John Tennyson has been on the move. Leaving Sydney in 2017 to spend two years in Dubbo, his recent arrival in Melbourne appears to have paid off - a monthly residency side by side with the freshest crop of songwriting talent at the Merri Creek Tavern, an eight date tour with Hugh F and two EPs in twelve months. Dream, his latest EP, is a stripped back acoustic offering, recorded in his bedroom in Brunswick East. With only Tennyson’s vocals, guitar and harmonica, tracks are raw: sometimes tender, sometimes strident. 

It’s a departure from Royal Tennyson, a garage-punk band Tennyson fronted in Sydney, and a return to some of his favourite music. As the following influences reveal, Bob Dylan looms large on Dream. One of the inspirations for Tennyson to start songwriting in the first place, he shares “you know that song ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’? I realised I couldn’t go over him, couldn’t go under him… on this EP I had to go through him.” The title track ‘John Tennyson’s Dream’ is a wild day-in-the-life journey through Tennyson’s life/ imagination, reminiscent of Dylan’s stream-of-consciousness joke songs. The template gets an Australian update, though, with the familiar faces of Annabel Crabb, Roger Rogerson and Julia Jacklin peppering the song.

The song takes a sly look at discussions about mental health. Tennyson is given the green light by a shrink who says he is “very sane” and then describes Tennyson meeting Rogerson (an ex-cop) to whom he provides ice (the drug) before sneaking into the Sydney Convention Centre and dancing with Julia Jacklin. “I had a friend ask me whether everything in the song was true, which maybe speaks to the kind of behaviour he thought I was capable of! But the song is a mix of fact and fiction.” 

To learn a little more about the new EP, we had John talk us through Dream’s influences. 


The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and The Times They Are A-Changin' - Bob Dylan

The single is a direct result of listening to these records. Bob Dylan’s pretty much unmatched for finger pointin’ songs ('Masters of War', 'Hurricane'), but he’s not always remembered for something else in these albums: having a laugh at himself and at the ridiculousness of life!

A very unfolky shout out to Dave Chapelle and Lil Wayne too - they've also helped me realise that the most serious artists have a seriously good sense of humour.


Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan

I had a significant break up last year - it colours a lot of the songs, but most obviously the first track 'Tightrope'. Blood on the Tracks supplied the vehicle, I just filler up with some of my experiences and voila!


Slow Train Coming - Bob Dylan

I wouldn’t be playing music right now without this. I was a teenage preacher’s kid in the backseat of my brother’s car when I heard this album and the world and my place in it made more sense than ever before. To me, Dylan achieved a reconciliation of heaven and earth. It sounds huge, but it is - reconciliations of all the filth and terror of life with righteous meaningful destiny. The reconciliation of all things still remains on my mind.

In 'Foreigner II', I sing about some contradictions and may have bitten off more than I could chew trying to resolve them all! I conflate power, freedom and violence in one section of the song, with a Dylan line in mind: “democracy don’t rule the world, you better get that out of your head/ This world is ruled by violence, but that’s better left unsaid”.


Nashville Skyline - Bob Dylan

I have to restrain myself with lyrics - they come easily to me, and blabbing is not the same as meaningful communication. Giving my audience and myself space to breathe and reflect - I’ve learnt to enjoy that. This album is a good example of simplicity and restraint. No lyrical acrobatics, no punchiness or pushiness… just one man singing one song to one other person.

I pared-back the lyrics of my song 'Natural Wonder' and it has paid off - people feel treasured, which is what I was hoping for!