100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #1: Supertramp, Dreamer

Roger Hodgson’s most accomplished composition to date deals with a fundamental conflict of the human spirit: between the desire to create art to give value and meaning to one’s life, and the pragmatism of knowing it is pointless to do so.  Dreamer opens with the Cynic lambasting the as-yet-unidentified object of his vitriol: “Can you put your hands in your head?/Oh no!”  He goes on to mock: “Now you put your head in your hands,” and thus articulates the primary struggle inside anyone of limited ability who tries to create art: is it worth fighting such vast indifference?

Then, things quieten down and the antagonist joins in: the Dreamer, who tries to defend his belief, while all the time the Cynic heaps scorn and ridicule on him for being stupid enough to believe that he could create anything of objective artistic value.  The track ends by building up to a shattering climax, as the Cynic repeats his tired refrain with even more energy, while the defiant Dreamer urges us all to: “Come on and dream and dream along.”

This is a breath-taking song on so many levels, but, in the final analysis, the last question which the Cynic asks the Dreamer during the middle part of the song is the one question which anyone intending to create art in the face of overwhelming indifference must answer to themselves honestly: “But can you do something out of this world?”  Invariably, for the vast majority of us, the answer is “no”, although, of course, that should never stop us from doing so.

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