“I dreamt a dream”

Susan Boyle is unemployed and, aged 47, she walked on stage bravely telling people that a chance came for her to be a professional singer. Everyone in the hall was against her before she sang and they were all speechless to hear her voice. Susan Boyle wowed the world by her amazing voice. We cannot judge a book by its cover. I really admire her great courage in spite of the unsupportive surrounding. She said, “I’m 47, and that’s just one side of me!”

Her song “I dreamt a dream” is deeply meaningful. It is a song about Fantine, one of the most tragic figures from Les Miséable, the most famous French musical theater.

[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
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.