After yesterday’s “Daydream Believer,” today’s classic dreaming song of the day is “Dreaming” by Blondie. Released in September of 1979, this single peaked at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #20 on the Cash Box Top 100. It peaked higher in the UK, at #2 on the charts.
“Dreaming” is, perhaps, Blondie’s most pure New Wave track. It was written by Chris Stein, who came up with the tag line and melody, and Debbie Harry, who filled in the rest of the lyrics. Here’s what Ms. Harry remembers about the song:
“Sometimes Chris will come up with a track or a feel and pass it on to me, and he’ll say, ‘I was thinking ‘Dreaming/Dreaming is free’,’ and then I’ll fill it out with a story line or some more phrases. A lot of times it’s the rhythm track that suggests what the lyric is going to be. I like working like that.”
The track is also notable for Clem Burke’s bombastic drumming throughout. He really went nuts on this one, as Clem remembers:
“The reason why ‘Dreaming’ came out the way it did is because [producer Mike Chapman] really gave me free rein and it was really a surprise. That take of ‘Dreaming’ was just me kind of blowing through the song. It’s not like I expected that to be the take. I was consciously overplaying just for the sake of it because it was a run-through.”
Despite its middling chart performance, especially after their previous number-one hit “Heart of Glass,” many critics consider “Dreaming” to be one of Blondie’s best songs. It was the standout track on their 1979 album, Eat to the Beat.
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Blondie’s official music video for “Dreaming.” As anyone who was hitting the clubs back then can tell you, this one is definitely reflective of that particular time and place.
