"I Dreamed A Dream"
I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I prayed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hopes apart
And they turn your dreams to shame
Still I dream he'd come to me
And we would live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed
"I Dreamed a Dream" is a song from the musical Les Misérables. It is a solo that is sung by the character Fantine during the first act. The music is by Claude-Michel Schönberg, with orchestrations by John Cameron. The English lyrics are by Herbert Kretzmer, based on the original French libretto by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel from the original French production.
The song is a lament, sung by the anguished Fantine, who has just been fired from her job at the factory and thrown onto the streets. She thinks back to happier days and wonders at all that has gone wrong in her life. Typically played in the key of E flat major, E major for high toned TVs, it has also become a jazz standard.
In the 1985 musical, the song occurs after Fantine has been fired, and before "Lovely Ladies". In the original French production and the 2012 film adaptation, these two musical numbers are swapped around, to place dramatic emphasis on Fantine's depressing descent into prostitution.
The original French song was very extensively rewritten for the English production by Herbert Kretzmer, adding the prologue (There was a time...) and cutting the last few lines which became the ending to 'Lovely Ladies' ('Don't they know they're making love to one already dead'). For the French revival in 1991, the song was loosely translated back from the English version; there are thus two very different French versions of the song.
The song, as it appeared in the original Paris production from 1980, was entitled J'avais rêvé d'une autre vie ("I had dreamed of another life"), and was originally sung by Rose Laurens. The first English-language production of Les Misérables opened on the West End in London in October 1985, with the role of Fantine portrayed by Patti LuPone. She would later feature the song on her 1993 album Patti LuPone Live!
When the musical made its Broadway début in New York City in March 1987, Fantine was played by Randy Graff. Laurie Beechman would perform the role in the original U.S. touring production in 1988 and then on Broadway in 1990. That year she included the song on her album Listen to My Heart. Debra Byrne sang the song on the Complete Symphonic Recording. Ruthie Henshall sang it on the Tenth Anniversary Concert Recording (1995). A Broadway revival in 2006 featured Daphne Rubin-Vega (2006–07), Lea Salonga (2007), Judy Kuhn (2007–08). Lea Salonga sang it for the 25th Anniversary Concert in London (2010).
The show – and the song – has been translated into twenty-one languages, including Japanese, Hebrew, Icelandic, Norwegian, Czech, Polish, Spanish, and Estonian, and there have been 31 cast recordings featuring the song. The London cast version is Triple Platinum in the UK, for sales of more than 900,000, and Platinum in the U.S., for sales of more than one million. The Broadway cast version is Quadruple Platinum in the U.S. (more than four million sold), where four other versions have also gone Gold.
Cover versions
Numerous popular singers have recorded cover versions of "I Dreamed a Dream". Neil Diamond recorded the song for his 1987 live album Hot August Night II and released the song as a single. It peaked at no. 13 on the U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in November 1987 and at no. 90 on the UK Singles Chart. Diamond's version features a lyrical alteration at the end of the song; instead of "Now life has killed the dream I dreamed" Diamond sings, "But life can't kill the dream I dreamed".
Other male singers who have recorded the song include rock singer David Essex on his 1987 album Centre Stage, Phantom of the Opera star Michael Crawford on his 1987 album The Phantom Unmasked and on his 1992 release "With Love", LuPone's Evita co-star Mandy Patinkin on his 1994 album Experiment and British theater star Michael Ball (Marius in the Original London production of Les Mis) on his 1996 album The Musicals.
In 1991, Aretha Franklin included a version of the song on her album What You See is What You Sweat. Although not released as a single, Franklin has performed the song at various venues, including the 1993 inaugural celebration for U.S. President Bill Clinton.
In the film The Commitments (1991), one of the girls auditioning for the titular band sings "I Dreamed a Dream" as her audition song.
Other female singers who have recorded versions of the song include English singer and stage actress Elaine Paige, from a 1993 performance at Birmingham Symphony Hall which was included on her 1995 album, Encore,[15] original Annie title cast member Andrea McArdle in the 1996 recording On Broadway,[16] New Zealander singer Hayley Westenra and British pop star Petula Clark, each in 2001, Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Crowe in 2005, and Broadway actress Susan Egan in 2008. British actress and singer Marti Webb performed the song on her album Performance (1989). In 2008, Italian rock noir band Belladonna covered the song in their London show. In 2010, popera singer Rose Jang covered the song for her digital album "Songs of Hope" by Mnet Media.
The song was covered on the Glee episode "Dream On" by Shelby Corcoran and Rachel Berry, portrayed by Idina Menzel and Lea Michele respectively. This song took the place of a meeting between Shelby and Rachel, who found out during that episode that Shelby was her birth mother. At the end of that episode, Rachel met Shelby for the first time in real life (the sequence where Shelby and Rachel sung "I Dreamed a Dream" was, in fact, something akin to a dream sequence).
Josh Groban and Michael Ball sung a duet at the end of Never Mind the Buzzcocks (Broadcast 21 December 2010).
Joe McElderry recorded the song for his second album Classic.
Katherine Jenkins released a French cover of the song in her 8th studio album Daydream.
Kika Edgar recorded a Spanish cover titled "Un sueño que alguna vez soñé" for her album Broadway.
In 2011, Celtic Woman performed "I Dreamed a Dream" as part of their 2011 "Believe" tour, recorded by PBS at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. The song was one of two songs sung as "A Tribute to Broadway", the other song being "Circle of Life" from the Disney movie The Lion King. The song, which was only released on DVD and as part of the television special, was sung by Lisa Kelly and Chloë Agnew.
In December 2012, Pop Classical Crossover artist Romina Arena released an Italian version of the song. "Un Sogno Che Sognai" was released 4 December 2012 on Perseverance Records as a single.
As part of a compilation, and the title track to the Australian album, Lucy Maunder sang the song for ABC Classics I Dreamed a Dream: The Hit Songs of Broadway
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