants to be: in a land of lakes, with ones he left, running on the sacred dunes through the ancient ruins. Instead he is "way out west and the years keep slipping away." He remembers the fateful day when he ran away and someone told him he could not return. This someone is likely Helena, and refers how Huron committed some unknown crime he would be hanged for if caught, the events in "Time to Run." The narrator swore he would return to the land of lakes, saying that "I [sic] been running a long, long time, trying to flee that life but I can't seem to leave it behind." He is still passionate about her, and wants to go back.

## "The Man Who Lives Forever"

"The Man Who Lives Forever" is about a man who wants to live forever and for his lover to live alongside him, for their story to go on endlessly. She has explained to him that "life without end wouldn't have any meaning, the journey to death is the point of our being" but he debates this, saying "the point of my life is to be with you, baby, and there ain't enough time in the life that they gave me." Despite his assertion that "they say we're all gonna die but I'll never believe it" the song concludes with "And all those days and all those nights, together forever, forever alive, and all those days and all those nights, together forever, forever's a lie," suggesting he acknowledges the inevitably of death. Possibly this song is the point in the books where Huron returns to Helena, as it written as a conversation with a female character.

With this song, Ben Schneider aimed to to evoke an exotic Eastern garden.

## "Lullaby"

"Lullaby" appears to be from Helena's perspective, a lullaby to Huron calling him to dream of more innocent times. The singer affectionately tells the listener "you ain't gonna run and you know that you're beat, rest awhile, they're coming for you, there's a price to be paid for the things that we do." This could refer to whatever crimes Huron committed in the name of love in "Time to Run." The singer explains that that listener might as well sleep soundly, because consequences are coming regardless.

## "Brother (Last Ride)"

"Brother (Last Ride)" is presumably a song about Huron and Blaquefut's friendship. The singer asks "How long have I known you, brother Hundreds of lives, thousands of years, how many miles have we wandered, under the sky, chasing our fear?" This gives an epic quality to their friendship, like it transcends a normal human lifetime. The singer admits there is some trouble coming and asks his brother to stand by him to the end.

## "In the Wind"

In "In the Wind," the singer sings to someone who has been "gone for a long, long time" who has been on their mind. They express that they will wait for them to come back until the stars fall out of the sky, waiting by the lake for a thousand years. The absent person left when the narrator was "far too young to know [they] are worth more than the moon and the sun." Other people tell the narrator that the person they lost is gone, and that they should move on, but the singer expresses doubts of the veracity of their information.

## Sources

1. ↑ C-Ville interview
2. ↑ George Ranger Johnson's website
3. ↑ 2015 Reddit AMA
4. ↑ Interview Magazine
5. ↑ Vice interview
6. ↑ MTV interview
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 NPR interview on "Lonesome Dreams"
8. ↑ On the A Side
9. ↑ Songwriting Magazine

"Ends of the Earth"
"**Time To Run**"
"**Lonesome Dreams**"
"The Ghost on the Shore"

"**She Lit a Fire**"
"I Will Be Back One Day"
"The Man Who Lives Forever"
"Lullaby"

"Brother (Last Ride)"
"In the Wind"
**Bonus track:**
"Setting Sun"