Are you a mover and shaker? Or just a dreamer of dreams?
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (325345)
Rockingham, Australia
February 18, 2018 4:44pm CST
I’m sure many of you have heard of the phrase “We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams”. It is alluded to time and time in all manner of media and has been set to music several times. Willy Wonka quotes it in the film ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’. The first stanza ends “Yet we are the movers and shakers, Of the world for ever, it seems.”
The phrases come from a poem which I stumbled across in a book about Ireland. The poem is simply called “Ode” and was written by the English poet Arthur O’Shaughnessy, although my book claims him as Irish. ‘Ode’ was first published in 1873. There are nine stanzas.
Arthur William Edgar O’Shaughnessy was born in London in 1844 of Irish descent. Although his profession was herpetology, (the study of amphibians and reptiles), his real passion was literature. It seems a strange 'mix' of careers to me.
O’Shaughnessy died prematurely in 1881 after catching a chill. I’ll include the first stanza here. Hopefully the poem is old enough that I won’t be infringing any copyright laws.
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
I’m not at all surprised that these lines appear in all sorts of areas and formats. Did you know the phrases came from a poem?
Thanks to Wikipedia for most of this information. The photo is of a blue-tongue lizard having a drink of milk on our patio.
28 people like this
30 responses
@yanzalong (18984)
• Indonesia
19 Feb 18
Lol. Where would you run if it ran after you?
2 people like this
@toniganzon (72285)
• Philippines
19 Feb 18
@yanzalong they can't run that fast and they don't run after people.
2 people like this
@snowy22315 (169637)
• United States
18 Feb 18
more of a dreamer then a mover and shaker but I can be both. Sometimes it is to my detriment.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (325345)
• Rockingham, Australia
19 Feb 18
You're very welcome. I'm sure you've been a mover and shaker in your time. 
@JudyEv (325345)
• Rockingham, Australia
19 Feb 18
You'd have no trouble escaping from this one. Their common name is 'sleepy lizard'. They are slow-moving and quite harmless.
@Marilynda1225 (79592)
• United States
18 Feb 18
I'm familiar with the term but didn't know it came from a poem dated back to the 1800's
bet O'Shaughnessy would be happy to know his words are still popular all these years later
When I was young I was a mover and shaker but now I'm more of a dreamer
3 people like this
@JudyEv (325345)
• Rockingham, Australia
19 Feb 18
Parts of me shake now that I would prefer they didn't! 
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
19 Feb 18
I'm a dreamer with tons of dreams and no audience to share them with in my regular life, so I plan to create a god to spread my messages to the world. I have already summoned him, actually, so I'm on my way to becoming a mover and shaker.
I hope the world doesn't mind. It's about to get flooded with my mind. :P
1 person likes this
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
20 Feb 18
@JudyEv I have over the years, and on Bubblews before this. I need a larger stage to work with, or I won't be able to change much of anything.
This world has a chance to be a good place, but there are too many people that are interested in their own power (all politicians) to be anything but a negative. It reminds me of a quote I've heard a lot of recently: "Just because it's always been done that way, doesn't mean it's right." Isn't it about time we find a way to govern a country without politics?
If a country was run like a company, then it would at least make sense economically, and the CEOs would be trying to find ways to cut costs, not add to them.
I have theorized many solutions to all sorts of world problems, and the results all boil down to one element that keeps reoccurring as a horrible problem in all of them: government. I'm hardly saying no government would be the solution, but a government that did their jobs correctly, without butting in where they don't belong, would make for a better world.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325345)
• Rockingham, Australia
19 Feb 18
This species' common name is 'sleepy lizard' as they are quite slow-moving .They and our skinks (see photo) like milk and I seem to remember a Sherlock Holmes mystery where a snake was enticed through a ceiling grid with a saucer of milk. Many things eat all sorts of strange things if they are given the chance.
1 person likes this
of course, only in australia.
@1hopefulman (45123)
• Canada
22 Feb 18
Before I start to move and shake I turn out the lights so that nobody can see me dance since I'm a much better dancer in my dreams.
I once applied to get involved in a business and they said they were looking for movers and shakers. I was accepted but the business stopped moving and shaking and went out of business.
I once applied to get involved in a business and they said they were looking for movers and shakers. I was accepted but the business stopped moving and shaking and went out of business. 1 person likes this
@Orson_Kart (6095)
• United Kingdom
19 Feb 18
I've never heard of him or his poem. His forename is very English and his surname most definitely Irish - to be sure.
I guess I am a dreamer these days. I used to be a mover, until I did my back in shifting a piano for a music maker. Still a shaker tho, but it's mainly my head. Goes hand in hand with my tutting. 
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325345)
• Rockingham, Australia
19 Feb 18
I'd never heard of him either. Sorry about your back. Our piano is horrendously heavy. We always get a professional to move it. Once you have a bad back it is with you forever unfortunately.
@crazyhorseladycx (39515)
• United States
19 Feb 18
interestin' how thingies from the past 're still spot'n these days, don'tcha reckon? thanks fer sharin' this. 's yerself, i'd believed this fella to be from ireland. shows ya i ought to do more learnin', eh? big hugs!
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39515)
• United States
19 Feb 18
@JudyEv a very good query :)
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325345)
• Rockingham, Australia
19 Feb 18
He is only about a foot long (30 cms). Some may get a bit longer. And he's quite harmless.
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
23 Feb 18
I would think that would make an excellent song.
1 person likes this
@thedevilinme (3893)
• Northampton, England
19 Feb 18
dreamer. never disappointing that way - in love, life and work
1 person likes this
