Dan Fogelberg (1977) Scarecrows Dream

The singer songwriter who once opened for the Eagles reached a new confidence and brazenly arranged the Netherlands (1977) album with a vast string laden sound. Though by far it's best track is this highly understated tune with just two fingerpicked guitars and the subtle souciance of a harpsichord. But Fogelberg's reliable vocals are here positively ghostly, nicely conveying the 'haunted' nature of the backing track with his breathy falsetto.

 Soaked in reverb to bring a grandiose feel to proceedings he sings mysteriously about being trapped 'between the world's of men and make believe'. Full of latent mysticism about the nature of dreams as this twilight ballad manages to capture, apparently inspired by Walt Disney; a man who knew a lot about the fallibility and selling of hopes and dreams. Meanwhile Fogelberg was just about to see his own dreams be realised before his very eyes.
 Though on further analysis the song seems to be more in common lyrically with Gordon Lightfoots' If I Could Read Your Mind using regal imagery to represent a lover dreaming of a way out similar to a scarecrow, who may dream of replacement.