"Dear Mr. Fantasy" is a rock song by Traffic from their 1967 album, Mr. Fantasy. An extended live version (10:57) of the song also appears on the 1971 Traffic album Welcome to the Canteen. The lyrics were written by Jim Capaldi, while the music was written by Steve Winwood and Chris Wood.
The song has been covered by The Grateful Dead, Big Sugar, Jimi Hendrix and by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Crosby, Stills, and Nash added two new verses to the lyrics:
- Each time you choose to sing the rock & roll blues,
- you take everybody's loneliness with you.
- What do you lose each time you face down a room?
- All of us see our changes through you.
- So sing of the ocean of tears you have sailed,
- Strangers and lovers that took you.
- All of us sang, and all of us failed.
- In one way we don't ever hear you.
The song was on the setlist of Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton's joint tour in 2009. A live recording appears on the album Live from Madison Square Garden.
In addition the song was performed on multiple occasions throughout the 1980s by the Grateful Dead with keyboardist Brent Mydland on vocals. Phish, Phil Lesh and Friends, Gov't Mule and Widespread Panic occasionally cover the song. It also appeared on The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper in 1969, where its chord progression morphed into "Hey Jude".
The song was covered by the American rock band Tesla on the album Real to Reel (2007).
The Chicano rock band Los Lobos has played the song live, segueing into it from one of their own compositions.
Read more about Dear Mr. Fantasy: Personnel
Famous quotes containing the words dear and/or fantasy:
“God of justice, God of mercy,
Make us merciful and just!
Help us see all your creation
As from you a sacred trust.
And when people cry in anguish
For their own or others’ pain,
Show us ways to make a difference
O dear God, make us humane!”
—Jane Parker Huber (b. 1926)
“It’s the movies that have really been running things in America ever since they were invented. They show you what to do, how to do it, when to do it, how to feel about it, and how to look how you feel about it. Everybody has their own America, and then they have the pieces of a fantasy America that they think is out there but they can’t see.”
—Andy Warhol (1928–1987)