"Dream Lover" is a song written by

Bobby Darin Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American musician and actor. He performed jazz, Pop music, pop, rock and roll, Folk music, folk, Swing music, swing, and country music. He started his car ...

. Darin recorded his composition on March 5, 1959 and released it as a single the following month. It was produced by

Ahmet Ertegun Ahmet Ertegun (, Turkish spelling: Ahmet Ertegün; ; – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish-American businessman, songwriter, record executive and philanthropist. Ertegun was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records. He discovered and ch ...

and

Jerry Wexler Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...

and engineered by

Tom Dowd Thomas John Dowd (October 20, 1925 – October 27, 2002) was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multitrack recording method. Dowd worked on a veritable "who's who" of recordings ...

Song background

In addition to Darin's vocal, the song features

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

on piano. While recording it Darin decided to stretch out some

chord changes In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...

he found on the piano and add strings and voices. A picture sleeve, featuring a portrait of Darin, was also issued for this record in the U.S.

Chart performance

It was released as a single on

Atco Records ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the comp ...

in the U.S. in 1959, and became a multi-million seller, reaching No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for a weekThe Billboard Hot 100
, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''. June 8, 1959. p. 38. Retrieved February 5, 2021. and No. 4 on ''

''s Hot R&B Sides chart. "Dream Lover" was kept from the No. 1 spot by "

The Battle of New Orleans "The Battle of New Orleans" is a song written by Jimmy Driftwood. The song describes the Battle of New Orleans from the perspective of an American soldier; the song tells the tale of the battle with a light tone and provides a rather comical ver ...

" by

Johnny Horton John LaGale Horton (April 30, 1925 – November 5, 1960) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Initially performing traditional country, Horton later performed rockabilly songs. He is best known for a series of history-inspired narrat ...

. It did however reach No. 1 on the UK's ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' chart for four weeks during July 1959. The song also reached No. 5 on Norway's ''VG''-lista, No. 5 on Canada's CHUM Hit Parade, No. 12 in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

, and No. 21 in

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

Cover versions

In 1961,

Dion DiMucci Dion Francis DiMucci (born July 18, 1939), better known simply as Dion, is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. His music has incorporated elements of doo-wop, pop, rock, R&B, folk and blues. Initially as the lead singer of Dion and t ...

released his version of "Dream Lover" on the album ''Runaround Sue''. In 1971,

Billy "Crash" Craddock Billy Wayne "Crash" Craddock (born June 16, 1939) is an American country and rockabilly singer. He first gained popularity in Australia in the 1950s with a string of rockabilly hits, including the Australian number one hits " Boom Boom Baby" an ...

released his version of "Dream Lover" as a single. Craddock's version reached No. 1 on ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was 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 ...

''s Country Top 65 chart and ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...

''s Country Singles Chart, while reaching No. 5 on ''Billboard''s

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart. Craddock's version was included on his 1972 album '' You Better Move On''.Billboard Album Reviews
, ''

''. February 5, 1972. p. 54. Retrieved February 6, 2021. In 1979,

Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...

released a cover of "Dream Lover". His version reached No. 29 on ''Billboard''s Adult Contemporary chart and No. 59 on ''Billboard''s

chart. Also, in 1979, Australian

Glen Shorrock Glenn Barrie Shorrock (born 30 June 1944) is an English-born Australian singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of rock bands the Twilights, Axiom, Little River Band and post LRB spin-off trio Birtles Shorrock Goble, as well as being a solo ...

Little River Band Little River Band (LRB) are a rock band originally formed in Melbourne, Australia, in March 1975. The band achieved commercial success in both Australia and the United States. They have sold more than 30 million records; six studio albums rea ...

covered it. It was in the Australian Top 10 for 18 weeks, in 1979. See here () Country music singers

Tanya Tucker Tanya Denise Tucker (born October 10, 1958) is an American country music singer and songwriter who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13. Over the succeeding decades, Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature int ...

and

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and television host. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodt ...

released a duet of "Dream Lover" as a single on Tucker's 1980 album '' Dreamlovers''. In 2022, the actress and singer

Evan Rachel Wood Evan Rachel Wood (born September 7, 1987) is an American actress and activist. She is the recipient of a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as three Primetime Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations for her work in ...

released her version with her band ''EVAN + ZANE'' included on their album ''"Dream"''.

References

{{authority control 1959 songs 1959 singles 1971 singles 1982 singles Songs written by Bobby Darin Bobby Darin songs Peter McCann songs Song recordings produced by Jerry Wexler Song recordings produced by Ahmet Ertegun Atco Records singles Columbia Records singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles Billy "Crash" Craddock songs