Stories from the Jukebox

Stories from the Jukebox

Dream On

#12 by Aerosmith

MJ Polk's avatar
MJ Polk
Oct 28, 2025

Thanks to everyone who, read, liked, commented, shared, and submitted to last week’s prompt, Dear Mr Fantasy, by Traffic. The stories alone are worth the price of admission — but it’s such a pleasure to be apart of the community we’re building here! I’m having a blast with this publication, and we’re just getting started.

I’ve got some surprises in store for y’all — subscribe now, you don’t want to miss this!

Week #11 Feature🏆

The week #11 feature goes to Phillip Slater for his short story titled, Dear Mr. Fantasy! This story kept me guessing all the way to the end — Mr. Fantasy is clever, but will he be out smarted by his newest client?

“You’re through to Fantasy Futures. This is Mr. Fantasy speaking. How can we make your dreamland come alive?”


Now here’s this week’s prompt, Dream On, by Aerosmith.

“Dream On“ is a power ballad[3] by American rock band Aerosmith, from their 1973 eponymous debut album.[4] Written by lead singer Steven Tyler, this song was their first major hit and became a classic rock radio staple. (Via Wikipedia)

Released in June 1973, it peaked at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100[5] but hit big in the band’s native Boston, where it was the number one single of the year on WBZ-FM, number five for the year on WRKO and number 16 on WMEX (AM).[citation needed] The song also received immediate heavy airplay on the former WVBF (FM), often showing up in the #1 position on “The Top Five at Five” in June 1973.

In a 2011 interview, Tyler reminisced about his father, a Juilliard-trained musician. He recalled lying beneath his dad’s piano as a three-year-old listening to him play classical music. “That’s where I got that Dream On chordage”, he said. Lyrical composition was completed when Tyler was 14 years old.[13] The song is also famous for its building climax to showcase Tyler’s trademark screams.

In the authorized Stephen Davis band memoir Walk This Way, Tyler speaks at length about the origins of the songs:[14]

“The music for ‘Dream On’ was originally written on a Steinway upright piano in the living room of Trow-Rico Lodge in Sunapee, maybe four years before Aerosmith even started. I was seventeen or eighteen. ... It was just this little thing I was playing, and I never dreamed it would end up as a real song or anything. ... It’s about dreaming until your dreams come true.”


Y’all I’m no poet, and I surely know it. But I’ve been working on poetry quite a bit lately, so here’s one titled Dream On.

Okay, now it’s your turn!

Calling all Poets, Fiction, or Non-Fiction writers that love music — Share your prose of 1500 words or less, using the prompt Dream On.

Remember:

  • Each Wednesday I’ll publish a newsletter with that week’s song prompt — along with a featured writer’s submission from the previous week.

  • Anyone is then free to run with it! Just add the link to your story or prose in the comments of this newsletter.

  • Subscribers to Stories from the Jukebox, also have a chance to be featured in the following week’s newsletter. And I’ll do my best to give feedback and restack each submission.

There’s always rules:

  1. All forms of prose are welcome, just keep it under 1500 words.

  2. Submissions must be published by midnight on Monday.

  3. Submissions must include a tag/link to this week’s Song Prompt Newsletter embedded within the post.

    While anyone is welcome to add their post in the comments at any time — all rules must be followed for a post to be eligible to be featured or shared.


I’m so excited to see what y’all come up with this week!

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There’s no poll this week 😉 we’ll be having a guest feature proving next week’s prompt!

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Dear Mr. Fantasy

MJ Polk
·
October 22, 2025
Dear Mr. Fantasy

Week #11
“Dear Mr. Fantasy“ is a rock song by Traffic from their 1967 album, Mr. Fantasy. Jim Capaldi contributed the lyrics, while Steve Winwood and Chris Wood composed the music.

Read full story

Discussion about this post

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MJ Polk's avatar
MJ Polk
Nov 3, 2025

I almost forgot to add my own submission!

https://open.substack.com/pub/thesoutherncopywriter/p/dream-on?r=51awz7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

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primalbeet
Nov 1, 2025

https://open.substack.com/pub/primalbeet/p/sing-for-the-laughter?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1n38r

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