Susan Boyle - I dreamed a dream

My morning was made (especially when it followed a wonderful Saturday evening and a night filled with delights) when I received an (apt) email from my friend Kartik. I actually woke up collecting my dreams of the night and was happy to see that they were all "fun-stuff". Then I see this email. I love this song for various reasons. One, it is a beautiful song. Two, the lyrics are very pertinent to most people I have met including myself and three, the original story by Victor Hugo was one of the first stories I recall from school (of course, I recall stories my mother told me of the cheating milkman and the crow and fox and the ones I read on my own). I still remember the sketch that was there on the left page of the book of a boat and people alighting/boarding and I loved that story. It taught me one thing: to respect a story completely before judging it and in the process I learnt that Les Miserables was not to be pronounced as Less Misarab-less but Lay Misayrab(l). I suspect my father helped me there and perhaps my sister joined in with her fledgling knowledge of French. That story taught me the need to give attention to detail and I love that story and this song.

Please listen to it here (though this is not the best rendition, perhaps, due to the applause interfering): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY. The reason I ask you to listen to this rather than any other recording is that this video is far more touching than merely the beauty that the song provides.

I Dreamed A Dream (Les Miserables)


I dreamed a dream in times 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
And 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.

For a professional rendition, go here.