Stevie Nicks wrote Dreams for Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 album Rumours, which turns 45 this month.
The song has become one of the most popular rock songs of all time, and has now crossed over into the streaming generation. And while the lyrics may seem mystical, Nicks admits she wrote it in the midst of a tumultuous break up with bandmate Lindsey Buckingham.
Indeed most of the songs on Rumours relate to dramatic relationship break-ups between different members of Fleetwood Mac all unfolding while the album was being created.
“That song was pretty personally involved with everything that was happening to the band right in that time when we were all breaking up,” Nicks says in LiSTNR’s Essential Vinyl episode on Rumours.
“That song is really a lot about that. It doesn’t come across terribly painfully, it comes across as pretty reflective, but it was painful.”
In Australia, Dreams peaked at No.19 first time around in 1977.
The song has been covered by the Corrs, Deep Dish (with new vocals from Nicks) and last year, Kiwi DJ Joylon Petch and singer Reigan Derry created a new dance remake of Dreams which was in the charts at the same time as the Fleetwood Mac original.
However, when the original Dreams was revived thanks to a TikTok video in October 2020, it would achieve its highest ARIA chart peak, reaching No.4.
The original Dreams was the No.22 single of 2021 in Australia, ahead of Adele, Billie Eilish and Justin Bieber while Rumours was the sixth-highest selling vinyl album release in Australia last year.
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