"These Dreams" is a song by American rock band

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...

from their 1985 self-titled eighth studio album ''Heart''. 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 Martin George Page (born 23 September 1959) is an English singer-songwriter and bassist. Page has collaborated with artists such as Paul Young, Starship, Robbie Robertson, Earth, Wind & Fire, Heart, Robbie Williams and Go West. Early life P ...

, who co-wrote other successful songs including "

We Built This City "We Built This City" is a 1985 song by American rock band Starship. It was released as their debut single on their album '' Knee Deep in the Hoopla''. It was written by English musicians Martin Page and Bernie Taupin, who were both living in Lo ...

" and "

King of Wishful Thinking "King of Wishful Thinking" (titled "The King of Wishful Thinking" on Chrysalis releases) is a song by British pop duo Go West, written by Peter Cox, Richard Drummie and Martin Page. It was featured in the film '' Pretty Woman'' and appeared ...

", and Bernie Taupin, longtime collaborator of Elton John, wrote a song which would later be titled "These Dreams". The song was offered to Stevie Nicks, who expressed no interest in recording it. Heart had just recently signed with Capitol Records, and while the band had 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 romance (love), romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn m ...

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 Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in th ...

. According to ''The Billboard Book of Number One Hits'' by

Fred Bronson Fredric M. "Fred" Bronson (born January 10, 1949) is an American journalist, author and writer. He is the author of books related to #1 songs on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and other books related to various music charts as well. He is also k ...

, when it came time for 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 and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in 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, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

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

Reception

'' Cash Box'' called it "a tender, forlorn song which features a rare lead vocal appearance by Nancy ilson"

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 present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart In the United Kingdom, the single initially peaked at number 62 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, 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 varyi ...

of the original verses. In the video, Nancy Wilson sings as she over looks a pool of water and plays guitar in other sequences.

sings with her from shadow and the other band members have brief appearances performing the song. Wilson plays a

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guitar as well as a petite sail-shaped electric guitar, created by luthier 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 A scratch vocal is a vocal performance that a singer records to provide a reference track that music producers and audio engineers can use as they craft other pieces of the recorded song. Most of the time, the singer ultimately re-records the vo ...

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 The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

with "Never".

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

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