"This Time the Dream's on Me": History, Commentary, Discography, Performances on Video

"This Time the Dream's on Me"

The song "This Time the Dream's on Me" was written in 1941, for the movie Blues in the Night, released by Warner Brothers, Nov. 15, 1941, directed by Anatole Litvak, and written by Edwin Gilbert and Robert Rossen. Most musicals whether on stage or film include, by tradition, at least one ballad. Even though Blues in the Night is more of a dramatic film with songs rather than a musical per se, it follows this tradition. "This Time the Dream's on Me" is integratedinto the plot, a story about a small time jazz band on the road, by being a "romantic, lightly swinging ballad written for the band and vocalist" to perform during their gigs.

The screenwriters construct their plot around two elements: 1) the theme of jazz musicians being devoted to real jazz "instead of the commercial stuff purveyed by musicians devoted to money," and 2) the romantic interweavings among members of the jazz band and their hangers-on.

The Majority of songs included in the score were written by Arlen and Mercer and included 1) "Blues in the Night" used repeatedly through the film: played during the opening credits, sung by William Gillespie in the jail scene, played and sung by blacks in a documentary style montage of African American life of the time, reprised often on the piano by Jigger (Richard Whorf with piano dubbed by Stan Wrightman); used often as background music played by the Jimmie Lunceford Band; 2) "This Time the Dream's on Me" played by the band and sung by Priscilla Lane, reprised by Betty Field (dubbed by Trudy Erwin); 3) "Hang on to Your Lids, Kids," a rhythm tune, played by the band and sung by Priscilla Lane; 4) "Wait Till it Happens to You" played on piano by Wallace Ford and sung by Betty Field. 5) "Says Who? Says You, Says I" played by the Will Osborn band with Richard Whorf at the piano, sung by Mabel Todd and an unidentified quartet.

Priscilla Lane, one of the three Lane Sisters who had sung with the Fred Waring band, introduces "This Time the Dream's on Me" in the movie Blues in the Night.

The actress at the opening of the scene (shown in the video below) is Betty Field, who plays a woman in love with the piano player, Jigger (Richard Whorf), who in turn is in love with the 'girl' singer in his band. The girl singer, whose name is "Character" (Priscilla Lane), returns Jigger's affections but their romance is blocked by her unhappy marriage. Character introduces "This Time the Dreams on Me," singing it as part of the band's repertoire, but the clear implication of the lyric is that she's addressing Jigger:

Somewhere, someday We'll be close together, wait and see. Oh, by the way, This Time the Dream's on Me.

Priscilla Lane introduces "This Time the Dreams on Me"
in the movie Blues in the Night. (Betty Field reprises
the song later in the movie.)

The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer, Robert Kimball, Barry Day, Miles Kreuger, and Eric Davis (Eds.),
New York: Alfred A. Knoph, 2009.

Mercer was very fond of Arlen's melody but was unsatisfied with his own work on the song. He said his title was "too flip" (being a riff on the expression "the drink's on me") for the tune and that he had rushed the whole thing because they had so many songs to get ready for the movie with another film already on the schedule: "I was in a hurry . . . . I could have improved it, I really could. I wish I had" (from Robert Kimball, Barry Day, Miles Kreuger, and Eric Davis, The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer, New York: Alfred A. Knoph, 2009. p. 118).

Editor's note: As the film's setting for the song was a bar and the band members were themselves often "flip," Mercer's rhetorical device is appropriate enough. Furthermore, the tension in the song derives from the contrast between fun and pain: "It would be fun / To be certain that I'm the one, / To know that I at least supply / The shoulder you cry upon,". Furthermore, the lyric is perfectly integrated into the plot of the movie, addressing both the romantic frustrations of the main characters as well as the protagonist's deep-seated desire to be a true jazz musician. The singer who loves him says, "I'll see you through/ Till you're everything you want to be." Not bad for a rush job.

In his biography of Mercer, Philip Furia sees the lyric of "This Time the Dream's on Me" as a comment on Mercer's life at the time he wrote it, specifically the end of his affair with Judy Garland. The lyric, for Furia, shows Mercer's "stoical" acceptance of the affair's conclusion but allows the songwriter "solace in the admittedly imaginary prospect of a future reunion:

Somewhere, some day, we'll be close together, Wait and See, Oh, by the way, this time the dream's on me."

Furia goes on to see Mercer's words as a reflection of his good nature even in the face of the pain of the break-up as he offers Garland support with regard to the frustrations she was facing in her career struggles: "To see you through / Till You're everything you want to be— . . . ."
(from Philip Furia, Skylark The Life and Times of Johnny Mercer, New York: St. Martins Press, 2003, p. 127-28, hard cover edition).

Another Mercer biographer, Gene Lees, quotes Johnny from a BBC interview on his writing of the lyric for "This Time the Dream's on Me:

It's one of Harold's nicest tunes. It's kind of a poor lyric, I think. Built on the thing about "the drink's on me." I think it's too flip for that melody. I think it should be nicer. I was in a hurry I remember the director didn't like it. I could have improved it, too. I really wish I had. But, you know, we had a lot of songs to get out in a short amount of time, and we had another picture to do. ( Portrait of Johnny , p. 142) .

Mercer himself later acknowledges that he underestimated the song by admitting it is one of his and Harold's lesser known works, but one that has turned out to be a lot of peoples' favorite (Portrait of Johnny, p. 248-49).

Another point in the lyric's favor comes in Priscilla Lane's interpretation of the title line, which she makes sound like a deeply felt ironic lament, perhaps evoking another expression Mercer did not claim as inspiration: "This time the joke's on me." Perhaps the songwriter was thinking of both, one consciously, the other subconsciously, because the latter not only offers a layered meaning but nicely fits the plot as well.

William Zinsser is impressed by how well Arlen and Mercer worked together, citing "This Time the Dream's on Me" as one of many examples:

Harold Arlen was the composer with whom Mercer consistently did his best writing, just as it was with Mercer that Arlen did his best composing. They were from opposite ends of the cultural landscape—one Northeastern Jewish, the other Southern Episcopalian—but the sound they created together was distinctly American. In Johnny Mercer, Arlen got a lyricist whose colloquial ear and swinging rhythm were tied to who he was. During their Hollywood collaboration in the early 1940s, Mercer found the perfect solution for whatever Arlen threw at him: the poignant "This Time the Dream's on Me," the stately " My Shining Hour ," the meandering " That Old Black Magic ," the easygoing " Let's Take the Long Way Home ," the bluesy " One for my Baby ," the spiritual-like " Accentuate the Positive ," the hip " Hit the Road to Dreamland ." (William Zinsser. Easy to Remember The Great American Songwriters and Their Songs . Jaffrey, New Hampshire: David R. Godine, 2001, p. 159).

In the five years of 1941 to 1946, between, let's say, "This Time the Dream's on Me" (which I can't even mention without humming the whole thing through) and, let's say, "Out of This World," the names Arlen and Mercer seemed fixed in the stars like Roosevelt the president and Joe Louis the champ. But then the whistle blew, after which it proved to be just another wartime marriage, intense, doomed, and slightly puzzling" (Wilfred Sheed, The House That George Built: with a Little Help from Irving, Cole and a Crew of about Fifty ," New York: Random House, 2007 p. 88) .

Arlen's best-known melodic style involves unusual intervals, minor tonalities, and "bluesy" touches, but there are also songs of major-key , mysteriously simple poise, like "This Time the Dream's on Me" . . . .

Alan Forte, in his book cited below more or less takes up where Jenness and Velsey leave off by presenting a thorough musical analysis of "This Time the Dream's on Me." He begins, however, in lay terms, by noting that this work stands in contrast to its pessimistic companion piece from the same movie, "Blues in the Night." Whereas the more well known song "makes a general statement about the faithlessness of the male species," this song has its speaker not casting aspersions on anyone but rather pining "with hints of optimism given in the very opening lyric":

Somewhere, someday We'll be close together, Wait and see.

After this, Forte proceeds into the technical arena. Anyone seeking sophisticated musical analysis of this song as well as many others from The Songbook will find what they are looking for here. (Allen Forte, The American Popular Ballad of the Golden Era, 1924-1950, Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1995, pp. 218-222.)

• Priscilla Lane: egallity
• Glenn Miller: Brooklynskipper87
• Chet Baker Quartet: Praguedive
• June Christy: sewanin
• Ella Fitzgerald: RoundMidnightTV
• Kenny Burrell: Musomaniack
• Harry Connick Jr.: Thezone4422
• Sylvia McNair and Andre Previn: shoory84
• Allison Krauss: itsnotpennysboat

Notes

• William Zinsser. Easy to Remember The Great American Songwriters and Their Song . Jaffrey, New Hampshire: David R. Godine, 2001.
• Editor's note : This book is highly recommended as a terrific introduction to The Great American Songbook..
• Wilfred Sheed adds a coda to Zinsser's remarks about the team of Arlen and Mercer:
• David Jenness and Don Velsey Classic American Popular Song: The Second Half-Century, 1950-2000 New York: Routledge, 2006
• David Jenness and Don Velsey comment on how "This Time the Dream's on Me" is different from Arlen's typical song type:
• David Jenness and Don Velsey, Classic American Popular Song: The Second Half-Century, 1950-2000 , New York: Routledge, 2006, p. 67.
• Click here to read a version of the lyrics for "This Time the Dream's on Me," as sung by Ella Fitzgerald.
• The complete, authoritative lyrics for "Song title" can be found in:

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