Dreams- Fleetwood Mac

“Dreams” is the most popular song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1977 in the album Rumors. In 2021, it was ranked 9th in The Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

In this ebook, I will try to understand what makes Dreams such a popular song, loved by many people to this day.

Now here you go again
You say you want your freedom
Well, who am I to keep you down?
It’s only right that you should
Play the way you feel it
But listen carefully to the sound
Of your loneliness

Like a heartbeat… drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering what you had
And what you lost…
And what you had…
And what you lost

Thunder only happens when it’s raining
Players only love you when they’re playing
Say… Women… they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean… you’ll know, you’ll know

Now here I go again, I see the crystal visions
I keep my visions to myself
It’s only me
Who wants to wrap around your dreams and…
Have you any dreams you’d like to sell?
Dreams of loneliness…

Like a heartbeat… drives you mad…
In the stillness of remembering what you had…
And what you lost…
And what you had…
And what you lost

Thunder only happens when it’s raining
Players only love you when they’re playing
Women they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you’ll know

Oh, thunder only happens when it’s raining
Players only love you when they’re playing
Say women they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you’ll know, you’ll know
You will know, you’ll know

A little bit of background

In July 1975 Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled 10th album was released, and was a huge success.

At the time, the band was consisted of:

Guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham

Drummer Mick Fleetwood

Keyboard player and vocalist Christine McVie

Bass guitarist John McVie

and Vocalist Stevie Nicks.

There were two couples among the band members: Christine and John McVie (married), and also Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

After 6 months on tour, The McVies divorced, and only talked to each other on musical matters.

Buckingham and Nicks also had relationship trouble- they used to fight often, and they eventually separated. Their fighting only stopped when they worked on songs together.

If that wasn’t enough drama already, drummer Mick Fleetwood also found out that his wife Jenny had an affair with his best friend.

You can only imagine the amount of tension that was in the recording studio at the time. But lucky for us, that tension created the masterpiece that is Rumors.

Many of the songs in Rumors were written by one member of the band and about another one. Dreams, written by Stevie Nicks, was about the separation from Lindsey Buckingham.

Nicks said in an interview that it was written towards the end of their relationship. The meaning of the song was an invitation for him to leave their relationship if he wants to, because she wants to leave as well.

Funnily enough, Buckingham wrote “Go Your Own Way”, a reply song that was basically saying the same thing, but more “blunt and insensitive” according to Stevie.

Dreams was a huge success- it reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1977, and was the band’s only #1 single in the US.

In 2020, the song suddenly became popular again thanks to a viral TikTok video of a man riding a skateboard, drinking cranberry juice with Dreams in the background. Sounds pretty random- but I think this video somehow manages to depict the “vibe” of the song perfectly.

So, why do we love this song so much?

Let’s break it down by categories.

First of all- the melody and rhythm

When Nicks originally wrote the song, she used a drum loop. Drummer Mick Fleetwood couldn’t recreate the drums as precisely, so they made and eight-bar loop of him playing, which created a hypnotic effect. The time signature is 4/4, which is recognizable and simple, giving the song that “similar but different” feeling that we know and love.

The melody of the song feels warm and elevating. As for danceability, you probably wouldn’t hear this song at the club, but it still instantly makes you sway and rock your head to the music.

The lyrics of the song are meaningful and very relatable. It’s about the ending of a long relationship, something that almost anyone has experienced in their lives.

Stevie’s singing makes you feel empathy, even if you have never experienced this feeling. Her voice holds so much emotion, and you don’t have to know the story of the song to know that those emotions are completely authentic.

The song was also covered many times throughout the years, which also helped keeping the song popular for so long.

This is one of my favorite songs (and album),  and I have no doubts that it will remain popular for many years longer. Its heartfelt lyrics and ethereal melody make it truly timeless.