"You Make My Dreams" is a song by the American duo

Hall & Oates Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall is generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily plays electric guitar and provides backing vocals. The two ...

, taken from their ninth studio album, '' Voices'' (1980). The song reached number five on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 1981. The track received 154,000 digital sales between 2008 and 2009 according to Nielsen SoundScan. The song has sold over 1 million copies in the UK to date, despite having never charted in the country.

Composition

John Oates said the song came about "through a happy accident, my guitar player friend of mine and myself were jamming in the dressing room, and I started playing a delta blues and he started playing a Texas swing, and we put them together, and all of a sudden into my head popped "you make my dreams." I just started singing it. I don't know why, but I did. And it sounded really cool and everyone liked it. It was as simple as that." Daryl Hall also commented on the iconic piano riff that opens the song and the distinctive sound that is generated by a Yamaha CP30 in an interview with the BBC on the 40th anniversary of the song’s release. “It's a very unusual edition of a Yamaha called the Yamaha CP30. There were very few of them made and it wasn't out for very long. Over the years mine got destroyed ndI cannot duplicate that sound other than with the actual instrument. So I had to search and search until, quite recently, I found one.”

In popular culture

*The song features in a memorable scene in the 2009 film

(500) Days of Summer ''500 Days of Summer'' (stylized as ''(500) Days of Summer'') is a 2009 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, and produced by Mark Waters. The film stars ...

, where Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character breaks out into a spontaneous dance number while walking down the street. *The song appears in a 2018 commercial for Dick's Sporting Goods, promoting a

Father's Day Father's Day is a holiday of honoring fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. In the Unite ...

sale, as well as a 2019 commercial for KFC Australia. *Starting in the 2018–19 season, the song has been used by the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

as their goal song during their home games..

Personnel

Daryl Hall Daryl Franklin Hohl (born October 11, 1946), known professionally as Daryl Hall, is an American rock music, rock, rhythm and blues, R&B and soul music, soul singer and musician, best known as the co-founder and principal lead vocalist of Daryl ...

– lead vocals and backing vocals, synthesizer * John Oates – electric guitar and backing vocals *John Siegler – bass and backing vocals *

Jerry Marotta Jerome David Marotta (born February 6, 1956, in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American drummer who resides in Woodstock, New York. He is the younger brother of Rick Marotta, who is also a drummer and composer. Career Marotta was a member of the bands ...

– drums

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Hall & Oates 1980 songs 1981 singles Hall & Oates songs Songs written by John Oates Songs written by Daryl Hall RCA Records singles Songs written by Sara Allen Songs about dreams