"Dreams" is a song written by singer Stevie Nicks, for the group Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album, Rumours. The song was the only U.S. number one hit for the group, and remains one of their best known songs.

Background and writing [link]

The members of Fleetwood Mac were experiencing emotional upheavals while recording Rumours. Drummer Mick Fleetwood was going through a divorce. Bassist John McVie was separating from his wife, Keyboardist Christine McVie. Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and Nicks were ending their eight-year relationship. "We had to go through this elaborate exercise of denial," explains Buckingham to Blender Magazine, "keeping our personal feelings in one corner of the room while trying to be professional in the other." ^[1]

Nicks wrote the song at the Record Plant studio in Sausalito, California, in early 1976. "One day when I wasn't required in the main studio," remembers singer Stevie Nicks to Blender, "I took a Fender Rhodes piano and went into another studio that was said to belong to Sly, of Sly & the Family Stone. It was a black-and-red room, with a sunken pit in the middle where there was a piano, and a big black-velvet bed with Victorian drapes." ^[1]

"I sat down on the bed with my keyboard in front of me," continues Nicks. "I found a drum pattern, switched my little cassette player on and wrote 'Dreams' in about 10 minutes. Right away I liked the fact that I was doing something with a dance beat, because that made it a little unusual for me." ^[1]

When Nicks played the song to the rest of the group, they decided to record it the following day. Only a basic track was recorded at Sausalito. Recording assistant Cris Morris remembers that "all (they) kept was the drum track and live vocal from Stevie — the guitars and bass were added later in Los Angeles." ^[1]

Christine McVie described the song as having "just three chords and one note in the left hand" and "boring" when Nicks played a rough version on the piano. McVie changed her mind, after Lindsey "fashioned three sections out of identical chords, making each section sound completely different. He created the impression that there’s a thread running through the whole thing." ^[1]

"Dreams" was the second single from the Rumours album in the US, and it reached the number one spot on June 18, 1977, and held it for one week. On AC/Easy Listening Chart "Dreams" was Fleetwood Mac's highest charting song during the 1970s when it reached #11 on that chart.^[2] In the United Kingdom, Dreams went to #24 as the third single, following "Go Your Own Way" (#38) and "Don't Stop" (#32). A performance of the song on stage was used as the promotional video. Fleetwood Mac would not begin to make concept music videos until 1979.

Personnel [link]

• Stevie Nicks – vocals
• Lindsey Buckingham – guitar, vocal harmonies
• Christine McVie – keyboards, vocal harmonies
• John McVie – bass
• Mick Fleetwood – drums

The Corrs version [link]

"Dreams" is a cover of the Fleetwood Mac song by The Corrs. "Dreams" was originally recorded for Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, which features cover versions including "Don't Stop" by Elton John, "You Make Loving Fun" by Jewel and others from the Goo Goo Dolls and the Cranberries. It turned out to be the first big hit for The Corrs in the UK and the video won the "Best Adult Contemporary Video" award from Billboard magazine in 1998. When the song became a hit, the Corrs' second studio album, Talk on Corners, was re-released with "Dreams" added.

The Corrs performed "Dreams" with Mick Fleetwood from Fleetwood Mac in their concert at the Royal Albert Hall on St. Patrick's Day, 1998 (incidentally, that was also Caroline Corr's 25th birthday).

Tee's remix made "Dreams" one of the most successful Corrs singles ever: it reached #6 in the UK single charts and on the whole stayed in the charts for 10 weeks.

Track listing [link]

• CD

1. "Dreams" (radio edit) – 4:18
2. "Dreams" (Tee's Radio) – 3:53
3. "Dreams" (Tee's New Radio) – 3:52
4. "Dreams" (TNT Pop extended mix) – 8:40
5. "Dreams" (Tee's Club) – 7:39
6. "Dreams" (In House mix) – 4:32

Charts [link]

Certifications [link]

Other versions [link]

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• 1996 saw the band Whiskeytown (fronted by Ryan Adams, who - since branching out as a solo artist - has been very vocal about his appreciation of Fleetwood Mac) cover the song live and on their unreleased album A Stranger Is Born (they continued to cover it live until they disbanded in 2000).^[12]
• Japanese pop singer Fayray has covered "Dreams" on her 2005 covers album, and Chihiro Yonekura covered it on her 2003 album Yakusoku no Basho e.
• Also in 1995 Letters to Cleo contributed a version of the song to the compilation album Spirit of '73: Rock for Choice. This version also appears on their album Sister.
• Atlanta-based indie rock group Snowden recorded a version of the song for an Internet-only EP entitled Fuel of the Celebration in 2006.
• Gregorian also covered the song in their 2007 album Masters of Chant Chapter VI.
• Gil Mantera's Party Dream cover's the song live, as well as Stevie Nick's solo hit, "Stand Back".
• Tori Amos covered the song live.
• Colin Meloy of The Decemberists adds a chorus of the song to the end of "Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect" during some solo live shows, as evidenced on his 2008 album "Colin Meloy Sings Live!".
• Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes covered the song live.
• John Mayer covers part of this song in his current Battle Studies (album) tour towards the end of his song Half of My Heart.
• The Morning Benders cover this song — among a variety of other songs — on their 2008 album The Bedroom Covers.
• January 11, 2011 Francis Jilla (Frankie J) released a jackin house cover of the song on Flapjack Records ^[13]
• Glee perform this song in the Fleetwood Mac tribute episode "Rumours", sung by Matthew Morrison and guest star Kristin Chenoweth.
• Lovedrug included a recording of Dreams (Fleetwood Mac song) on the fan-chosen covers album from the I AM LOVEDRUG campaign.^[14][15] The album, titled “Best of I AM LOVEDRUG”^[16] was released June 28, 2011.^[17]
• The song appears on Yo La Tengo's 2005 album Prisoners of Love.

Deep Dish cover featuring Stevie Nicks [link]

In 2005, Nicks contributed new vocals to a remake of the song by DJ and house music duo Deep Dish. The song appears on their album George Is On, and was a top twenty UK Singles Chart hit and climbed to number 26 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart.

Appearances in other media [link]

• The original 1977 song appeared in 2011 as a downloadable track for the music video game Rock Band 3.

Notes [link]