"Dream Away" (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: , ''O Ra I Na E'') is a song by English rock musician

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

from his tenth studio album ''

Gone Troppo ''Gone Troppo'' is the tenth studio album by English rock musician George Harrison, released on 5 November 1982 by Dark Horse Records. It includes " Wake Up My Love", issued as a single, and " Dream Away", which was the theme song for the 1981 H ...

'' (1982). The song was featured over the end credits of Harrison's 1981

HandMade Films HandMade Films was a British film production and distribution company. Notable films from the studio include ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'', ''Time Bandits'', ''The Long Good Friday'' and ''Withnail and I''. History Foundation HandMade Fil ...

production ''

Time Bandits ''Time Bandits'' is a 1981 British fantasy adventure film co-written, produced, and directed by Terry Gilliam. It stars Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Peter Vaug ...

'', which was director

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including '' Time Bandits'' (1981), '' ...

's first successful film outside of his work with

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

. Aside from the film's orchestral score, it was the only song featured in ''Time Bandits'' and was written specifically for the film. "Dream Away" was also issued as a single in Japan in February 1983.

Background

"Dream Away" was to originally appear on a planned ''Time Bandits'' soundtrack album. When that failed to materialise and Harrison was finalising the tracks for his ''Gone Troppo'' album, he decided to include "Dream Away". In the 2011 documentary '' George Harrison: Living in the Material World'', directed by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

, Gilliam recalled that late in the production of ''Time Bandits'' he came to see the song's lyrics as "notes" from Harrison on the things he liked and disliked about the film and on how Gilliam was "too arrogant and not listening!" Gilliam added: "And I thought it was the most brilliant, subtle, clever thing a man could ever do, to write a song. He's writing about things that he felt strongly about and yet he's too polite and decent and, I think, respectful of other artists, whatever form that takes, to interfere."

Release and reception

Although ''Gone Troppo'' was a commercial failure, "Dream Away" became a popular tune. ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' magazine's reviewer paired it with " Wake Up My Love" as the album's two "lovelies" and commented that "Because of his forays into the mystical, Harrison's penchant for whimsy often gets overlooked. But here the zany side gets no short shrift." Writing in '' Goldmine'' magazine shortly after Harrison's death in November 2001, Dave Thompson said that while ''Gone Troppo'' was a far from essential album by the artist, "Dream Away" was a track that "stand alongside any number of Harrison's minor classics". In 2010,

AOL Radio AOL Radio powered by Slacker (formerly AOL Radio powered by CBS Radio, and prior AOL Radio featuring XM) was an online radio service available in the United States only. It had over 200 free internet radio stations. History Roots AOL Radio ...

listeners voted "Dream Away" at number 8 on the station's list of the "10 Best George Harrison Songs".

Personnel

– lead vocals, guitars and backing vocals * Mike Moran – piano and

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

* Alan Jones – bass *

Dave Mattacks David James Mattacks (born 13 March 1948) is an English rock and folk drummer. Best known for his work with Fairport Convention, Mattacks has also worked both as a session musician and as a performing artist. Apart from playing the drums, he ...

– drums * Ray Cooper – percussion *

Billy Preston William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, during which he ba ...

– backing vocals *

Syreeta Syreeta Wright (February 28, 1946 – July 6, 2004), who recorded professionally under the single name Syreeta, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for her music during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Wright's career heights we ...

– backing vocals * Sara Jones Recor Fleetwood – backing vocals

References

External links

George Harrison – Dream Away (Time Bandits)
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

{{authority control 1982 songs 1983 singles George Harrison songs Song recordings produced by George Harrison Songs written by George Harrison Music published by Oops Publishing and Ganga Publishing, B.V.