Dreamer is the eleventh track on Prince’s 33rd studio album Lotusflow3r.
The track was said to be inspired by African-American comedian, social activist, social critic, writer and entrepreneur Dick Gregory.
Recording dates and studio are unknown. Prince has stated that some tracks on the Lotusflow3r date back to 3121 recording sessions in 2005-6; the line-up of C.C. Dunham on drums and Josh Dunham on bass indicates that it could have been recorded at any point from Spring 2005 - August 2008 when Prince worked on the song at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA. In late 2008 it was first mentioned in articles about the album.
In March 2009, a 30-second Target commercial for the album featured Prince performing a segment of Dreamer. On 2 December 2009, Dreamer was nominated for a Grammy for "Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance"; the first time a Prince track has been nominated for a Grammy without being released as a promo or commercial single. On 31 January 2010, in a pre-show ceremony, Dreamer lost the Grammy to Bruce Springsteen’s Working On A Dream (the other tracks nominated were Beyond Here Lies Nothin by Bob Dylan, Change In The Weather by John Fogerty and Fork In The Road by Neil Young).
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Recording Information
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Recording Sessions
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Date
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Studio
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Additional info
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Spring 2005 (assumed)
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Unknown studio (likely Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA)
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Basic tracking
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August 2008
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Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA
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overdubs
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Recording Personnel
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Versions
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Released Versions
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Title
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Length
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Released
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Version
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Additional info
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Dreamer
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5:30
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Lotusflow3r
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Studio
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Video Versions
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Title
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Length
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Released
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Version
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Additional info
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Dreamer
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0:30
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Target commercial
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Commercial
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Short clip only; see Dreamer for details
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Broadcasts/streaming (only)
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Title
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Length
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Released
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Version
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Additional info
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Dreamer
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?:??
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Delayed performance TV broadcast
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Live
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26 March 2009, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, NBC Studio 3, Burbank, CA, USA
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Dreamer
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6:23
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3rdEye TV Show # 20 concert video stream
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Live
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15 July 2013, Auditorium Stravinksi, Montreux, Switzerland
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Dreamer
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16:39
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Prince3EG Soundcloud concert online stream
Official Prince YouTube channel
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Live
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3 May 2015 (a.m.): Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA
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