I'm Making Believe

The lyrics describe someone missing a distant loved one and using imagination to feel close to them. The speaker knows the person is absent, but pretends they are together, talking and dancing as before. This brings comfort at bedtime, though the repeated return to loneliness makes the comfort seem temporary.

“Making believe” means pretending something is true, while “another way of dreaming” suggests that imagination helps the speaker endure the separation. The “gloom” of the lonely room gives the setting a sad, dim feeling. Kissing a pillow as if it were the loved one is a simple but vivid image of longing: the speaker turns an ordinary object into a substitute for someone who is far away.

The song can be heard as tender and hopeful, since the speaker waits for their dreams to come true. But that hope is not certain: the lyrics do not say whether the loved one will return or whether the separation will end. Pretending may offer warmth for the night, yet it also emphasizes that the speaker is alone in the present.