The Dreamer Lyrics

[Chorus: Common & James Fauntleroy]
(Dreamer)
For the world, world, world, world, world (Woop, woop-woop-woop, woop)
Yeah (Dreamer)
(I've seen, ohh) Yo, this rhyme is—

[Verse 3: Common]
He introduced me, I stepped to the podium
Said peace, give thanks to the holy one

Put my water up, thought about my daughter for a second
The youth, the living resurrection

Reflections of the sun glaring through the window
Now the audience staring at my mental

Feeling like the world, the world is at my fingers
'Bout to speak to an auditorium full of dreamers
Kinda took me back to when I first had a dream
To be like the king that sang Billie Jean

Now it's gold records, and I'm on silver screens
At the mountaintop, you still gotta dream
To the dreamers

[Chorus: Common & James Fauntleroy]
(Dreamer)
Yeah
(Dreamer)
To the dreamer, dreamer, dreamers
Yeah, it faded down, we gon'—
(I've seen, ohh)
We gon' bring it back
Bring that beat back, bring that beat back
[Interlude: Common]
It's for the world, world, world, world
Keep on
Chka-d-ah, d-ah
For the world, world, world
Keep on, chika-digga-d-uh
Ayo
Ayo
Y'all to dance to us, chka
Keep on

[Bridge: James Fauntleroy]
If I dream you're here
And you dream I'm there
We'll be nowhere near
You should just come here

If I wake you up
Only difference is
You can live the dream
Just believe in it
Ooh-ooh-ooh

[Spoken Outro: Maya Angelou & James Fauntleroy]
Once you find your shoulders dropping
And your speech gets slow and hazy

You'd better change your way of being
Before you found your brain got lazy
You can build a better future when you join the winning team
If you desire a bright tomorrow, you must build a brighter dream
Dare to let your dreams reach beyond you
Know that history holds more than it seems
We are here alive today because our ancestors dared to dream

From Africa they lay in the bilge of slave ships
And stood half naked on auction blocks

From eastern-Europe they crowded in vessels overloaded with immigrants
And were mis-named on Ellis island

From South America and Mexico, from Asia, they labored in sweat shops
From all over the world, they came to America
Many shivering in rags, and still they dared to dream

Let us dream for today and for tomorrow
Let us dare to dream (Ooh-ooh-ooh)

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About

Genius Annotation

One of two title tracks on Common’s The Dreamer, The Believer, this is the album’s hard hitting introduction. It captures the essence of one of the main theme’s of the album, the value of dreaming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sud2HLymDps

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

Credits
Featuring
Produced By
Additional Vocals
Recording Engineer
Assistant Engineer
Release Date
December 20, 2011
The Dreamer Samples
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