‘Dreams’ is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, written by singer Stevie Nicks for the band's 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.
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."
The line, "Players only love you when they're playing," was directed at Lindsey Buckingham. Stevie Nicks was not pleased when he brought "Go Your Own Way" to the sessions, which was clearly about her. Stevie told Q magazine June 2009: "It was the fairy and the gnome. I was trying to be all philosophical. And he was just mad."
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.
Label – Warner Bros.
Songwriter – Stevie Nicks
Producers – Fleetwood Mac, Ken Caillat, Richard Dashut
SONG LYRICS
[Intro: Stevie Nicks](Mmm)
[Verse 1: Stevie Nicks]
Now, here you go again
You say you want your freedom
Well, who am I to keep you down?
It's only right that you should
Play the way you feel it
But listen carefully to the sound
Of your loneliness
[Pre-Chorus: Stevie Nicks]
Like a heartbeat drives you mad (Heartbeat)
In the stillness of rememberin' (Stillness)
What you had and what you lost (Lonely, ooh)
And what you had and what you lost (Ooh, ooh)
[Chorus: Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie]
Oh, thunder only happens when it's rainin'
Players only love you when they're playing
Say, "Women, they will come and they will go"
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know
You'll know
[Instrumental Break]
[Verse 2: Stevie Nicks]
Now, here I go again
I see the crystal visions
I keep my visions to myself
It's only me who wants to
Wrap around your dreams
And have you any dreams you'd like to sell?
Dreams of loneliness
[Pre-Chorus: Stevie Nicks]
Like a heartbeat drives you mad (Heartbeat)
In the stillness of rememberin' (Stillness)
What you had and what you lost (Lonely, ooh)
Oh, what you had, oh, what you lost (Ooh, ah)
[Chorus: Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie]
Thunder only happens when it's rainin'
Players only love you when they're playing
Women, they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know
Oh, thunder only happens when it's rainin'
Players only love you when they're playing
Say, "Women, they will come and they will go"
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know
[Outro: Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie]
You'll know
You will know
Oh, you'll know