"#9 Dream" is a song written by

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 ...

and first issued on his 1974

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

Walls and Bridges ''Walls and Bridges'' is the fifth studio album by English musician John Lennon. It was issued by Apple Records on 26 September 1974 in the United States and on 4 October in the United Kingdom. Written, recorded and released during his 18-month ...

''. It was released as the second single from that album months later, on

Apple Records Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Ma ...

catalogue Apple 1878 in the United States and Apple R6003 in the United Kingdom. It peaked at number9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot100, and it hit number23 on the British singles chart. A video for the song was made in 2003.

Background

"#9 Dream" came to Lennon in a dream. Lennon has said that the song was just "churned out" with "no inspiration". According to

May Pang May Fung Yee Pang (born October 24, 1950) is an American former music executive. She worked for John Lennon and Yoko Ono as a personal assistant and production coordinator, and when Lennon and Ono separated in 1973, Pang and Lennon began a re ...

's website, two

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

s for the song were "So Long Ago" and "Walls & Bridges". Pang also states that the phrase repeated in the chorus, "Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé", came to Lennon in a dream and has no specific meaning. Pang added that

Al Coury Albert Eli Coury (October 21, 1934 – August 8, 2013) was an American music record executive and producer who was vice-president of Capitol Records, co-founder of RSO Records, founder of Network Records and general manager of Geffen Records. Co ...

of Capitol Records initially protested against the use of the word "pussy" in the chorus, but after Lori Burton, the wife of studio engineer Roy Cicala, suggested that it should be sung as "poussé", as if in a foreign language, the lyrics were kept. The song was notable as a favourite of Lennon's, despite his later claim that the song was a "throwaway". Pang said on the matter, "This was one of John's favorite songs, because it literally came to him in a dream. He woke up and wrote down those words along with the melody. He had no idea what it meant, but he thought it sounded beautiful."

Content

Lennon liked the string arrangement he wrote for

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal ov ...

's rendition of " Many Rivers to Cross", originally by Jimmy Cliff, from the album ''

Pussy Cats ''Pussy Cats'' is the tenth album by American singer Harry Nilsson, released by RCA Records in 1974. It was produced by John Lennon during his " Lost Weekend" period. The album title was inspired by the bad press Nilsson and Lennon were getting ...

'' so much that he decided to incorporate it into the song. The backing vocal is provided by May Pang, Lennon's partner at the time. Lennon wrote and arranged the song around his dream, hence the title and atmospheric, dreamlike feel, including the use of

cellos The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

in the chorus. The song's intricate production is reminiscent of "

Strawberry Fields Forever "Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on 13 February 1967 as a double A-side single with " Penny Lane". It represented a departu ...

Recording

The song was tracked at the Record Plant in New York City on 23July 1974, under the working title "Walls and Bridges". Pang added her dreamy "John" overdub on 26August 1974.

Reception

It peaked at number9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot100, also peaking at number 10 on the '' Cashbox'' Top100 in the US. It charted at number23 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 ...

and number35 in Canada. '' Billboard'' commented on the contrast with Lennon's previous single from ''Walls and Bridges'', " Whatever Gets You Through the Night", stating that "#9 Dream" is a "soft rocker" with "strong

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

" values which it expected would reach the Top5. '' Cash Box'' said that it "is milder and more gentle than Whatever Gets You Through the Night'with fine and subdued instrumentation acting as mellow cushion to John's vocal" and said that "the lyrics are super."

Personnel

The musicians who performed on the original recording were as follows: *

– vocals, acoustic guitar *The 44th Street Fairies: Lennon,

, Lori Burton, Joey Dambra – backing vocals *

Ken Ascher Kenneth Lee Ascher (born October 26, 1944 in Washington, D.C.) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger who is active in jazz, rock, classical, and musical theater genres — in live venues, recording studios, and cinema productio ...

– clavinet *

Jesse Ed Davis Jesse Edwin Davis III (September 21, 1944 – June 22, 1988) was a Native American guitarist. He was well regarded as a session artist and solo performer, was a member of Taj Mahal's backing band and played with musicians such as Eric Clapton, J ...

– guitar *

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. Hopkins performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, most notably ...

– electric piano * Arthur Jenkins – percussion *

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America". Howard Sounes. ''Dow ...

– drums *

Bobby Keys Robert Henry Keys (December 18, 1943 – December 2, 2014) was an American saxophonist who performed with other musicians as a member of several horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by the Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Harry Ni ...

– saxophone * Eddie Mottau – acoustic guitar *

Klaus Voormann Klaus Otto Wilhelm Voormann (born 29 April 1938) is a German artist, musician, and record producer. Voormann was the bassist for Manfred Mann from 1966 to 1969, and performed as a session musician on a host of recordings, including " You're So ...

– bass guitar

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Legacy

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...

covered the song and released it as a single from the 2007 benefit album '' Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur''. The cover featured founding drummer Bill Berry, his only recording with R.E.M. between his 1997 retirement and the band's 2011 disbandment. *The international version of the ''Instant Karma!'' album features a second cover of the song, by a-ha. *British novelist David Mitchell titled his second novel ''

number9dream ''number9dream'' is the second novel by English author David Mitchell. Set in Japan, the 2001 novel narrates 19-year-old Eiji Miyake's search for his father, whom he has never met. Told in the first person by Eiji, it is a coming of age and per ...

'' in homage to Lennon. *

Andrea Corr Andrea Jane Corr MBE (born 17 May 1974) is an Irish singer, songwriter, musician and actress. Corr debuted in 1990 as the lead singer of the Celtic folk rock and pop rock group The Corrs along with her three elder siblings Caroline, Sharon ...

covered this song on her 2011 album, ''

Lifelines LifeLines is a free open-source genealogy software tool to assist family history research. LifeLines primary strengths are its powerful scripting language and the ability to easily import and export information in the GEDCOM format. It was t ...

''. *

Bill Frisell William Richard Frisell (born March 18, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist, composer and arranger. Frisell first came to prominence at ECM Records in the 1980s, as both a session player and a leader. He went on to work in a variety of contexts ...

included "Number 9 Dream" on his 2011 Lennon-McCartney tribute album, ''All We Are Saying''. * José González covered this song on the 2013 movie soundtrack for ''The Secret Life of Walter Mitty''.

References

External links

Lyrics of this song
* {{authority control 1974 singles 1975 singles 2007 singles Songs about dreams John Lennon songs R.E.M. songs A-ha songs Apple Records singles Warner Records singles Songs written by John Lennon Song recordings produced by Jacknife Lee Song recordings produced by John Lennon 1974 songs British soft rock songs Plastic Ono Band songs