About The Song
“In Dreams” was issued by Monument Records as a U.S. single in February 1963, written by Roy Orbison and produced by Fred Foster. The 7-inch paired “In Dreams” with “Shahdaroba” (Monument catalog 45-806). Approximate running time on stock copies is 2:48.
The recording session took place at RCA Victor Studio B, Nashville, on January 4, 1963. The single subsequently provided the title track for Orbison’s studio album In Dreams, released by Monument in July 1963.
Published sources describe the composition as through-composed, moving in seven distinct sections without a repeated verse/chorus cycle. Contemporary trade coverage also noted the arrangement’s orchestra/choral support.
In the United States, the record peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached No. 3 on Billboard’s Middle-Road (Adult Contemporary) chart and No. 19 on the Hot R&B Singles chart in 1963.
In the United Kingdom, “In Dreams” entered the singles chart in March 1963 and peaked at No. 6, logging a lengthy multi-month run during that year.
Standard U.S. pressing documentation lists the single as Monument 45-806 (“In Dreams” b/w “Shahdaroba”), with February 1963 dating on promo and stock issues from Rockaway/Monarch plants.
Later use and new version: the 1963 recording features prominently in David Lynch’s film Blue Velvet (1986) in the Dean Stockwell lip-sync sequence; Orbison re-recorded the song for his 1987 collection In Dreams: The Greatest Hits.
Video
Lyric
A candy-colored clown they call the sandman
Tiptoes to my room every night
Just to sprinkle stardust and to whisper
“Go to sleep, everything is alright”
I close my eyes, then I drift away
Into the magic night, I softly say
A silent prayer like dreamers do
Then I fall asleep to dream my dreams of you
In dreams, I walk with you
In dreams, I talk to you
In dreams, you’re mine, all of the time
We’re together in dreams, in dreams
But just before the dawn
I awake and find you gone
I can’t help it, I can’t help it if I cry
I remember that you said goodbye
It’s too bad that all these things
Can only happen in dreams
Only in dreams
In beautiful dreams