"Just a Dream" is a country song, released as the fourth single from Carrie Underwood's sophomore studio album, Carnival Ride. The song was written by Gordie Sampson, Steve McEwan, and Hillary Lindsey. The song was officially released to radio on July 21, 2008. A video for the song was released on August 5, 2008. The song was nominated for 2010 Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

"Just a Dream" is a mid-tempo song backed by an acoustic guitar, drum kit, bass guitar and a string section. The song chronicles an 18-year-old woman going to the church in her wedding dress, with the listener believing she's going to her wedding. However, as the song goes on, it's revealed that she's actually going to the funeral of her husband, who was a soldier killed in action. During the funeral, she wishes that everything going on at the moment is all "just a dream." The woman is eventually given a folded up flag, which is only given to the next of kin, which includes spouse, blood relative or someone who has been granted permission by the courts to be their next of kin.

Songwriters Steve McEwan, Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson composed the song over the space of a few days in collaborative songwriting sessions in Nashville. According to McEwan, in an interview with HitQuarters, it was Lindsey that first conceived the concept of the song,

"Hillary had this thing in her head, “Wouldn’t it be great to write a song about a woman where you think through the song that she’s getting married but then you suddenly realise she’s actually going to her husband’s funeral.” That’s how it started."

McEwan refutes the notion that there was a deliberate political subtext to the song and instead insists their primary aim was simply to write something 'heartfelt'. The trio were nevertheless conscious of political interpretation having rejected the earlier title of "American Dream" for making the song "overly political".

"Just a Dream" was well-received and garnered several positive reviews from critics.

Matt C. of Engine 145, a country music blog, gave the song a "thumbs up" review, calling it one of the best performances of Underwood's in an album that otherwise contained "bombastic vocals". Although he said that the first verse was written in a convoluted fashion ("a swing and a miss by the writers"), he also thought that Underwood's vocal performance compensated enough to make the song viable.

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Wikipedia