Dream (song)
Encyclopedia
"Dream", sometimes referred to as "Dream (When You're Feeling Blue)", is a jazz
and pop standard with words and music written by Johnny Mercer
in 1944
. It has been and performed by many artists, with the most popular versions of this song recorded by The Pied Pipers
, Frank Sinatra
, and Roy Orbison
.
For Capitol Records
, The Pied Pipers
, with lead singer June Hutton
, made a version of "Dream" (catalog number 185, with the flip side "Tabby the Cat") which became a major hit in 1945
. Vocal group The Skylarks
, singing with Ray Anthony
's orchestra, would revive this ballad in the 1955
Fred Astaire
-Leslie Caron
musical film, Daddy Long Legs.
In 1970, a vocal quartet which included lead singer Sue Allen (who sang with The Pied Pipers in the 1950s), recorded it with the same arrangement as the 1945 hit version, for Time-Life Records. On October 22, 2008, this version was used in the teaser trailer for the 2K Games
Bioshock
sequel, BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams
.
"Dream" was also recorded (on April 14, 1958) by Betty Johnson
(issued by Atlantic Records
as catalog number 1186, with the flip side "How Much") in a version that spent seven weeks on the charts: #19 on the Billboard chart
of songs most played by disc jockey
s and #58 on the Billboard top 100 chart. Roy Orbison
included a cover of the song on his popular and critically acclaimed 1963
album for Monument Records
, In Dreams. More recently, Orbison's version was resurrected for the soundtrack to the 1998
film, You've Got Mail
.
A lush version, with orchestrations and arrangements by Nelson Riddle
can be heard on the 1964 Verve
release Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook
.
Other notable versions include a best-selling single by Frank Sinatra
on Columbia Records
(with the Axel Stordahl
Orchestra and the Ken Lane singers; originally catalog number 36797, with the flip side "There's No You"; reissued as catalog number 40522, with flip side "American Beauty Rose") which spent 7 weeks on the charts, peaking at #5 in 1945
, (as well as a version on his 1960 album for Capitol
, Nice 'n' Easy
), a rendition from blues legend Etta James
in 1961
, Ringo Starr
's version in 1970
album Sentimental Journey, and most recently Michael Bublé
's version in 2007.
Jazz standard
Jazz standards are musical compositions which are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be...
and pop standard with words and music written by Johnny Mercer
Johnny Mercer
John Herndon "Johnny" Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others...
in 1944
1944 in music
-Events:*January 18 - The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City for the first time hosts a jazz concert; the performers are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden....
. It has been and performed by many artists, with the most popular versions of this song recorded by The Pied Pipers
The Pied Pipers
The Pied Pipers were a popular singing group in the late 1930s and 1940s. Originally they consisted of eight members who had belonged to three separate groups: Jo Stafford from The Stafford Sisters, and seven male singers: John Huddleston, Hal Hopper, Chuck Lowry, Bud Hervey, George Tait, Woody...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, and Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
.
For Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
, The Pied Pipers
The Pied Pipers
The Pied Pipers were a popular singing group in the late 1930s and 1940s. Originally they consisted of eight members who had belonged to three separate groups: Jo Stafford from The Stafford Sisters, and seven male singers: John Huddleston, Hal Hopper, Chuck Lowry, Bud Hervey, George Tait, Woody...
, with lead singer June Hutton
June Hutton
June Hutton was an American popular singer.-Career:Born in Chicago of African American descent, in the late 1930s, Hutton joined the band of her older sister, Ina Ray Hutton, singing under the name of Elaine Merritt...
, made a version of "Dream" (catalog number 185, with the flip side "Tabby the Cat") which became a major hit in 1945
1945 in music
-Events:*The Motion Picture Daily Fame Poll designates Bing Crosby "Top Male Vocalist" for the ninth straight year.*July 26 - Composer Ernest John Moeran marries cellist Peers Coetmore.*August 19 - Dick Powell marries June Allyson....
. Vocal group The Skylarks
The Skylarks
The Skylarks were a cult alternative rock band from Liverpool, England-History:The Skylarks formed in 1996 by Paul Molloy and Vinny McPoland. In 1997 they were joined by Dave Dutton and Michael Fitzgerald on drums. In 1999 Michael Fitzgerald left and was replaced by Dave Baker. The Skylarks gained...
, singing with Ray Anthony
Ray Anthony
Ray Anthony is an American bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter and actor.- Biography :...
's orchestra, would revive this ballad in the 1955
1955 in film
The year 1955 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 3 - The musical Guys and Dolls, starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, debuts.* June 27 - The last ever Republic serial, King of the Carnival, is released....
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
-Leslie Caron
Leslie Caron
Leslie Claire Margaret Caron is a French film actress and dancer, who appeared in 45 films between 1951 and 2003. In 2006, her performance in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit won her an Emmy for guest actress in a drama series...
musical film, Daddy Long Legs.
In 1970, a vocal quartet which included lead singer Sue Allen (who sang with The Pied Pipers in the 1950s), recorded it with the same arrangement as the 1945 hit version, for Time-Life Records. On October 22, 2008, this version was used in the teaser trailer for the 2K Games
2K Games
2K is a global developer, marketer, distributor and publisher of interactive entertainment software games. 2K Games is a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, which also owns Rockstar Games notable for the Grand Theft Auto series...
Bioshock
Bioshock
BioShock is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston and designed by Ken Levine. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on August 21, 2007 in North America, and three days later in Europe and Australia. It became available on Steam on August 21, 2007...
sequel, BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams
BioShock 2
BioShock 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Marin for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The sequel to the 2007 video game BioShock, it was released worldwide on February 9, 2010....
.
"Dream" was also recorded (on April 14, 1958) by Betty Johnson
Betty Johnson
Betty Johnson is an American traditional pop and cabaret singer.-Biography:Johnson was born in Guilford County, North Carolina. Her professional debut was in a family group, The Johnson Family Singers, including her parents and three brothers, singing a repertoire primarily of religious material...
(issued by Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
as catalog number 1186, with the flip side "How Much") in a version that spent seven weeks on the charts: #19 on the Billboard chart
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
of songs most played by disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
s and #58 on the Billboard top 100 chart. Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
included a cover of the song on his popular and critically acclaimed 1963
1963 in music
-Events:*January 1 – The Beatles start a 5-day tour in Scotland to support the release of their new single, "Love Me Do".*January 4 – At Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy, Dalida receives a Juke Box Global Oscar for the year's most-played artist on juke boxes....
album for Monument Records
Monument Records
Monument Records was an American record label, Washington, D.C. named for the Washington Monument, founded in 1958, by Fred Foster and Buddy Deane . Buddy Deane soon left the company, and in the early 60's bought KOTN in Pine Bluff, Arkansas where he retired to until his death...
, In Dreams. More recently, Orbison's version was resurrected for the soundtrack to the 1998
1998 in film
-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...
film, You've Got Mail
You've Got Mail
You've Got Mail is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Nora Ephron, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. It was written by Nora and Delia Ephron based on the play Parfumerie by Miklós László. The film is about two letter-writing lovers who are completely unaware that their sweetheart is in...
.
A lush version, with orchestrations and arrangements by Nelson Riddle
Nelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s...
can be heard on the 1964 Verve
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
release Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Song Book is a 1964 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, focusing on the songs of Johnny Mercer. This was Fitzgerald's fifth and final collaboration with Riddle during her years on the Verve label...
.
Other notable versions include a best-selling single by Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
on Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
(with the Axel Stordahl
Axel Stordahl
Axel Stordahl was an arranger who was active from the late 1930s through the 1950s. He is perhaps best known for his work with Frank Sinatra in the 1940s at Columbia Records...
Orchestra and the Ken Lane singers; originally catalog number 36797, with the flip side "There's No You"; reissued as catalog number 40522, with flip side "American Beauty Rose") which spent 7 weeks on the charts, peaking at #5 in 1945
1945 in music
-Events:*The Motion Picture Daily Fame Poll designates Bing Crosby "Top Male Vocalist" for the ninth straight year.*July 26 - Composer Ernest John Moeran marries cellist Peers Coetmore.*August 19 - Dick Powell marries June Allyson....
, (as well as a version on his 1960 album for Capitol
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
, Nice 'n' Easy
Nice 'n' Easy
Nice 'n' Easy is a 1960 album by Frank Sinatra.All the songs, with the notable exception of the title song, are sung as ballads and were arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle...
), a rendition from blues legend Etta James
Etta James
Etta James is an American blues, soul, rhythm and blues , rock and roll, gospel and jazz singer. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer...
in 1961
1961 in music
-Events:*January 15 – Motown Records signs The Supremes.*January 20 – Francis Poulenc's Gloria receives its premiėre in Boston, USA.*February 12 – The Miracles' "Shop Around" becomes Motown's first million-selling single....
, Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
's version in 1970
1970 in music
- Events :*January 3**Davy Jones announces he is leaving the Monkees**Former Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett releases his first solo album The Madcap Laughs....
album Sentimental Journey, and most recently Michael Bublé
Michael Bublé
Michael Steven Bublé is a Canadian singer. He has won several awards, including three Grammy Awards and multiple Juno Awards. His first album reached the top ten in Canada and the UK. He found worldwide commercial success with his 2005 album It's Time, and his 2007 album Call Me Irresponsible was...
's version in 2007.