Rediscovering Dreams
 

Has there ever been a more hypnotic, sublime two-chord song* than Dreams? I've played it a lot over the last couple of days. This is one of those songs to which I had stopped paying attention because I had heard it so much. But rediscovering it has been a lot of fun. I was also noticing that Lindsey's licks throughout the song are pretty much slight variations of the little instrumental break between verses. Simple. Beautiful. Stevie's voice is divine.

My only issue, which is small and unimportant, is that when I am singing it and playing it on the guitar, I often get the words from the first and second verses mixed up. That's what you get for reusing some of the lines and making slight alterations. Still, I wouldn't change a thing. This song is pretty much perfect.














*The chorus chords are slight variations from the verses.

I think her vocal on that song is sublime. In the chorus, Stevie is not even singing the lead - LB and CM are singing what sounds like the first and the the third and Stevie is doing the fifth and seventh and maybe one more - it is hard to tell because the voices blend so well. LB went into this a little on the video of the making of Rumors. Also, the "no to me" and other harmonies are stunning. I must say though, John McVie made this song. His bass line is just perfect.

The question is, Is Johnny playing the bassline he would have wanted to or what Lindsey told him to play? Be that as it may, you are right to the extent that the bassline is the most recognizable part of the music in the verses.

Now go listen to the bassline in Peacekeeper.

Yes, all good points Carne.

I don't know how Stevie remembers the order of her verses, honestly!
Even a simple song like GYOW I will get boxed up given the opportunity.

John is seemingly playing, albeit with his own flair, the bass line from Stevie's demo - the basic paino chords become the main fabric of the bass line. He also does this in Goodbye Baby. I love John's bass lines. The man is brilliant.

One of the things that appealed to me about Dreams is the fact that Stevie sings it as if she had a slight nosecold. Now I know it's easy to fool around with it and make jokes about black velvet bags and white powder, but that would distract from the point that I want to make with this remark: That sound gives just some extra human touch and therefore life to her truly superb vocals.

ITA and I think it is apparent in the second stanza. I read and itnerview or saw something once (prob. around the time of FM GH) where Stevie said she had a cold when recording Dreams that vocal is on the record.

You mean "Thunder Only Happens When It's Raining"?
 

I know I am probably the only one who is bored by Dreams. Oh well. "Thunder only happens when it's raining / players only love you when they're playing" are great lines, even if I could do without the "crystal visions."

I'm bored with it live for a long time. But the original is just plain brilliance.

I also love how Christine puts her thick keyboard sound just in the right spots creating this really cool drive. She really knows how to blend. In music it is very hard to blend sometimes.

Dreams then and now
 

yeah, referring to the "twinkly" parts of Lindsey's guitar live...he changed from his Les Paul after the Rumours tour to the Rick Turner he plays now. When he did that, the guitar sound on Dreams changed. He also stopped using a volume pedal for it onstage. I much prefer the "old" way of playing it, but to each his own.

I love the version from Stevie's HBO special. The performance has a certain "been there/done that" world weariness to it that showed just how far Stevie had come from the time she wrote it to the begining of her breaking away from Fleetwood Mac to start her solo career.

That's what this band always has been capable of in it's finest moments. Blend. And this is a perfect example. The tingling guitarparts, chris' keyboards, micks' drive, and John's offthe wall basslines. And now we were not even talking about those friggin' awsome harmonies! Wonderfully put, jbrownsjr.!

Not REALLY, it has three chords.

Verses/Choruses: Fmaj7 to G (repeat ad nauseum)

BUT, the middle "solo" break is: ||: Am | G | Fmaj7 :||

So that Am throws the whole "2 chord song" theory right out the window
:lol:


Once he switched to the Turner Model 1, the NEED for a volume pedal became nil...he could work the volume knob of the Turner with the pinkie of his right hand as he played the riff.

She also adds some twinkling patches of vibes (they are really subtle). And there is a very high synth which gives a really subtle strings effect over the top of the entire song.

Thanks Shkn Up!

My fav. performace of it is that one from the 70's wear she is wearing the racoon eye make up and her dress has some blue in it. She sings it in the same voice she recorded it and it just ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also love the RAL concert video one.

I always say I am over the song in concert, but I love it when she sings it :laugh:

Dreams
 

Actually when he switched the the Rick Turner guitar...he stopped using the "volume swells" for Dreams. I've never seen a performance where he used his pinky finger to swell the volume. He could've done that on his les paul as well. I've seen Rick Vito play Dreams that way.

Not me. Hey, it's one of her signature lines! We can't toss that out!

gldstwmn,
I think I prefer the innocent, ingenue approach to Dreams that was captured so beautifully on Rumours rather than the "world-weary" version. There are some songs that are translated well through Stevie's world-weary eyes but I don't think Dreams is one of them. However, I do think that songs like GDW, Rhiannon, and Sara benefit from this kind of treatment.

:wavey:

Now, is that the Moog, the B3, the Yamaha or the toy piano that was just lying around the yard? :lol:

Wow, I'm glad you said that. It confirms my suspicion that there was an Am in that break. However, my transcription book has it this way:

verse
F-G

Chorus
Fmaj7-G6

Doesn't specify any break chords.

Be that as it may, when I have strummed the break chords, as opposed to picking the licks, it has felt right to throw in an Am.

Sounds to me like the Moog. The Hammond is a lot brighter.

Something I've always wondered about... Christine is so much a rhythm player (she even says so) that I wonder how much of this atmospheric keybord work comes out of her head, or Lindsey's, or perhaps even Richard's or Ken's. The organ work in "Dreams" is so subtle you barely notice it... but it's perfect. You can especially tell how wonderful it is when they break the song down on the Rumours DVD.

Another phenomenal keyboard part by Christine is the stuff she used to do at the very end of Rhiannon live on the Rhodes. Amazing.

~Jamie

it's a casio 100 61 key! :shocked:

I'm pretty sure she doesn't use a Moog here! Sounds like a rhodes or electric piano and some creative patches.

i remember being 12 or 13 years old and driving with my Dad and hearing Dreams on the radio - and having him talk about what a great singer Stevie was.

My parents were splitting up at the time and I didn't realize it then, but maybe that's why this song was always pretty special.

I think it's easily one of Stevie's finest - in terms of songwriting.


When the rain washes you clean, you'll know....

Not everyone can relate to what's going on in this song, but I think most of us can. It's perfect.

I agreis not so good live, but the studio version is one of the best songs EVER. Like you said Carne, Hypnotic guitar, perfect drums and bass line, and Stevie probably gives her best VOCAL ever (maybe not the best song but best vocal) And the harmonies. But I even like the song with no harmonies, When Stevie sings the chouruses alone on the outake on the reissue the song takes on this rocking feel.

I can relate. Dreams is my all time favorite song, period. A major reason is because that song has been hovering around my life as long as I can remember. I would have only been 7 when Rumours came out, but Dreams is just one of those amazing songs that I knew and loved even before I realized who was singing it. It just sparks something in me whenever I hear it.

It also represents everything I love about the band...how the five of them can work together to create 4 minutes and 16 seconds of heaven. It's pretty much a perfect song.

As for the live versions, nah, none of them can really compare to the studio version. But I still don't mind hearing it every single time they (or Stevie) walk onto the stage because for me, it's what my fandom is all about.

:laugh:
I hear you both.

"Dreams" trips me up from time to time, and "Go Your Own Way" trips me up even more. As does "Everywhere."
And yet, I never so much as stumble on a 6-minute song like "Wild Heart." :confused:

She plays the Rhodes on verses & chorus, as well as the B3 on chorus. The Rumours folio of full-band notation indicates a vibraphone during the verses ("like a heartbeat . . . "). You can hear a vibelike sound periodically on the recording. Some Rhodes models can sound very vibraphonelike in the upper registers (consider her Rhodes work on "Rhiannon," which some musician friends have always called "those bell sounds").

Her keyboard arrangement on "Dreams" is so thoroughly Christine that it's almost as if it could be considered a short summation of her total style. But maybe one of the others had the idea for, say, the single-note B3 part during the chorus. They should have told us by now (especially considering there's been a DVD-Audio, a remastered special-edition reissue, & several CD releases). But they haven't, so we're left to our own devices.
First a Hohner, then a Yamaha, but never a Rhodes.

Yep, the DVD-Audio has all of this spelled out. The Hammond on the track sounds a lot darker than mine. But who knows... different stops, different EQs in mixing. It's beautiful, however it's done.

Whoever had the idea, it's a great one... haunting, like the single note on strings (cello? bass?) in the third verse of JT's "Fire and Rain."

Really? In the live version from the Rosebud doc? I also could've sworn it was Rhodes on the Midnight Special as well. To me, that's the summation of her style... rhythmic, blues-influenced, somewhat simple and just enough, never too much.

~Jamie

Nope, the Hohner Combo Pianet on both those shows. It's a Rhodes on the studio recording of "Rhiannon," though.

Yes I love the vibelike twinkles, and yes you are right the upper registers are very vibelike or twinkly.

question David. During the mirage tour she seems to be playing a Clavi sample on YMLF left hand bass parts. Is that from her Yamaha?

Excellent question -- it came up many years ago on Usenet. That clav voicing you hear on the concert video soundtrack was put there during post-production. Chris never played the clavinet part on "You Make Loving Fun" in concert. There is a harpsichord voicing available on her electronic piano (Yamaha CP-30), but she's not using it. If you listen to recordings of other Mirage Tour shows, the clav voicing is totally absent from the song. The CP-30 does have a squawky, jazz guitar-like tone to it, however, which really helps (or helped) punctuate the rhythm section on the tours she used it for. In fact, I've heard some fans ascribe some rhythm parts to Lindsey's guitar-playing (for example, the rapid, slap/bounce she applied to the CP-30 during "World Turning" jams in 1979/80) that were really Chris playing, like the snippet of Funeral March theme.