Dion McGregor (1922–1994) was an American

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

known for talking in his sleep. He was born in New York City. An LP of his dream diatribes''The Dream World Of Dion McGregor (He Talks In His Sleep)''was released to minor acclaim by Decca Records in 1964. A book of the same name, containing the transcripts of a wider selection of McGregor's dreams, and with illustrations by

Edward Gorey Edward St. John Gorey (February 22, 1925 – April 15, 2000) was an American writer, Tony Award-winning costume designer, and artist, noted for his own illustrated books as well as cover art and illustration for books by other writers. Hi ...

, was also published in 1964. McGregor would essentially narrate his dreams at conversational volume. As a narrator of his (often terrifying) dreams, Dion adopted various personas but frequently established a fey, argumentative,

insolent Insolent may refer to: *, the name of several ships * ''Insolent'' (album), by RK, 1984 See also

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approach to the subject at handbe it a

hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries ...

trip to the

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with a group of multi-ethnic children, a frantic journey around New York, or a

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing ...

ing job on a woman's tongue. As a songwriter, McGregor's biggest success came when his song "Where Is The Wonder" (cowritten with roommate Michael Barr) was recorded by

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

on her hit album ''My Name Is Barbra'' (1965). He was unable to find much success afterwards, however, and by the 1980s had given up on songwriting. Critic Joslyn Layne writes that "Despite his lack of success as a song lyricist, McGregor's narration of his vivid dreamlife provided a more unique artistic contribution than any usually recorded." McGregor died in 1994, but researcher Phil Milstein gathered recordings of McGregor's dream-speech considered too risque to be released in the 1960s and assembled them for the 1999 album, ''Dion McGregor Dreams Again'', released on

Tzadik Records Tzadik Records is a record label in New York City that specializes in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995. He is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases. Tzadik is a n ...

. A third album, ''The Further Somniloquies of Dion McGregor: More Outrageous Recordings of the World's Most Renowned Sleeptalker'' was assembled by Toronto poet Steve Venright and released in August 2004 on the Torpor Vigil Industries label. A previously unreleased recording, "Naughty Pussy", was released in April 2011 as part of ''Awkwardcore Compilation #1'' on the Awkwardcore Records label. A fourth album was released in July 2014, again assembled by Venright for Torpor Vigil, called ''Dreaming Like Mad with Dion McGregor: Yet More Outrageous Recordings of the World's Most Renowned Sleeptalker''. Another of his roommates in the 1960s was filmmaker and fellow

enthusiast Peter de Rome. McGregor appears in de Rome's film "Mumbo Jumbo" (1971). In 2017 Verena Paravel and

Lucien Castaing-Taylor Lucien Giles Castaing-Taylor (born 10 January 1966, Liverpool, United Kingdom) is a British anthropologist and artist who works in film, video, and photography. Biography Castaing-Taylor received his B.A. at Cambridge University and his PhD at t ...

made an experimental documentary film about McGregor's dreams called Somniloquies. It was accepted by several renowned film festivals including

Berlinale The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and IndieLisboa International Independent Film Festival.

Book

*''The Dream World Of Dion McGregor'' (1964, Bernard Geis Associates; distributed by Random House)

References

External links

Official Dion McGregor website, through Torpor Vigil RecordsSeveral audio clips of McGregor's dreams on MySpace
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGregor, Dion 1922 births 1994 deaths Songwriters from New York (state) Musicians from New York City American spoken word artists Tzadik Records artists