Yet was it a dream, nothing more? It was so real he could feel her presence yet: she had not gone; she had become part of him.”
Wainwright The Biography, Hunter Davies
This quote is taken from the fictionalised life story that Wainwright wrote secretly eight years after his marriage. It is the story that he gave to Betty McNally when he decided to profess his love for her and is included in full in Hunter Davies’ excellent biography.
This song draws on material about Wainwright’s upbringing in a very poor household in Blackburn. However the song mainly focusses on the women in his life. His early infatuation with Betty Ditchfield,who spurned him. His courtship and unhappy marriage to Ruth and his friendship with Doris. However, the person who kept him going through all the unhappy years was the imaginary “woman of his dreams”. The imaginary woman then morphed into Betty McNally, the real woman of his dreams!
lyrics
But when I close my eyes each night
My true love comes to me
She's soft and warm with waves in her hair
And I hold her tenderly
When I look into her eyes
I know that she's the one
But as I wake to morning light
I find that she is gone
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