The Musicians of 40 Day Dream (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes) is a sen-recent band, although their roots travel back to the 60’s and 70’s. Alex Ebert, the main musician had originally started a band called “Ima Robot” in 2003, but subsequent drug addiction put him in rehab and left the band in the dust. While in rehab, he developed Edward Sharpe, an alter ego consisting of indie rock which was based off of communal music commutes that sprouted all over Southern California in the 60’s and 70’s. "I don't want to put too much weight on it, because in some ways it's just a name that I came up with. But I guess if I look deeper, I do feel like I had lost my identity in general. I really didn't know what was going on or who I was anymore”(Ebert). In other words, Ebert did not believe that Edward (soon to be Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes after a 10-musician addition) was going to be nearly as good as Ima Robot. Although the original group did not last very long, their band took off after their first album “Up from Below” in 2009.
Throughout 40 Day Dream, it’s so obvious how much passion these musicians have for what they're doing. within the first 35 seconds of the song, Alex lets out a laugh that sounded too genuine to take out of a song this upbeat. The instruments have a fast pace and a dreamy feel, which coincides perfectly with the lyrics because that is essentially what Edward Sharpe in explaining—being lost in a wonderful dream for 40 days. Although passion and music is obviously important to a good song, the best way Edward Sharpe expressed his idea and bliss in 40 Day Dream was his word choice. “She gold gold doorknobs where her eyes used to be
One turn and I learned what it really means to see…” and “she got jumper cable lips, she got sunset on her breath now” are two examples of the beautiful and detailed imagery to imagine the way he have been feeling when he wrote this song—which he indeed wrote himself as opposed to a hired songwriter which are used so often nowadays. When a great musician and writer makes a piece of art that holds so much love, it is hard for that song to go wrong.
My older sister and I share lots of music, and awhile back we made up the term “forever songs” which describes a song for us that we could literally listen to on repeat forever and never get sick of it. 40 Day Dream has been my forever song since I first listened to it around age thirteen. The way they describe a girl’s lips as jumper cables gives me the perfect idea of what they are trying to explain. What makes it even better is that Alex is talking about Jade (his wife who is also in the band) and I think it’s lovely that the audience can see the love between two people as opposed to just hearing about it. 40 Day Dream can still give me chills because sometimes I feel as though the most popular music is losing the beautiful touch that it used to have. When I listen to this song, I feel differently. 
