Lyrics of 'Dream On' by Greg Brown

Gonna meet some sweet lover
she'll be so wise and so kind
Love her 'til we're a hundred 'n' seven
Body 'n' the soul an' the mind.

That's right, dream on,
Little dreamers
Dream on
This world ain't what you think it is
It's just what it is!

OK, I will meet some nice person
In a quiet little cafe
We'll make such sweet love that the birds will applaud
And then we'll go on our understanding ways.

Good luck, dream on,
Little dreamer
Dream on.
The world ain't what you think it is
It's just what it is!

The president he gonna start laughin'
Pass to the general a toke.
All the world bigshots gonna lay down their guns
And say "hey folks, it was all just a joke!"

(spoken with jazzy fingersnapping)
Bombs & stuff?
Droppin' on you?
You know we would'n' do that to you.
We're the leaders-of-the-world
We're the real cool guys
We're elected, respected, we try to be wise
We're not gonna drop a bunch a' bombs on everybody, blow up the whole world
over some little political difficulty or border dispute or somethin'
Us leaders-of-the-world we'r' like all you people,
Jus' to sit back, relax, take it easy....

Dream on, little dreamers
Dream on.
The world ain't what you think it is
It's just what it is.

I 'as feeling kinda troubled 'n' upset 'n' confused 'n' out of it.

You know how that goes? Time goes along........... things change, you wake
up some mornin'g 'n' you realize that you're jus' out of it,

I find mysel' at some friend's apartment on a nice spring day, little birds
be singin' in the trees?......... All my friends, they be sittin' aroun'
inside......... They was gittin' kinda out of it too, I guess, but, seemed
to be workin' out awright for 'em....... They be sittin' aroun' in a
little apartment watchin' TV, you know, on a nice spring day..........
they'd be watchin' like reruns of "Three's Company", stuff like
that........ They be laughin', you know, jus' havin' a great time. I
didn' get it........ So I knew I must be kinda outta sync, 'n' outta
swing......... I need a little bit a' help.

Well, jus' luckily for me, the great Swami, Prisnidadirapi was comin'
through town....... (I think he was on his way up to Boulder, Colorado, or
somewhere.) He was givin' a li'l advice as he went by 'n' I went to see
the guy.......... 'n' in so many words I said to him: "I'm in bad shape
here.......... An' I heard you got the true knowledge, which you c'ld give
to me, which w'ld clear up all my doubts and difficulties, 'n' git me back
on the track, back in the swing, fully adjusted to life in the 20th
century....... An' the only trouble I heard about, Swami, is you charge
about eight hundred dollars fer the true knowledge............. That's all
right, I mean........ I never expected there to be a blue light special on
enlightenment or anythin' like that, but I..... I'm just a guitar player,
your holy Swaminess, an' I was hopin' we could make a deal where...... I
would give you, like, maybe, four hundred dollars........an' I was hopin'
maybe you would give me, like, jus' maybe half of the true
knowledge?........Jus' enough to git me by for a month or six weeks at the
most, 'n' I'll give you the rest of the cash......... you give me the rest
of the knowledge, I'll be enlightened, your pockets'll be a little heavy,
we both be doing awright, whaddaya say?"

Well, the Swami, he looked at me from under his heavy-lidded eyes,...his
mysterious eyes...... He smiled at me......... That was nuthin' new, you
know, the Swami was always kinda smiling......... Like he knew sumpin'
that you didn't know...... Like those people that............ they jus'
levitate jus' a lit'l bit, you know, 'n' they git a little smile on their
face.......

He smiled......... He looked at me 'n' he said:

"Dream on, little dreamer
Dream on.
This world ain't what you think it is
it's jus' what it is."

This quiet rain will always continue
Our kids will always think we're great
The world won't keep reeling like a poor drunken fool
Who's lost an' upset an' too late

Dream on, little dreamers,
Dream on.
This world ain't what you think it is,
This world ain't what you wish it was,
Uh, the world
Ain't what you think it is
It's just
What it is.