Joni Mitchell - Dreamland Lyrics






It's a long, long way from Canada
A long way from snow chains
Donkey vendors slicing coconut
No parkas to their name
Black babies covered in baking flour
The cook's got a carnival song
We're going to lay down someplace shady
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland

Walter Raleigh and Chris Columbus
Come marching out of the waves
And claim the beach and all concessions
In the name of the suntan slave
I wrapped that flag around me
Like a Dorothy Lamour sarong
And I lay down thinking national
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland

Goodtime Mary and a fortune hunter
All dressed up to follow the drums
Mary in a feather hula-hoop
Miss Fortune with a rose on her big game gun
All saints, all sinners shining
Heed those trumpets all night long
Propped up on a samba beat
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland

Tar baby and the Great White Wonder
Talking over a glass of rum
Burning on the inside
With the knowledge of things to come
There's gambling out on the terrace
And midnight ramblin' on the lawn
As they lead toward temptation
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland

In a plane flying back to winter
In shoes full of tropic sand
A lady in a foreign flag
On the arm of her Marlboro Man
The hawk howls in New York City
Six foot drifts on Myrtle's lawn
As they push the recline buttons down
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland

La, La ...
African sand on the trade winds
And the sun on the Amazon
As they push the reline buttons down
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland





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Joni Mitchell Dreamland Comments
  1. A.... R....

    Il fascino che Joni esercita su di me ancora non riesco a definirlo. E' la musica? O il genio. La capacità di sognare e far diventare arte il sogno? Poi, decide di provare a spiegarlo, quel sogno, con un sottofondo di percussioni e un controcanto di Chaka. Allora capisco. Che non c'è niente da capire.

  2. G.... M....

    One of the best and most exotic of Joni Mitchell's songs. Reminds me of of island travels. Love it.

  3. G.... M....

    Fantastic song.

  4. M.... M....

    joni will live through her music forever

  5. S.... G....

    No better percussion till date. Its originally a 18 minute drim track. But not on youtube as yet. If some one has it and uploads it on youtube thats the ultimate percussion that anyone on earth can feast his or years to.

  6. M.... M....

    It's a long, long way from Canada
    A long way from snow chains
    Donkey vendors slicing coconut
    No parkas to their name
    Black babies covered in baking flour
    The cook's got a carnival song
    We're going to lay down someplace shady
    With dreamland coming on
    Dreamland, dreamland
    Dreamland, dreamland
    Walter Raleigh and Chris Columbus
    Come marching out of the waves
    And claim the beach and all concessions
    In the name of the suntan slave
    I wrapped that flag around me
    Like a Dorothy Lamour sarong
    And I lay down thinking national
    With dreamland coming on
    Dreamland, dreamland
    Dreamland, dreamland
    Goodtime Mary and a fortune hunter
    All dressed up to follow the drums
    Mary in a feather hula-hoop
    Miss Fortune with a rose on her big game gun
    All saints, all sinners shining
    Heed those trumpets all night long
    Propped up on a samba beat
    With dreamland coming on
    Dreamland, dreamland
    Dreamland, dreamland
    Tar baby and the Great White Wonder
    Talking over a glass of rum
    Burning on the inside
    With the knowledge of things to come
    There's gambling out on the terrace
    And midnight ramblin' on the lawn
    As they lead toward temptation
    With dreamland coming on
    Dreamland, dreamland
    Dreamland, dreamland
    In a plane flying back to winter
    In shoes full of tropic sand
    A lady in a foreign flag
    On the arm of her Marlboro Man
    The hawk howls in New York City
    Six-foot drifts on Myrtle's lawn
    As they push the recline buttons down
    With dreamland coming on
    Dreamland, dreamland
    Dreamland, dreamland
    La, La ...
    African sand on the trade winds
    And the sun on the Amazon
    As they push the reline buttons down
    With dreamland coming on
    Dreamland, dreamland
    Dreamland, dreamland
    Songwriter: JONI MITCHELL

    M.... M....

    Wonderful lyrics, Dreamland Comin On.

  7. C.... B....

    This is a jewell.

  8. M.... M....

    Joni × Chaka = EPIC! Musical Goddesses

  9. F.... M....

    Roger McGuinn (of all people) did an amazing version of this song. I think his version predates Mitchell's own recording. Check it out!

    F.... M....

    It does indeed. It put both in my Byrds playlist.

    F.... M....

    Thanks for the recommendation. I also love the version Los Lobos did at Joni's 75th birthday celebration

    F.... M....

    She recalls that he asked for a song while on a bus with her during Bobby's Rolling Thunder. He liked Dreamland....

  10. m.... p....

    anybody into singing joni songs in bristol uk - seriously ready for it now

  11. V.... P....

    This is a real painkiller for the soul!

  12. M.... P....

    A sort of Samba?? AWESOME!

    M.... P....

    is not samba but i like

    M.... P....

    Such a sweet question. AWESOME!!

    M.... P....

    It takes only one gringo to say it's not a samba...

    M.... P....

    Listen to Caetano Veloso's cover. He's by far the most representative brazilian singer and did his own samba-ish version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0eVHaZkt6Y

  13. m.... ....

    Reminds me of Volta-era Bjork

    m.... ....

    @HumanoidOrganism It's funny how an answer can be floating around right along side continuing myths. For instance we have a pretty corporate controlled media in the US and the myth that it is somehow liberal at the same time. If we had a liberal media Jimmy Carter would be lionized and you wouldn't hear much about Ronald Reagan. Think about it!

    The big secret in dealing with women and I don't know why it's a secret is that their drive for connection I think is like the male drive for sex. Think of your male horniness, the silly things you've done, we've all done to "get some". Now apply that from a stand point of connection.

    That's why women have to go to the store with you or need a hug or any of those things you don't need. The main tool to deal with this paying attention to women. Example, just being present to listen to their cat stories.......not disecting them or trying "to help".....(Of course some woman is likely to step up here and defying being understood will attack these simple truths. If you know who you are (pretty much not exhaustively) and stick to it, you won't be blown around by the whims of most women. Pay attention, listen be emotionally present and get back to me if you wish) They ain't mysterious really.........

    m.... ....

    +BeauJames59 When this piece was released, I'd already been out as gay for a few years. So I don't have to go through any of those thoughts about women. I actually hang mostly with straight men, where I frequently get a good solid laugh at all that complexity. Women are fine, just different, lol....

    m.... ....

    @Walter Pewen I've know more than one straight male or female who fantasized it easier to be gay.....not always as easy when they got their...........

    m.... ....

    +BeauJames59 For some people it is a lifetime of problems on different levels. For others like myself it made things mostly easier. All depends. I've spent my life in coastal California and I don't "feel" that different. I'm in the group that the effeminacy of "gay culture" doesn't fit. For some males it's good, for some of us it's way too marginalizing.

    m.... ....

    Kewl......

  14. G.... D....

    burning on the inside with a knowledge of things to come

  15. A.... ....

    I'd always heard that this was a "weird" album...or too experimental but I soon found that what "they" found as weird or experimental was not quite as extreme as they said.  Maybe because at that point I'd accepted tracks like "Tomorrow Never Knows" as commonplace, I found this album not nearly as left field as reviews said.  It's brilliant!  It's probably my favorite of her albums.  Glad to see from YouTube that i'm not in the minority.

    A.... ....

    @AppleCorp3 Well, compared to, say, John Denver or The Carpenters, or disco, this was a weird album.  And we are all so much the better for it.

    A.... ....

    It didn't fit in the box, so it got a label.  This one went straight into my iPod...and it sits well along with the rest of the stuff I listen to.

    A.... ....

    I just bought a copy of this CD.  Hey, I like weird albums, what can I say?

    A.... ....

    This album unfortunately had a poor initial reception largely because it followed three incredible albums -- Court and Spark, The Hissing of Summer Lawns and Hejira -- three albums that many (including myself) considered Mitchell's best work ever. (The folkie purists maintain Blue was her best.) By comparison with its predecessors, Don Juan seemed to lack something and, yes, was dismissed as "experimental". It took many years for its unorthodox brilliance to become appreciated. Having said that, it is perhaps a bit, um, spotty...

    A.... ....

    Another masterpiece! I had it on vinyl from the day it dropped!!!

  16. B.... v....

    It was this song that began my passion for PERCUSSION instruments!  My neighbors must've thought I was nuts, playing this over and over.  Chaka Khan in the background!

    B.... v....

    In this long play, I love when the link between Dreamland and Marlena.

    B.... v....

    I have this on vinyl, being a dj I played this at parties and people went nuts over it, amazing tune but joni is amazing, period!

    B.... v....

    I'm pleasantly surprised by that. I got them to play it in a coffeeshop in Amsterdam. I was laced.

    B.... v....

    Tell me something Good!

  17. C.... W....

    beautiful

  18. m.... ....

    artist/genius: she's the only person who can do blackface imho...

    m.... ....

    She really isn't. I love Joni but this cover, in the cold light of day, is disturbing.

  19. O.... M....

    Awesome tune!!!