Beautiful Dreamer

Stephen Foster, ~1864· Songs Well-Known in America · p.34

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C Dm

Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,

Beautiful dreamer, out on the sea

G7 C

Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee.

Mermaids are chanting the wild Lorelei,

Sounds of the ruse world heard in the day,

Over the streamlet vapors are borne

G7 C

Lulled by the moonlight have all passed away.

Waiting to fade at the bright coming morn.

G7 C

Beautiful dreamer, queen of my song,

Beautiful dreamer, beam on my heart

Am D7 G7

List while I woo thee with soft melody.

E'en as the morn on the streamlet and sea,

C Dm

Gone are the cares of life's busy throng,

Then will all clouds of sorrow depart.

G7 C E7 Am

Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me,

F C G7 C

Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me.

* "Beautiful Dreamer" is a parlor song by Stephen Foster (1826-1864). It was published posthumously in March

1864 by Wm. A. Pond & Co. of New York. The first edition declares on the title page that "Beautiful Dreamer" is

"the last song ever written by Stephen C. Foster. Composed but a few days previous to his death". Carol

Kimball, the author of ‘Song’, points out however that the copyright date on the first edition is 1862, and this

suggests, she writes, that the song was composed and readied for publication two years before Foster's

death. There are at least 20-odd songs, she observes, that all claim to be Foster's last, and it is unknown

which is indeed his last. The song is set in a 9/8 rhythm with a broken chord accompaniment.