Dreams

Story of Song

An invitation to get out of a relationship. Stevie Nicks said in an interview that she wrote “Dreams” about Lindsay Buckingham at the end of their relationship when it was at its most turbulent. She said the meaning of the song was an invitation for Lindsay to leave the relationship if he chose to because she also wanted out. In another interview with Blender,  Stevie Nicks said: ”One day when I wasn’t required in the main studio, 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. I sat down on the bed with my keyboard in front of me. 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”.

Lindsay Buckingham wrote a song in return called “Go Your Own Way,” that became Fleetwood Mac’s song later, which is basically about the same thing as Dreams, only its lyrics were more straight forward and insensitive towards Stevie. She was offended and upset even more because she believed her song “Dreams” was a polite way of breaking up, unlike Buckingham’s song which was blunt and offensive.

Release date

Released on March 24, 1977 in the US and in June 1977 in the UK.

Songwriter/s

Stevie Nicks

Label

Warner Bros.

Chart Rankings

US – 1

UK – 24

GERMANY  – 73

“Dreams” became Fleetwood Mac’s only Billboard Hot 100  number 1 hit single to date selling over 1 million copies in the US. It is the highest charting song during the 1970s for “Fleetwood Mac” reaching number 11 on the AC/Easy Listening chart. In the UK, it reached number 24 and stayed in the top 40 for eight weeks. ‘Dreams’ was certified Silver in the UK selling over 200 thousand copies.

Artist’s age on release date

Fleetwood Mac had been active for 10 years when they released “Dreams”. John McVie was 31, Stevie Nicks was 29, Lindsey Buckingham was 27, and Mick Fleetwood was 29 years of age.

Cover Versions

The Corrs – Deep Dish featuring Stevie Nicks.