Flying in a Blue Dream (song)
Encyclopedia
"Flying in a Blue Dream" is the title track off Joe Satriani
's third studio album
. It starts with a recording of a radio station teamed with emotional feedback then follows into the proper song. It is one of Satriani's most popular songs, and is still performed at all of his live concerts. Live versions can be found on the Live in San Francisco
, Satriani Live!
, and G3: Live in Concert
albums.
The intro heard was not planned, but was recorded nonetheless by producer John Cuniberti while recording Satriani's guitar parts for the song. Apparently, Satriani's amplifier was picking up a frequency from a radio or TV station, and Cuniberti simply said, "I'm recording this," and proceeded. Amidst the recorded speech is a young boy's voice saying "sometimes afterwards they still like each other, and sometimes they don't." The same excerpt is still used today when Satriani performs the song in concert. The acoustic rhythm guitar part is usually played as a backing track.
Musically, the track strongly features the C Lydian mode
, giving it a spacey-dreamy feeling.
Also featured strongly in the track is Joe Satriani's fluid and complex usage of the legato technique to quickly play scalar runs.
When played live, the intro feedback is produced by Satriani and then manipulated by physically moving himself and his guitar to different positions relative to his amplifier - this changes the frequencies of the feedback, giving an interesting array of variations on the initial feedback. Satriani knows where the harmonics are generated on each separate stage on tour by "mapping them out" during soundchecks
and marking the physical points on-stage with tape.
Joe Satriani
Joseph "Joe" Satriani is an American instrumental rock guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, with multiple Grammy Award nominations...
's third studio album
Flying in a Blue Dream
Flying in a Blue Dream is a 1989 album by instrumental rock solo artist Joe Satriani. It is his third studio album .-Album information:...
. It starts with a recording of a radio station teamed with emotional feedback then follows into the proper song. It is one of Satriani's most popular songs, and is still performed at all of his live concerts. Live versions can be found on the Live in San Francisco
Live in San Francisco (Joe Satriani album)
Live in San Francisco is a 2001 live album by instrumental rock solo artist Joe Satriani. Also available on DVD, including non-performance bonus footage .-Disc one:# "Time" – 8:10# "Devil's Slide" – 4:44...
, Satriani Live!
Satriani Live!
Satriani Live! is a 2-disc live CD set of a concert performed by instrumental rock guitarist Joe Satriani on May 2, 2006, in Anaheim, California. It was released along with a 2-disc DVD set with the same title and of the same concert...
, and G3: Live in Concert
G3: Live in Concert
G3: Live in Concert is a live album and DVD by the G3 project, led by Joe Satriani. It was released in 1997 by Epic Records. This lineup of G3 includes Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson and Steve Vai...
albums.
The intro heard was not planned, but was recorded nonetheless by producer John Cuniberti while recording Satriani's guitar parts for the song. Apparently, Satriani's amplifier was picking up a frequency from a radio or TV station, and Cuniberti simply said, "I'm recording this," and proceeded. Amidst the recorded speech is a young boy's voice saying "sometimes afterwards they still like each other, and sometimes they don't." The same excerpt is still used today when Satriani performs the song in concert. The acoustic rhythm guitar part is usually played as a backing track.
Musically, the track strongly features the C Lydian mode
Lydian mode
The Lydian musical scale is a rising pattern of pitches comprising three whole tones, a semitone, two more whole tones, and a final semitone. This sequence of pitches roughly describes the fifth of the eight Gregorian modes, known as Mode V or the authentic mode on F, theoretically using B but in...
, giving it a spacey-dreamy feeling.
Also featured strongly in the track is Joe Satriani's fluid and complex usage of the legato technique to quickly play scalar runs.
When played live, the intro feedback is produced by Satriani and then manipulated by physically moving himself and his guitar to different positions relative to his amplifier - this changes the frequencies of the feedback, giving an interesting array of variations on the initial feedback. Satriani knows where the harmonics are generated on each separate stage on tour by "mapping them out" during soundchecks
Soundcheck
A soundcheck is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance, when the performer and the sound crew run through a small portion of the upcoming show on the venue's sound system to make sure that the sound in the venue's "Front Of House" and stage monitor sound...
and marking the physical points on-stage with tape.