"These Dreams" is a song by American rock band

Heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

from their 1985 self-titled eighth studio album. It was released on January 18, 1986, as the album's third single, becoming the band's first song to top the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The single's B-side track "Shell Shock" (on some releases) was also the B-side of Heart's previous single " Never".

Background

In 1985, singer-songwriter Martin Page, who co-wrote

Starship A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems. The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 1 ...

's " We Built This City" and would later go on to co-write Go West's " King of Wishful Thinking", and Bernie Taupin, longtime collaborator of

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

, wrote a song which would later be titled "These Dreams". The song was offered to

Stevie Nicks Stephanie Lynn Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. After starting her career as a duo with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham, releasing the album ...

, who expressed no interest in recording it. Heart had just recently signed with

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

, and while the band previously recorded their own material, they were impressed by "These Dreams" and agreed to use the song on their upcoming album ''

''. The track is a

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Balla ...

with a more polished sound in comparison to Heart's previous work and was the band's first single on which Nancy Wilson performed lead vocals instead of Ann Wilson. According to ''The Billboard Book of Number One Hits'' by Fred Bronson, when it came time for Nancy Wilson to record her vocals, she was suffering from a cold and sounded somewhat raspy and gravelly. After the song reached commercial success, producers reportedly wanted Wilson to recreate the vocal style on future recordings, asking her: "Can't you just get sick again?"Bronson, Fred. ''The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits.'' New York: Billboard Books, 2003, p. 631.

Composition

The liner notes of ''Heart'' state that the track was dedicated to Wilson's good friend Sharon Hess, who died from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

shortly before it was released."These Dreams" by Heart
on Songfacts.com. Last accessed July 4, 2008. The lyrics of the track describe the fantasy world a woman enters, every time she sleeps, when faced with a difficult situation in life. The anthemic chorus of the song is performed in the key of B major with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of approximately 79 beats per minute. The verses are in A♭ minor, modulating into the relative major for the chorus.

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called it "a tender, forlorn song which features a rare lead vocal appearance by Nancy ilson" In a 2002 review for All Music Guide,

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

regarded "These Dreams" as "good mid-'80s mainstream material".

Commercial performance

The track was released as the third single from ''

''. Following two consecutive US top 10 singles, it elevated the band's success, becoming Heart's first single to reach number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on March 22, 1986. It also became Heart's first and only number-one song on the US

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

chart. In the United Kingdom, the single initially peaked at number 62 on the UK Singles Chart, but, following the success of the band's 1987 single " Alone" in the country, the song was re-released in 1988 as a double A-side with "Never", and reached a new peak of number 8.

Music video

A music video was made for the song, recorded via Capitol Records and directed by Jeff Stein. The clip for the track, which used the single version instead of the album version, received heavy airplay from MTV and was the third of four US Top 10 singles from ''Heart''. This version (slightly shorter) does not have the second

strophe A strophe () is a poetic term originally referring to the first part of the ode in Ancient Greek tragedy, followed by the antistrophe and epode. The term has been extended to also mean a structural division of a poem containing stanzas of var ...

of the original verses. In the video, Nancy Wilson sings as she looks out over a pool of water and plays guitar in other sequences. Ann Wilson sings with her from shadow and the other band members have brief appearances performing the song. Wilson plays a Dean guitar as well as a petite sail-shaped electric guitar, created by

luthier A luthier ( ; ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments. Etymology The word ' is originally French and comes from ''luth'', the French word for "lute". The term was originally used for makers of lutes, but it came to be ...

David Petschulat.

Versions and formats

A remix of the track, at a length of 5 minutes and 25 seconds, appears on a UK limited laser-etched, one-sided 12" single edition upon which a scratch vocal is used. Nancy had not gotten sick yet at this point but had come down with a cold when the time came to lay down the chart-topping production vocal. The UK CD single edition featured the B-side track "Heart of Darkness", a track which is only available in CD format on that edition. Additionally, in the UK, a limited 7" picture disc edition was released and in 1987, after the success of "Alone", "These Dreams" was re-released as a double A side with "Never".

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1985 songs 1986 singles Heart (band) songs American soft rock songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Capitol Records singles Epic Records singles Rock ballads Song recordings produced by Ron Nevison Songs with lyrics by Bernie Taupin Songs written by Martin Page Songs about dreams 1980s ballads