Music for a Monday: I Dreamed a Dream

Today on Music for a Monday, I'd like to feature a song that's become even more well-known in the last year or so.

When we saw Les Misérables last month, we sat in front of a row of teenaged girls. Their whispered comments made us smile, especially when they recognized this song as the one that brought Susan Boyle into the limelight on Britain's Got Talent.

As much as I like the song on its own, it makes much more sense in the context of the larger story. [Insert strongly-worded statement encouraging the reader to see the stage musical or one of the zillion versions of the movie, or even to read the book.]

This video is from a community theater production of the show, and features Holly Kerker in the role of Fantine:




I Dreamed a Dream

(Fantine is left alone, unemployed and destitute)

[FANTINE]
There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed 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 hope apart
As they turn your dream to shame

He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will 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.

~~~~~