"In Dreams" is a song composed and sung by singer
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as ...
. An operatic rock ballad of lost love, it was released as a single on
Monument Records
Monument Records is an American record label in Washington, D.C. named for the Washington Monument, founded in 1958 by Fred Foster, Buddy Deane (a prominent Baltimore disc jockey at WTTG), and business manager Jack Kirby. Buddy Deane soon left ...
in February 1963. It became the title track on the album ''
In Dreams'', released in July of the same year. The song has a unique structure in seven musical movements in which Orbison sings through two
octaves
In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...
, beyond the range of most rock and roll singers.
The song peaked on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 charts at number 7, and charted in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
for five months while Orbison toured sharing billing with
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
. It gained notability again in 1987 when Orbison released a re-recorded anthology of his greatest hits; the year prior
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...
had used the song provocatively in his neo-noir ''
Blue Velvet'', helping to revive Orbison's career. The theme of the song was interwoven in similar compositions throughout his tenure as a musician. As a result, several collections of Orbison's music share the title of the song. ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' listed "In Dreams" at number 319 of their
500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Background
In 1956, Roy Orbison was signed to
Sun Records
Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...
that launched
rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...
legends such as
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
and
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...
. Orbison's first releases reflected the style in "Ooby Dooby", "
Go! Go! Go!", and a song he wrote for the
Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly (February 1, 1937 – August 21, 2021) and Phillip "Phil" Everly (January 19, 193 ...
about his future wife, "Claudette". Orbison found marginal success at Sun Records, but felt that his talents were not being employed appropriately because he was made to sing twelve-bar rock standards with heavy guitars and drums.
In 1960, when he moved to
Monument Records
Monument Records is an American record label in Washington, D.C. named for the Washington Monument, founded in 1958 by Fred Foster, Buddy Deane (a prominent Baltimore disc jockey at WTTG), and business manager Jack Kirby. Buddy Deane soon left ...
, Orbison's style changed to what he would become known for the rest of his career. With "
Only the Lonely
"Only the Lonely (Know the Way I Feel)" is a 1960 song written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson. Orbison's recording of the song, produced by Fred Foster for Monument Records, was the first major hit for the singer. It was described by ''The Ne ...
", co-written with
Joe Melson
Joe Melson (born May 1935) is an American singer and a BMI Award-winning songwriter.
Life and career
Joe Melson was born in Bonham, Fannin County, Texas, United States. He was reared on a farm until he was sixteen. He attended high school in ...
and recorded by
Bill Porter, Orbison's songs turned to introspective and plaintive ballads, and they fully employed his powerful three-octave vocal range backed by more orchestral accompaniment.
[Robins, Wayne (December 6, 2008). "Special Feature: Stars - Roy Orbison", ''Billboard: The International Newsweekly of Music, Video and Home Entertainment'', 120 (49) p. 23–26, 28, 30.] A recurring musical theme in many of Orbison's songs is a climax in a story that is represented by a raw, emotionally vulnerable confession sung in an "eerily high falsetto", according to author Peter Lehman.
[Lehman, p. 176.]
Orbison was a rare performer; when many rock and roll concerts were accompanied with frenetic performances onstage, Orbison rarely moved. His voice was what got the attention of listeners.
k.d. lang
Kathryn Dawn Lang (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical performances. Hits include the s ...
, who sang "
Crying
Crying is the dropping of tears (or welling of tears in the eyes) in response to an emotional state, or pain. Emotions that can lead to crying include sadness, anger, and even happiness. The act of crying has been defined as "a complex secr ...
" with him in a duet, later wrote, "It wasn't like Elvis: It wasn't like your loins were on fire or anything like that. It's more like Roy was a private place to go — a solace or a refuge." Monument Records founder
Fred Foster
Fred Luther Foster (July 26, 1931 – February 20, 2019) was an American record producer, songwriter, and music business executive who founded Monument Records. As a record producer he was most closely associated with Roy Orbison, and was also ...
said of him, "He used such intricate, beautiful melodies. He brought a kind of baroque, classical style to pop music."
Composition
Orbison later claimed that the origin for "In Dreams" came to him while he was sleeping, as many of his songs did. He often heard music while asleep with a radio
disc jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
announcing that it was Elvis Presley's new song.
[Amburn, p. 114.] For this song, however, he was half awake when he imagined it, and thought, "Boy that's good. I need to finish that. Too bad things don't happen in my dreams." When he woke up the next morning, the entire composition was written in 20 minutes.
Like many of Orbison's songs, "In Dreams" rejects the verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus structure of the majority of rock and roll fare. Instead it mirrors the procession of falling asleep and becoming immersed in an elusive fantasy. It begins like a
lullaby
A lullaby (), or cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for (or sung to) children (for adults see music and sleep). The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies they are used to pass down cultural knowled ...
with minimal acoustic guitar strums, with Orbison introducing the listener to "A candy-colored clown they call the sandman" half-spoken and half-sung in a
Sprechgesang
(, "spoken singing") and (, "spoken voice") are expressionist vocal techniques between singing and speaking. Though sometimes used interchangeably, ''Sprechgesang'' is directly related to the operatic ''recitative'' manner of singing (in which ...
fashion common in operas and other musical theater performances.
The
sandman
The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes.
Representation in traditional folklore
The Sandman is a traditional charact ...
puts him to sleep, where he begins singing about dreams of his lover. Drums pick up the rhythm to follow Orbison's lyrics further into subconsciousness, and a piano joins as the lyrics recount how Orbison spends time with her, accompanied by breathy backup singers. Orchestra strings counter his melody that has the effect of representing a singing voice in themselves.
Using a five- to eight-note range, Orbison's voice rises as he wakes up to find his lover gone. The song trips; the music stops and a staccato tattoo replaces it, as he cries when remembering she has left him. The climax is a powerful
crescendo
In music, the dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings still require interpretation by the performer dependi ...
as he cries "It's too bad that all these things / Can only happen in my dreams", and the resolution follows his voice from
falsetto
''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave.
It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...
to the final note an octave below as he sings "Only in dreams / In beautiful dreams", as all the instruments and singers conclude with him abruptly.
[Lehman, p. 181.] The song never repeats a section. In two minutes and forty-eight seconds, it goes through seven movements with distinct melodies and chord progressions. The first two sections are sixteen bars each; the rest are only eight bars. In comparison to the standard form of pop songs in
AABA
Aaba ( ar, عابا) is a village in the Koura District of Lebanon, whose inhabitants are Greek Orthodox
The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. ...
— where A represents a standard verse, and B represents a variation, usually referred to as the
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
— "In Dreams", with each variation, can be represented as Intro-A-B-C-D-E-F.
Reception and legacy
"In Dreams" was recorded at the RCA Studio B in Nashville on January 4, 1963, and released later the same month. "In Dreams" peaked at number 7 on
''Billboard'' Hot 100 and spent 13 weeks on the charts in the U.S. ''
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 ...
'' described it as "a lovely, Joe Tanner ork-choral supported cha cha beat opus."
During the five months the song was on the charts, Orbison replaced guitarist Duane Eddy on a tour of England. He was immensely popular in England, and shared billing with
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
, of whom he had never heard. English and Scottish promoters were wary of Orbison as a draw; he was not conventionally attractive or animated while performing, and they wondered if audiences would walk out.
The tour sold out in one afternoon, however. Orbison's first meeting with
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
was awkward because Orbison was overwhelmed with the amount of advertising devoted to the Beatles when it was he who was supposed to headline the show.
Beatlemania
Beatlemania was the fanaticism surrounding the English rock band the Beatles in the 1960s. The group's popularity grew in the United Kingdom throughout 1963, propelled by the singles "Please Please Me", "From Me to You" and "She Loves You". By ...
, however, was taking hold and Orbison accepted that he was not quite the main draw, so he decided to go first on stage. On opening night, the audience reacted intensely toward Orbison's ballads, as he finished with "In Dreams".
Philip Norman, a Beatles biographer, later wrote "As Orbison performed, chinless and tragic, the Beatles stood in the wings, wondering how they would dare to follow him". After demanding Orbison play for double the time he was scheduled, the audience then screamed for a fifteenth encore, which Lennon and
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
refused to allow by holding Orbison back from re-entering the stage.
A compilation of Orbison's most successful songs was re-recorded in January 1986 and released in 1987 under the title ''In Dreams: The Greatest Hits''. It coincided with the release of the dark and surreal mystery thriller ''
Blue Velvet'', directed by
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...
. Orbison was astonished at the way Lynch used "In Dreams".
[Amburn, p. 192.] In the film, a murderous and
morally bankrupt
Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of cond ...
psychopath named
Frank Booth (played by
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...
) is obsessed with the song and demands it be played over and over, calling it "Candy Colored Clown". In one scene it is
lip-sync
Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals.
Audio for lip syncing is generated th ...
ed by a flamboyantly effeminate character played by
Dean Stockwell
Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...
, after which Booth becomes enraged and beats the protagonist. Lynch later stated, "it ''is'' a beautiful song and it was written by Roy... Those lyrics, that feel meant something to him. And it just so happened that a song in a certain situation could mean something else. And the way that Frank Booth used that song in two different places, it is just kind of unbelievable. But I can see why Roy was upset because for him it meant a third thing."
Orbison did not authorize the use of the song or know it was going to be used, but the use of "In Dreams" proved beneficial to his career, which had stalled in the 1970s. ''
BAM'' magazine called the song "the emotional epicenter of the film".
Orbison biographer Ellis Amburn called "In Dreams" deceptively simple and that it is used to significant effect in ''Blue Velvet'' because it suggests dreaming is preferable to waking, and power and control are the real themes of the song, instead of love, longing, and loss.
The film made the song a cult favorite, and after seeing it a few times, Orbison reconsidered his stance on its use. After the movie, Orbison re-recorded "In Dreams" yet again in 1987, for which Jeff Ayeroff brought David Lynch in to help Orbison. A music video for the new re-recording was directed by Leslie Libman. Footage of the film is featured in the 1987 music video of "In Dreams", and interspersed with live action shots of Orbison's image projected over a filmy linen cloth blowing in the wind.
The song was also used in the first episode of the Tim Burton Wednesday series, in a scene in which Morticia and Gomez Addams sing along with, serenading each other.
While listening to the ''Blue Velvet'' soundtrack on repeat during a sleepless night,
Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2.
Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...
of the rock group
U2 became fixated on "In Dreams". After eventually finding sleep, he awoke with another song in his head, which he at first presumed to be a different Orbison tune. This became "
She's a Mystery to Me", a song written by Bono and fellow U2 member
The Edge
David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is an English-born Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing voca ...
for Orbison. It appeared on Orbison's final album, ''
Mystery Girl
''Mystery Girl'' is the twenty-second album by American singer Roy Orbison. It was his last album to be recorded during his lifetime, as he completed the album in November 1988, a month before his death at the age of 52, and it was released pos ...
'', released in 1989. On the same album, "In Dreams" received its companion piece, "In the Real World", which was written by
Will Jennings
Wilbur H. "Will" Jennings (born June 27, 1944) is an American lyricist. He is popularly known for writing the lyrics for the songs "Tears in Heaven" and "My Heart Will Go On". He has been inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame and has won s ...
and
Richard Kerr. Many of Orbison's songs either address dreaming or are presented in a dreamlike style.
[Lehman, p. 80.] In addition to the album released in 1963 and the re-recorded album of hits in 1987, a Canadian documentary on Orbison's life and impact on rock and roll also touched on the theme exemplified by the song; it was titled ''In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story'' and released in 1999.
Weekly charts
Citations
Bibliography
* Amburn, Ellis (1990). ''Dark Star: The Roy Orbison Story'', Carol Publishing Group.
* Clayson, Alan (1989). ''Only the Lonely: Roy Orbison's Life and Legacy'', St. Martin's Press.
* Creswell, Toby (2006). ''1001 Songs: The Greatest Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories, and Secrets Behind Them'', Thunder's Mouth Press.
* Lehman, Peter (2003). ''Roy Orbison: The Invention of An Alternative Rock Masculinity'', Temple University Press.
*
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1963 singles
Songs about dreams
Roy Orbison songs
Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
Songs written by Roy Orbison
Monument Records singles
Song recordings produced by Fred Foster
1963 songs
Sandman