i have a dram seems to me as a start of a new life, that is every body has dreams and wishes they came true but if you want your dreams to turn into reality you have to start a new life and leave many things you have behind in order to achieve new things that you drream about. that is why you have to cross the stream, but then on your way there might be a lot of difficulties, but if you believe in fairy tails (if u believe that a superpower like God always help you and even if you fail there has been a reason behind it like this is what we learn in fairy tails that alwyas good people win and bad people lose, but even if good peopel do not have the power some super power helps them, even in case they fail they are not sad because they have done their best and they had a good intention) so if u believe in a fairy tail u will never be even if u fail and u can take the future. in your life may be your objective and your goal seems very close just a mile away, but the further you go you see that you have a long way to achieve yoour goal so if you think that your goal worths all the trouble then just go on, even in the darkness. actually this is my understanding of the song and i love it very much…
This is my interpretation - my opinion - of the lyrics to ABBA’s song “I Have a Dream”.
In interviews co-composer Björn Ulvaeus has described himself as an agnostic and a Humanist. Humanists believe that the human being is in charge of his life, and that there is probably no God, no Heaven, no Hell, and that all the human being can rely on for certain is his own abilities and what he experiences here on earth.
The writer has a dream. This is his vision of how he wants his life to be. His vision and his song are his very own, not given to him by God or by any religion. His life is to be lived according to his own standards alone. God and religion do not help him in life; it is his music that helps him cope.
For the Humanist, his life on earth can be compared to the life of a character in a fairy tale. When the tale has been told, life has ended completely. As in a fairy tale, earthly life is full of wonders and delights and possibilities. If you have a fascination for them, the future is bearable, even if you fail.
The writer claims to “believe in angels, something good in everything I see”. Angels are messengers, but for the Humanist there is no God, so these “angels” he writes about are not messengers from Heaven. The good things of the physical world are the “angels” that carry a message of good to the writer.
Again he writes that he believes in angels. In poetic imagery angels are present at a person’s death, to lead him out of this life. To “cross the stream” is a metaphor for dying. Referring to the preceding lines, if a Humanist loses his “dream”, his “song”, can no longer “cope” or “see the wonder” in life, or if, because of terminal illness or other difficulties, he finds the future unbearable, then he’ll “know the time is right” for him to “cross the stream”, to end his suffering, to take his own life.
In the second stanza his “destination makes it worth the while”. For the Humanist there is no “destination” but the grave and whatever memory of him or his good work that will live on in the world. Mr. Ulvaeus is apparently content to believe that the considerable amount of memorable music he leaves behind will be his only reward after death, and that it will have been “worth the while”. But will this be his only reward?
The beautiful melody of “I Have a Dream” and the wonderful performance of it are fascinating and are what led me to study the underlying meaning of the lyrics. For the individual who does believe in God and Heaven, no matter how beautiful the lyrics may appear to be on the surface, underneath they are words of futility and hopelessness.
I think to understand properly the song is to find the best way to separate the phrases of song.
“When i know the time is right for me ill cross the stream”
I think the phrase “i have a dream” is merely the repetition of the first line in the song.