"Dreams" is a song written by American singer Stevie Nicks and recorded by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac for their eleventh studio album, Rumours (1977). In the United States, "Dreams" was released as the second single from Rumours in March 1977, while in the United Kingdom, the song was released as the third single in June 1977. A stage performance of "Dreams" was used as the promotional music video.
In the US, "Dreams" sold more than one million copies and reached the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, the band's only number-one single in the country. In Canada, "Dreams" also reached number one on the RPM Top 100 Singles chart.
In late 2020, the song experienced a widespread resurgence in popularity as a result of a viral TikTok video created by Nathan Apodaca. The song subsequently re-entered national music charts in certain countries and also entered the Spotify and Apple Music charts in certain countries. "Dreams" was ranked number nine on Rolling Stones 2021 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Background and composition
The members of Fleetwood Mac were experiencing emotional upheavals while recording the Rumours album. Mick Fleetwood was going through a divorce. Christine McVie and John McVie were separating, while Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were ending their eight-year relationship. "We had to go through this elaborate exercise of denial," explained Buckingham to Blender magazine, "keeping our personal feelings in one corner of the room while trying to be professional in the other."
Stevie Nicks wrote the song in early 1976 at Record Plant studio in Sausalito, California. "One day when I wasn't required in the main studio," remembers Nicks to Blender magazine, "I took a Fender Rhodes piano and went into another studio that was said to belong to Sly Stone, of Sly and 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."
"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."
When Nicks played the song to the rest of the group, "They weren't nuts about it. But I said 'Please! Please record this song, at least try it.' Because the way I play things sometimes... you really have to listen." The band recorded it the following day. Only a basic track was recorded at Sausalito, with Nicks playing the Rhodes piano and singing. Recording assistant Cris Morris remembers how "all (they) kept was the drum track and live vocal from Stevie – the guitars and bass were added later in Los Angeles." 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 Buckingham "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."
Buckingham, in an interview with Nile Rodgers, said "In order to take a song of hers, like 'Dreams', which needed so much construction around it to take those same two chords and make them evolve from section A to section B to section C."
Reception
Cash Box said that "a softly droning bass backs Stevie Nicks' alluring lead vocal" and "subdued in comparison to the previous 'Go Your Own Way' this record has its own subtly building intensity." Record World said that "Stevie Nicks' vocal makes these dreams a melodic reality." New York Times critic John Rockwell called the single a "classy record" and commenting on the appeal provided by Stevie Nicks' "strange, nasal yet husky soprano" and on Mick Fleetwood's "wonderfully crisp, exact drumming." The Guardian and Paste ranked the song number one and number four, respectively, on their lists of the 30 greatest Fleetwood Mac songs.
Chart performance and legacy
In the United States, "Dreams" reached the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on 18 June 1977, and held it for one week. On the Adult Contemporary chart, "Dreams" was Fleetwood Mac's highest-charting single during the 1970s where it reached number 11. In the UK Singles Chart, "Dreams" went to number 24, staying in the top 40 for eight weeks.