A Monologue of Frank Carter, Aerosmith Fan, before the Band Plays {“Dream On”} in Concert

Frank Carter, 68, with dusty brown-grey hair and a khaki Carhartt jacket, sits in the lower bowl of an outdoor stadium. Though surrounded by tens of thousands of Aerosmith fans, he is alone. He speaks aloud, to no one.

FRANK CARTER:

I’ve waited all year for this concert. Saved up to get floor seats because you just don’t know whether these guys’ll be touring much longer. You just can’t count on it. No guarantees in life. Gotta live while there’s still living. Gotta see the guys you wanna see. Gotta go the places you wanna go.

Life’s too short, y’know?

Been feeling this way since Mackie died, to be honest. You know, he went out the best possible way, though. Heart attack, middle of the night. Didn’t spend one minute or one cent in the hospital. Didn’t suffer. Just pth!—dead. It wasn’t easy on Carol or the kids. Not easy on us guys either. But you know, it wouldn’t have been easy anyway. And when it’s your time to go, there ain’t much you can do about it.

Died on a Sunday night, too. Enjoyed the whole weekend. Didn’t even have to go to work on Monday. Like I said, the best possible way. Lucky bastard.

But I know Mackie would have wanted to be here. We went to tons of shows together. The Stones, the Allman Brothers, and coincidentally enough, got to Jerry Garcia’s last show with The Dead back in ’95.

We missed out on Cream, but I did get to see Clapton once. But it was in the ‘90s when he was going with that softer sound, so not quite the same. I don’t know why some of those guys did that. Rock should have stayed hard rock. It’s not like Clapton sold out—some of that stuff’s not bad, but I don’t really know who’s listening to “Tears in Heaven.” Sad parents and old women, I guess. Not a club I want to join anytime soon, I’ll tell you that.

But what’s worse is when rock started backsliding into pop. That was the beginning of the end, my friend. Now you can’t find a single good rock band. Name one. You can’t. You just can’t.

And that’s why you gotta come see these guys while you can. You gotta come see ‘em. Not that Aerosmith made any good music after 2000, but at least they know it. They play the hits.

Look up there. Look at Joe Perry. He’s still got it. Steven’s gotten a little weird, a little commercial. But those PIPES, man. And the scatting. No one has a sound like that. Totally unique.

You just have to love a band that stays together all these years, you know? Even if they put out some crappy records, they’re still doing it. But I mean, it wasn’t a sure thing. They had some hard times, but they stuck through it. We all know the story, right?

The “Dream On” story?

A lone guitar starts playing a familiar, haunting melody.

The crowd roars upon their collective realization of the song. It is the crescendo of the show. The last song of the main act.

Frank stands up and thrusts his hands over his head. He has been waiting for this moment since the concert began.

STEVEN TYLER::

Every time when I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
It went by, like dusk to dawn
Isn’t that the way?
Everybody’s got the dues in life to pay

FRANK CARTER:

Oh, yeah, man. The whole band was at a crossroads. They had been performing and recording together for years by that point, and it just seemed like it was going nowhere, you know?

STEVEN TYLER::

I know nobody knows
Where it comes and where it goes
I know it’s everybody sin
You got to lose to know how to win

FRANK CARTER:

And who can’t relate to that, right? Just out there, doing your best and trying to follow your dreams, but always coming up short. I mean, I wanted to be somebody. We all wanted to be somebody. But it’s just not that easy. These guys get that.

STEVEN TYLER::

Half my life
Is books, written pages
Live and learn from fools and
From sages
You know it’s true, oh
All these feelings come back to you

FRANK CARTER:

Ain’t that the truth?

STEVEN TYLER::

Sing with me, sing for the years
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears
Sing with me, just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away

FRANK CARTER:

I can think back on those early days. I wanted the girls, the job, the car, the house. I wanted it all, but I had jack shit.

I still remember what that feels like. It stays with you. That hunger, you know? These guys felt that. They were just struggling like us, man. The whole band, just putting in work, writing songs, grinding every day. Working the club scene. Hoping to make it.

STEVEN TYLER::

Yeah, sing with me, sing for the year
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
Sing with me, just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away

FRANK CARTER:

They already signed with a major label, too. And it didn’t mean anything, really. I mean, Columbia was about to drop them. Can you even imagine that? And then Aerosmith made this song.

STEVEN TYLER::

Dream on
Dream on
Dream on
Dream until your dreams come true

FRANK CARTER:

My God, the whole concept! Dreaming until your dreams come true? You can’t fake that feeling. That was real. That’s why this song always hits home, no matter how old it gets, no matter how old these guys get.

STEVEN TYLER::
Dream on
Dream on
Dream on
Dream until your dreams come true

FRANK CARTER:

All the things we wanted to be as kids, you know? It changes. We got old, we got lazy. We gave up. But, man, how we used to dream. I bet these guys—even these guys who got everything they dreamed of, man—I bet they wish they could go back to the days when they didn’t have it all. I bet they wish they could want for something this purely again.

STEVEN TYLER::
Dream on.
Dream on.
Dream on.
Dream on.

Dream on!
Dream on!
Dream on!

Ahhhhoooowwwwwwwwwwwww

FRANK CARTER:

LISTEN TO THAT HOWL, MAN. YOU GOT A HOWL LIKE THAT?

It’s real and it’s raw. And it’s clawing out of the man’s throat, for chrissake! It needs to be set free, man!

STEVEN TYLER::

Sing with me, sing for the year
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
Sing with me, just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away

FRANK CARTER:

Now that’s a chorus, man. It builds and it builds. Mackie’s looking down here. He knows it. He feels it. Maybe tomorrow the good Lord take it away. Ain’t that the truth?

STEVEN TYLER::

Sing with me, sing for the year
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
Sing with me, just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away

FRANK CARTER:

But not tonight, my friends. Tonight I still get to dream.