"Dreamer" is the third track from Ozzy Osbourne's album Down to Earth, which was released on 16 October 2001. The song describes the rockstar's vision of a better world for his children, where they are happy and safe.
Although the song was written in the late nineties, it wasn't considered for release until after the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001.
Ozzy Osbourne compares "Dreamer" to John Lennon's hugely famous "Imagine", which contains the line: "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one." Ozzy has said himself that The Beatles have had a huge influence on him (he first decided that his way of getting out of "that shithole" was through music after hearing Twist and shout). Ozzy can relate to them, as they are all successful musicians who grew up in underprivileged areas of England.
Another reference to John Lennon is the line "After all, there's only just the two of us." This is an acknowledgment of the Beatles song "Two of Us." Although Paul McCartney wrote it to his wife Linda, it has since become accepted as a description of his relationship to close friend Lennon, and was even used as the title to a VH1 TV-movie about them.
"Dreamer" is a hit single off of Supertramp's 1974 album Crime of the Century. It peaked at Number 13 on the UK singles chart in February 1975. In 1980, it appeared on their live album Paris; that version hit Number 15 on the US charts. The song is also the shortest song on the album.
The band performed the song on the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test show in 1974, during which John Halliwell can be seen playing the rim of a wine glass on top of his keyboard to achieve a certain sound effect.
The song was also used in the film The Parole Officer and is also used in the The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle movie.
