Dear Mr. Fantasy

"Dear Mr. Fantasy"
Song by Traffic
from the album Mr. Fantasy
Released December 1967
Genre Psychedelic rock, blues rock, folk rock
Length 5:44
Label Island
Songwriter(s) Steve Winwood, Chris Wood, Jim Capaldi
Producer(s) Jimmy Miller
Mr. Fantasy track listing
"No Face, No Name, No Number"
(4)		 "Dear Mr. Fantasy"
(5)		 "Dealer"
(6)

"Dear Mr. Fantasy" is a rock song by Traffic from their 1967 album, Mr. Fantasy. An extended live version (10:57) of the song also appears on the 1971 Traffic album Welcome to the Canteen. The lyrics were written by Jim Capaldi, while the music was written by Steve Winwood and Chris Wood.[1]

Cover versions

The song has been covered by The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Big Sugar and by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Crosby, Stills, and Nash added two new verses to their version's lyrics:

Each time you choose to sing the rock & roll blues,
you take everybody's loneliness with you.
What do you lose each time you face down a room?
All of us see our changes through you.
So sing of the ocean of tears you have sailed,
Strangers and lovers that took you.
All of us sang, and all of us failed.
In one way we don't ever hear you.

Steve Winwood played an 8-minute and 13 second version on stage at Eric Clapton's 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival and the song appears on the festival DVD.

The song was on the setlist of Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton's joint tour in 2009. A live recording appears on the album Live from Madison Square Garden.

As a solo act with a backing band, Dave Mason has performed the song live, himself covering duties of lead vocal, guitar and harmonica.

In addition the song was performed on multiple occasions throughout the 1980s by the Grateful Dead with keyboardist Brent Mydland on vocals. Phil Lesh and Friends, Gov't Mule and Widespread Panic occasionally cover the song. It also appeared on The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper in 1969, where its chord progression morphed into "Hey Jude". This segue into "Hey Jude" also frequently appeared in the versions performed by the Grateful Dead and related bands.

The song was covered by the American hard rock band Tesla on the album Real to Reel (2007).

The Chicano rock band Los Lobos has played the song live, segueing into it from one of their own compositions.

In the "Adventures in Babysitting" episode of Supernatural, the song plays at the end.

David Bowie was inspired by the chorus of this song enough to record a very similar vocal for the verses of "The Supermen" from his album "The Man Who Sold The World".

In media

The song (allegedly a cover version) was used in the 1973 TV movie adaption of the anti-drug pseudo-diary "Go Ask Alice" (written by Beatrice Sparks, who originally credited the book authorship as "Anonymous").[2]

In 2003, the song appeared in a series of NFL Network commercials starring Rich Eisen.

The song was used in the 2005 documentary film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, it was also featured on the film's official soundtrack.[3]

The song also appeared at the end of the episode 11 season 7 of the series Supernatural.

The song also appeared in an episode of Showtime's Californication.

Sweetgrass Productions also used this song in their ski/snowboard movie Valhalla.

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Black, Johnny (May 1997). Feature: Steve Winwood, Mojo.
  2. ↑ "Go Ask Alice (1973 TV Movie) - Soundtracks". IMDb. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  3. ↑ Rob Theakston (2005-05-24). "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room - Original Soundtrack | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-09-30.

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