Doctor Mooney's 115th Dream: Dawes Delivers Stone Cold Classic with “When My Time Comes”

Last year, this heralded Laurel Canyon quartet — Taylor Goldsmith (vocals, guitar) Alex Casnoff (piano, vocals), Wylie Gelber (bass), and Griffin Goldsmith (drums, vocals) released their strikingly consistent debut album, North Hills. This album invokes the down-home spirit of L.A. bands like the Flying Burrito Brothers, the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. “We're very much aware of the fact that we're from Los Angeles, California, and all of the associations that come with that,” lead singer Taylor Goldsmith declares, “A lot of our favorite records were made in L.A., and while they have this overwhelming American feel to them, they also have this Los Angeles resonance, and Los Angeles cynicism that's entirely unique. I'm always happy people notice that in us.”

While North Hills is filled with a fine collection of noble moments, “When My Time Comes” is the crowning achievement for the California folk-rockers – a weather-beaten singsong anthem for the ages that’s delivered with priceless precision and wide-open balance. As good as a tumble in the hay, “When My Time Comes” is a choice cut for the doctors and nursemaids here at the asylum.

“When My Time Comes”
Written by: Taylor Goldsmith

There were moments of dreams I was offered to save
I live less like a workhorse, more like a slave
I thought that one quick moment that was noble or brace
Would be worth the most of my life.

So I pointed my fingers, and shout a few quotes I knew
As if something that's written should be taken as true
But every path I have taken and conclusion I drew
Would put truth back under the knife.

And now the only piece of advice that continues to help:
Is anyone that's making anything new only breaks something else.

When my time comes,
Ohhhhh, oh oh oh.
When my times comes,
Ohhhhh, oh oh oh.

So I took what I wanted and put it out of my reach
I wanted to pay for my successes with all my defeats,
And if heaven was all that was promised to me
Why don't I pray for death?
And now it seems like the unraveling has started too soon,
Now I'm sleeping in hallways and I'm drinking perfume
And I'm speaking to mirrors and I'm howling at moons
While the worst and the worst that it gets.

Oh you can judge all the world on the sparkle that you think it lacks.
Yes you can stare into the abyss, but it's staring right back.

When my time comes,
Ohhhhh, oh oh oh.
When my time comes,
Ohhhhh, oh oh oh.

Oh you can judge all the world on the sparkle that you think it lacks.
Yes you can stare into the abyss, but it's staring right back.

When my time comes,
Ohhhhh, oh oh oh.
When my time comes,
Ohhhhh, oh oh oh.

Take Up Thy Rock 'N Roll Stethoscope and Walk,