Bad Dream Lyric Breakdown

Have you ever had a dream that, when you wake up, you can't get it out of your head? A dream that you recall the finest of details from. One that feels almost prophetic. That is the source material for 'Bad Dream'. I had this crazy image of me waking up in the distant future standing in the middle of New York City with no people around. NYC with empty streets is an apocalyptic image. Perhaps this image came from photos seen of an empty Times Square at the start of the pandemic. Or maybe my mind was conjuring up fear or a warning. There is no way to know which is the case, but none the less it inspired this story.

Lyrical Breakdown

Flashing lights and random sounds assault me

Look around and all I see are buildings

This first verse is the imagery I saw at the start of my dream. An empty city with the lights still on.

Where are the people, tell me

where have they gone

I can’t be all alone

The sole survivor, am I?

Can’t tell for sure

but it appears that way

That short intro leads into the chorus, where I am questioning what is going on. Where is everyone? The purpose is to show that train of thought and build a feeling of desperation mixed with confusion.

Newspapers upon the strands show a different date than I know

Somehow I am in the future

Run and pray that this is just a dream in my sleep

who am I kidding? It seems so real

The second verse continues with the imagery surrounding not being able to find anybody. Investigations lead me to look at a newspaper to see if there are clues - and there are. The date at the top is in the future from when I fell asleep. This leads to more confusion - I question whether or not I actually am asleep due to everything being so realistic.

This can’t be real

This can’t be real

It’s just a bad bad dream

This can’t be real

This can’t be real

It’s just a bad nightmare

The bridge is introduced after the second iteration of the chorus. It is further building the energy of desperation and disbelief.

Closing out on one more chorus iteration, to me it is like saying "this is not a great situation, but I've come to terms with it." Let me know in the comments if you felt the same story or something different! I love hearing others' interpretations.