Roots Manuva - Dreamy Days

I want to take you away from all the stresses. Buy you nice things and expensive dresses.

Album: Run Come Save Me [2nd album]
Genre: Hip Hop, UK Hip Hop
Album Release: August 13th 2001
Single Release: October 8th 2001 [2nd single]
Length: 4:45
Producer: Skillamanjaro
Vocalist: Roots Manuva [age 28]
Label: Big Dada Records

Music Video


Live on Jools Holland in 2001


Official Audio

Charts, Streams & Sales

Spotify: Over 2 million
YouTube Music: Over 1 million

Credits & Gear

Cello

Details

• In 'Dreamy Days', Roots Manuva is fantasising about his future life with a lady. He isn't seeing through rose-tinted glasses however, as he describes himself having to sleep on the couch after losing an argument and getting beat with a wooden spoon. The relationship he depicts is like an old-married couple, who bicker endlessly, but stay together till the end.
  
  In contrast to a mainstream US equivalent, the song keeps both feet firmly on the ground. A hypothetical, radio-friendly version would likely feature a  rapper bragging about how he's irresistible to 'the bitches™', while he cheats on them with their ugly sisters.
  
  In the third verse Manuva is revelling in the success of his previous album 'living the love, living the dream'. He's enjoying the moment 'from a council tax, paying higher rate tax' but he hasn't let it go to his head 'I wash my own brief, wash on my own socks'.
  
  This lyric, where the rapper raps about doing his laundry, highlights a key difference between British and American hip hop at the time. American rap was focused on an aspirational life of mansions and riches while British rap was concerned with the realities of the everyday. 
  

Artwork