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Youssou N'Dour — This Dream (w/ Peter Gabriel)
Album: Joko: From Village to Town
Avg rating:
6.9

Your rating:
Total ratings: 2577









Released: 2000
Length: 4:54
Plays (last 30 days): 3
I had a dream that opened my eyes to the world
When I look back, I feel and can’t help crying
God can channel your luck through someone else
When you put all your faith in that person,
You may think that you can’t achieve

Anything on your own
So god watches you from distance
Your creator, the One who can fulfill all your desires,
Will let you deal with that someone

This dream, my dream, This dream, my dream
This dream, my dream, This dream, my dream

Life oh life

This dream, my dream
This dream, my dream
Comments (169)add comment
I saw him with Peter Gabriel (I think it was the "So" tour). He was the opening act, then came out to join Peter on a couple songs (including "In Your Eyes" of course). Incredible! He has a voice like a bell.
Just saw the PG show in Chicago - incredible!  Has Tony Levin, Manu Katche, Rhodes, and other amazing muscians with him. Highly recommended if he's coming to a town near you. Hopefully William will get some of the new I/O tracks on here soon.
 Pabras wrote:

I've seen him about 4 times. The first time in a discotheque in Dakar, together witch Baba Maal and Salif Keita. An amazing (very long) night.



You lucky duck. I wish that I could see him live!
 Pabras wrote:

I've seen him about 4 times. The first time in a discotheque in Dakar, together witch Baba Maal and Salif Keita. An amazing (very long) night.


Omg... That must have been amazing. I'd have given one or two non-essential organs to have been there.
 ppopp wrote:

Fine tune. Would be even better without Gabriel's voice in the mix.



Your instincts are exactly right.  The original is just N'Dour and it's called "Sama Gueut Gui."  Check it out.
 david927 wrote:

If you like this, check out his original:Sama gueut gui
For me, the original is a 10.



Thanks for this... Reaches right down into my soul. I thought I had everything of Youssour's on CD... I'd never heard this though.
It began in Africa! What a wonderful collaboration.
 RabbitEars wrote:

Wow that's an amazing line up. 

One time I saw Youssou at a club in NYC. The band started around 9p. At 2a, they were still going strong. I had to rip myself out of there because I had to work the next morning. 


I have to question your priorities :-)
 Pabras wrote:

I've seen him about 4 times. The first time in a discotheque in Dakar, together witch Baba Maal and Salif Keita. An amazing (very long) night.
 
Wow that's an amazing line up. 

One time I saw Youssou at a club in NYC. The band started around 9p. At 2a, they were still going strong. I had to rip myself out of there because I had to work the next morning. 
Senegalese National Treasure - 9
Two great tastes that go . . . I dunno, pretty well together? Maybe?
If you like this, check out his original:Sama gueut gui
For me, the original is a 10.
 RabbitEars wrote:
Don't ever miss a chance to see Youssou - one of the world's greatest singers and performers. 
 
I've seen him about 4 times. The first time in a discotheque in Dakar, together witch Baba Maal and Salif Keita. An amazing (very long) night.
as intoxicating now as it was 20 years and hundreds of listens ago. 
 ppopp wrote:
Fine tune. Would be even better without Gabriel's voice in the mix.
 
I feel like they blend well together.  Youssou's voice soars, while Peter provides a smooth underlayment.
Fine tune. Would be even better without Gabriel's voice in the mix.
I think we've pasted the lyrics to Biko onto this page (Google keeps linking to the wrong info as well). The only thing I was able to find was this translation:

I had a dream that opened my eyes to the world
When I look back, I feel and can’t help crying
God can channel your luck through someone else

When you put all your faith in that person,
You may think that you can’t achieve
Anything on your own
So God watches you from distance
Your creator, the One who can fulfill all your desires,
Will let you deal with that someone

This dream, my dream, This dream, my dream
This dream, my dream, This dream, my dream

Life oh life

This dream, my dream
This dream, my dream
Wonderful song!
I searched for the lyrics, and a translation; because I just can't rate a song "10" without understanding the words.
I found these at songlyrics.com. (The song is a tribute to Steven Biko).

September '77
Port Elizabeth weather fine
It was business as usual
In police room 619
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja
-The man is dead

When I try to sleep at night
I can only dream in red
The outside world is black and white
With only one colour dead
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja
-The man is dead

You can blow out a candle
But you can't blow out a fire
Once the flames begin to catch
The wind will blow it higher
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja
-The man is dead

And the eyes of the world are
watching now
watching now
Don't ever miss a chance to see Youssou - one of the world's greatest singers and performers. 
 sfyi2001 wrote:
                   
                                


 
How the hell do you talk on a cell phone with a plate stuck in your mouth?  {#Ask}
This is excellent - it is like Paul Simon Graceland era meets Gabriel....
                   


                                



Amazing rhythms and soul.
This reminds me of Sting.  I like...
Fabulous track. Between the rhythm, the singing and the song title, we don't need lyrics to understand it deeply. 
 bam23 wrote:
I saw Youssou N'Dour in San Francisco in the early 1990s in a relatively small hall. The feature that really impressed me was the African drummers, a taste of which is heard in this piece. The intricate multiple intersecting and diverging rhythms were vastly more complex than any western drumming I had seen, or have seen. Decades of exposure to drumming from other cultural traditions, as well as American jazz, have certainly expanded the complexity of drumming and percussion in the western countries since the 1960s, but I guess the difference goes deeply into the heritage of a society. I can appreciate the amazing work of Bill Bruford, for example, but I have the sense that this level of complex polyrhythmic percussion is more broadly distributed in some societies. Y. N'Dour is a world treasure.

 
well said.
Nice
I saw Youssou N'Dour in San Francisco in the early 1990s in a relatively small hall. The feature that really impressed me was the African drummers, a taste of which is heard in this piece. The intricate multiple intersecting and diverging rhythms were vastly more complex than any western drumming I had seen, or have seen. Decades of exposure to drumming from other cultural traditions, as well as American jazz, have certainly expanded the complexity of drumming and percussion in the western countries since the 1960s, but I guess the difference goes deeply into the heritage of a society. I can appreciate the amazing work of Bill Bruford, for example, but I have the sense that this level of complex polyrhythmic percussion is more broadly distributed in some societies. Y. N'Dour is a world treasure.
 gresua wrote:
Together with Peter Gabriel is nice!

 
Yeah. Really like this. Peter Gabriel has such a distinctive voice.
Saw him at Womad festival. He's amazing. Love this song. 
 meydele wrote:
Snark. Good one! I think it's a beautiful song in spite of the "Listerine" issue.
 
Don't forget the “spaghetti” as well.

{#Clap}


Together with Peter Gabriel is nice!
What a voice.
Really good music but that voice - meh!
Hmm, interesting. This guy is going to run for President of Senegal.
https://news.yahoo.com/senegalese-music-star-ndour-run-president-143145506.html
 

 Excelsior wrote:


I concur. Youssou ruins all his music the second he opens his mouth.
 

Trying {#Headache}... trying {#Headache}... trying {#Headache}.... nope, failed {#No}... sorry, Excelsior, just don't miss you or your crap comments. {#Nyah}
Youssou is awesome!

Perfect segue from preceding track, Sigh No More (Mumford & Sons). 
this Elbow guy - he's everywhere! ;)
7-> 8  (are those cow bells I hear?)

 crockydile wrote:
Cultural filters firmly in place. His singing sounds like noise to me. {#No}
 
Sorry to learn of your disability. It may be curable, but not if you don't want to grow.
 peter_james_bond wrote:
Very cool song, thanks RP.
  Gotta Bump!


 crockydile wrote:
His singing sounds like noise to me. {#No}

 
Agree.

this one rocks.
I saw all the negative comments on this and thought I was in for something bizarre, but I quite like it. 
{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}{#Dancingbanana}

Peter Gabriel & Youssou N'Dour - "Biko" Live

"Once the flame begins to catch...the wind will blow it higher...
For me it was Athens, October 3rd 1989....
with Peter,Youssou, Sting, Tracy, George and Bruce...
Once the flame begins to catch...the wind will blow it higher... "

Quite soothing.  {#Meditate}
All of this negative stuff about this cat's vocals coming from western "critics" is a joke.
 {#Lol} Ha Ha
      P.G. is just keeping it real...reminding us to keep clean{#Tongue}

meydele wrote:
Snark. Good one! I think it's a beautiful song in spite of the "Listerine" issue.
 


Luv it!!{#Clap}
Have enjoyed Youssou N'Dour for 20 years ..... got turned onto him when visiting The Gambia.  Great beat, I can picture the African dancers in my mind :)
Cultural filters firmly in place. His singing sounds like noise to me. {#No}

it's OK. i don't love it though. {#Eek}
god awful ....I have removed my headphones, I will put them back on in 5 min. with any luck this song cant possibly be that long
Very cool song, thanks RP.
Meh...it's ok.
kazuma wrote:
Really enjoy the instrumental parts of the track, but I have to say that Youssou's style of singing/yelling has just never done it for me.
I concur. Youssou ruins all his music the second he opens his mouth.
What's the issue, when PG is clearly backing up Youssou's lead on this song? I don't think anyone is assuming PG is essential to this song. Au contraire, he's a perfectly nice accent. This collaboration gets my vote. Doesn't quite measure up to Shaking the Tree, but then again not much does. MojoJojo wrote:
I'm a PG fan, but I have to say Youssou really does not need Peter to make this song work. No slight to Mr. Gabriel, it's just that this song seems like it would stand up quite well on its own.
ndanger666 wrote:
I saw Youssou N'Dour in Paris recently and he put on a great show!
Greetings, mattt wrote:
Why is PG singing about Listerine?
This dream = Listerine? Methinks you need to listen to a higher bitrate stream and/or with better speakers/headphones? Neil
C57BL6 wrote:
pg has seemingly devolved from genius to the spielberg of world music. make worse rather than better simply by association
You may have a point there. This song is only hurt by PG's vocals. Otherwise it would be very good.
One of the good sounds coming from Dakar.
this guy puts on one smokin' show!
Love the blend of sounds with Peter Gabriel.
mattt wrote:
Why is PG singing about Listerine?
Snark. Good one! I think it's a beautiful song in spite of the "Listerine" issue.
dogdokken wrote:
go to Dakkar and ask around.
*grins*
pg has seemingly devolved from genius to the spielberg of world music. make worse rather than better simply by association
excellent
Why is PG singing about Listerine?
Really enjoy the instrumental parts of the track, but I have to say that Youssou's style of singing/yelling has just never done it for me.
I'm a PG fan, but I have to say Youssou really does not need Peter to make this song work. No slight to Mr. Gabriel, it's just that this song seems like it would stand up quite well on its own.
what a voice
Whirlpool wrote:
Oh! This is really so Boring!
To each their own ... but when i hear this, I hear the layers of drums, multiple vocal layers & various other instruments. This guy is HUGE in Senegal, not that haters would know, but go to Dakkar and ask around.
Oh! This is really so Boring!
mfassett wrote:
Well, now it's time to add some more Youssou N'Dour then... there's nothing here from "Set"... that's a total tragedy! It will be remedied soon.
Hear, hear! I'll be voting for "Set", "Alboury" and "Xale". "Toxiques" is also very nice, but Youssou's English pronunciation on that one will really annoy the people who don't know/like his music very well...
Wonderful!
catmaven wrote:
I keep rushing to rate it a 1 only to find that I already did that. Why does this have to be played so often?" Why rush to criticize anything? If you don't like it, turn it down. Must be a Republican...if you don't like it, bash it and try to do away with it, no matter if others like it and find it beneficial. That's the name of the game these days.
Good stuff!
I absolutely agree ! hcg11 wrote:
I just recently heard an entire album of Youssou N'Dour (not sure which one) and it was outstanding! I really enjoy the very different voices of him and Peter Gabriel together. They mix beautifully.
beautiful
... Beautiful This Dream ...
There aren't many artists that cause me pain to listen to - really. For some reason I can't explain, this one does. I can never hit mute fast enough. I won't even rate it (oops, I already did) I'm so biased against it.
Alpine wrote:
I can do without this crap! -10!!!!
Wow, and I can't find a single note in this song that I DON'T like. Great melody for this cloudy, dreary morning.
I like this song, it's sounds so authentic
i would be happy to never have to hear that one again.
catmaven wrote:
I keep rushing to rate it a 1 only to find that I already did that. Why does this have to be played so often? It might have beautiful lyrics (non-English). The held vocal note at the end of phrase is wonderful. But the rest just irritates, especially the semi-spoken. Is this properly called "world music"? Why is it OK for Alpine to criticize but not for me to do so, when my criticisms are analytical and contain no expletives?
Because youre an idiot. people like you have no place on RP. why are you here if you hate music? Ive seen all the 1s and 2s you gave out! ridiculous... you should be ashamed...
Well, now it's time to add some more Youssou N'Dour then... there's nothing here from "Set"... that's a total tragedy! It will be remedied soon.
That chorus is beautiful.
catmaven wrote:
I keep rushing to rate it a 1 only to find that I already did that.
Don't worry there are a still few songs left that you haven't given a 1 ...
I might have mentioned this elsewhere, but it's been 5 months and the experience is still with me--I saw Youssou in concert at Carnegie Hall, and not even a whitebread western establishment concert hall could conceal or diminish this mans soul. I can understand the comments below--recordings of his music (as I have found with several types of 'world music') just don't convey, or accurately represent the music. I can't put my finger on what cannot be captured, but I tell you, if "joy" could be a tangible thing, it radiated out from that stage that night. NOW, when I listen to these recordings, it's completely different than before. (and please don't mistake--I have the utmost respect for Carnegie Hall, it just is not the typical african music venue)
I keep rushing to rate it a 1 only to find that I already did that. Why does this have to be played so often? It might have beautiful lyrics (non-English). The held vocal note at the end of phrase is wonderful. But the rest just irritates, especially the semi-spoken. Is this properly called "world music"? Why is it OK for Alpine to criticize but not for me to do so, when my criticisms are analytical and contain no expletives?
Not great, but OK to listen once or twice a year at a party.
I can do without this crap! -10!!!!
I like this artist. Quite a bit. Thanks, Bill.
Just enjoy the music for what it is
Enjah wrote:
LOL I really like this song. I guess I am in a minority, but who cares?
You're not alone anymore. I like the song and the performer. His voice is soothing to me and his guitar is sublime.
Enjah wrote:
LOL I really like this song. I guess I am in a minority, but who cares?
Not the minority at all. 1st time and listened to it to the end. I like the novelty, but could listen to it again soon. -7-
what a voice and the guitar that just is endless how big is africa?
LOL I really like this song. I guess I am in a minority, but who cares?
Snagmaster wrote:
And you play what instrument? And for how long? And how good are you at what you do? Performing is tough; criticizing is easy.
When I say this is frikkin' awful (and good God, is this ever frikkin' awful), it doesn't mean I'm criticizing anybody's musicianship, nor implying anything about my own (a huge laugh, in my case). It means I think the song sucks. Period. Isn't that clear enough?
Snagmaster wrote:
And you play what instrument? And for how long? And how good are you at what you do? Performing is tough; criticizing is easy.
I'm unsure whether restricting these comment pages to musicians-only comments is such a good idea. In fact, it's probably a pretty bad idea.
Snagmaster wrote:
And you play what instrument? And for how long? And how good are you at what you do? Performing is tough; criticizing is easy.
That is such an unfair comment. That is, is it not, the whole point of the song comments... opinions are like @ss-holes, as they say. Even you have one.
catmaven wrote:
Went to rate this, wondering whether I could create a number lower than 1, only to see I had already rated it a 1 before. I have to keep telling myself, "He is really not doing this just to make you want to pull out your hair." What genre is this, so I can avoid it in the future?
And you play what instrument? And for how long? And how good are you at what you do? Performing is tough; criticizing is easy.
catmaven wrote:
Went to rate this, wondering whether I could create a number lower than 1, only to see I had already rated it a 1 before. I have to keep telling myself, "He is really not doing this just to make you want to pull out your hair." What genre is this, so I can avoid it in the future? ... To answer my own question, "World" seems far too general a label!
More than half of your ratings are either 1 or 2; nearly a third are 1. Why do you keep listening, when so much of what's played bothers you so much?
I don't know what it is about this guys voice but it absoulutely drives me nuts. Thank G-d for the mute button. Nothing against the music though.
Went to rate this, wondering whether I could create a number lower than 1, only to see I had already rated it a 1 before. I have to keep telling myself, "He is really not doing this just to make you want to pull out your hair." What genre is this, so I can avoid it in the future? To answer my own question, "World" seems far too general a label!
crowhog2000 wrote:
Youssou is such an awesome World Talent, finally had the opportunity to see him last spring.....and great collaborations with PG always. gotta bump this from an 8 to a 9
trekhead wrote:
How true! Kate Bush, Sinead, Shawn Colvin, Youssou, Robbie Robertson, To a lesser extent-Joanie Mitchell His Daughter Melanie(?)
Also... Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn Geoffrey Oryema
Off to the LRC I Go.
I'd like to point out that the younger, pre-Americanized Youssou was part of the mballax scene in Senegal 20/30 years ago which was all about bumping and grinding real hard. Speed this up about 4 times, double the number of djembes and of course take out PG and you're getting close. It'd make your typical Berkeley/Santa Cruz/Cambridge/Madison drum circle look like a bunch of rhythmless oldsters. Oh wait, those are a bunch of rhythmless oldsters. CanuckBeaker wrote:
Any artist that Peter Gabriel wants to work with is an artist I want to have a listen to. 'Nuff said. ;)
al9009 wrote:
More wailing from "Useless N'dour"... Hope it ends soon.
I totally get that this is a place for people to air their opinions, good OR bad, but to totally mock someone's NAME? to insult him? Why? Can't you just not like it and leave it at that? I mean granted, I've been known to say "Blow Me and the Hootfish" but... ok, well, there is no 'but' - it's not nice either. Even though it IS one of my better bits of humor.
CanuckBeaker wrote:
Any artist that Peter Gabriel wants to work with is an artist I want to have a listen to. 'Nuff said. ;)
He was also a groupie of Ira Einhorn, (the unicorn killer). 'Nuff said!
CanuckBeaker wrote:
Any artist that Peter Gabriel wants to work with is an artist I want to have a listen to. 'Nuff said. ;)
How true! Kate Bush, Sinead, Shawn Colvin, Youssou, Robbie Robertson, To a lesser extent-Joanie Mitchell His Daughter Melanie(?)
Nice groove. Thanks Bill.