Expert: Tiffany - 10/5/2003

Question
What exactly is the song "Dreams" about? Thanks.

Answer
Hi Ramona,

Stevie says that "Dreams" was written about the end of her relationship with Lindsey. While Lindsey's songs about their breakup were generally more bitter (Go Your Own Way), Stevie tried to write more optimistically. The verses echoed a dialogue between them, and the chorus was Stevie's way of putting a hopeful twist on a sad situation. The line "thunder only happens when it's raining" means that life isn't always full of heartbreak, and "players only love you when they're playing" was her tender warning to Lindsey to be careful of women who loved him for what he did rather than who he was. "Women, they will come and they will go" suggests the same thing-- with their lifestyle, people will come and go, but she wants him to find someone truly deserving of him. Finally, "when the rain washes you clean, you'll know" was Stevie's way of saying that she wishe dhim the best and hoped he could eventually understand.

I've attached the lyrics and a few interview quotes from Stevie about the song below... I hope that helps! :)

Be Well,
Tiff

DREAMS (STEVIE NICKS)--
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 it 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

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...
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 will know...
Oh, you'll know...

"I always put something at the end that says there's hope. You know, 'When the rain washes you clean you'll know.' And that's an old Indian [Native American] custom... that if it rains, something like that, when somebody dies... if it rains, their spirit is set free." - Stevie Nicks, In the Studio with Fleetwood Mac interview

"Love affairs are timeless, I mean, they don't change. That's why these songs [on Rumours] are timeless, I think. And that's why they're timeless to me and that's why I can walk out on the stage today and still sing them... and still feel the same way as when I wrote them is because I can remember so how I felt at that point, and I can remember the tears, and I can remember how hard it was for me to play Dreams the first time, for the whole band, because I know it would probably really upset Lindsey, and probably really upset Chris and John, and probably really upset Mick and really upset me. And if I could even get through it I'd be lucky." - Stevie Nicks, In the Studio with Fleetwood Mac interview

"Dreams was uh, about Lindsey and I... it was me trying to be philosophic once again. Whether or not I succeeded, I don't know. I love the song Dreams. I never get tired of singing Dreams." - Stevie Nicks, The Source, 1981

"When we were first recording the Rumours record we spent two months in Sausalito at the Record Plant, and as far as I'm concerned that's when we actually recorded the record. It took another eight months after that, but the tracks were all done there. Um, while they're doing all kinds of stuff and there's nothing for me to do, I went next door to Sly Stone's studio within the building, this big, like, black and red room with a kind of a stairway that went down into this, like, kind of tunnel thing where people would set up and play around this like light house sort of setup. And I took my little Fender Rhodes piano in there and I wrote Dreams. And I spent about an hour in there, and then I went back in to Fleetwood Mac and actually was brave enough to just play, play it for them, cause I really thought it was good, [smiles] and uh, and they liked it and we recorded it that night. That is the story of Dreams." - Stevie Nicks, VH1 Storytellers 1998

"Lindsey writes Go Your Own Way and I write Dreams... I write philosophically, he writes angry! So yes, a lot of the stuff that, you know, little sentences or stuff that he would say would upset me. However, as a songwriter, I have to respect that he's gonna write about what's happening to him, and so am I. So I could never say to him, you know, back off! Stop writing songs about me, because that was his life then, and that's when the best songs are written, and it doesn't really matter who breaks up with who at that point, that's when everybody writes the best songs... and that's what happened on Rumours. I mean, maybe we would have killed each other if we hadn't have been able to write those songs, you know ... if we hadn't have been able to put that energy into the music and rise above it that way, then maybe we would have just totally freaked out on each other." - BBC Special, Rumours, November 1998

"Well you know, probably 'Dreams' is my favorite. And that really is about Lindsey and I. And it's the song that's in the set today. It's the one that never gets dropped. So it has that kind of staying power, for some reason. It's always fun to sing, and it's always fun to deliver to the audience, because I can see them being right with me when I do that song. It brings back so many memories for everybody that it's really fun, it has STAYED really fun. " - Stevie Nicks, John Tesh Radio Interview, 2001