“I Can Dream About You” (Dan Hartman)

Today’s dreamy classic song of the day is “I Can Dream About You” by Dan Hartman. You may better remember it, however, as being featured in the 1984 movie Streets of Fire—and hence springs a story.

Streets of Fire, as some of you may remember, was a kind of operatic rock and roll action thriller, directed by Walter Hill. It starred Michael Paré, Diane Lane, Willem Dafoe, Rick Moranis, and Amy Madigan in a fable about an ex-soldier on a mission to rescue singer Ellen Aim, his ex-girlfriend, from a motorcycle gang. The film is filled with stunning imagery and lots and lots of catchy rock music supplied by the likes of Ry Cooder, Jim Steinman, and this guy named Dan Hartman.

Dan Hartman, by this point in his career, had performed with a number of minor-league bands. His primary claim to fame was playing with the Edgar Winter Group and writing their big 1973 hit, “Free Ride.” He later turned more to songwriting and wrote the song “I Can Dream About You” with his pals Daryl Hall and John Oates in mind.

Unfortunately, Hall & Oates had just wrapped up recording their album Big Bam Boom and there wasn’t a place for “I Can Dream About You” on that project. That left Mr. Hartman in a bit of a lurch with his song.

Not long after being turned down by Hall & Oates, Mr. Hartman was invited by producer Jimmy Iovine to contribute a song to Streets of Fire, the movie on which he was working at the time. Iovine told him the song was to be sung by a Black R&B group in a concert scene. Hartman suggested “I Can Dream About You,” and Iovine was pleased.

In the film, “I Can Dream About You” was performed by a fictional group called the Sorels, played by actors Stoney Jackson (lead singer), Grand L. Bush, Mykelti Williamson, and Robert Townsend. For the version of the song used in the movie, the actors playing the Sorels lip synched to a track that featured vocals by a singer named Winston Ford.

On the soundtrack album, however, the vocals to “I Can Dream About You” were provided by Dan Hartman himself, thanks to a little bit of legal contract wrangling. That version of the song was released as a single in April of 1984 and went to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100.

Interestingly, Hall & Oates ended up recording their own version of “I Can Dream About You” for their 2004 album of covers, Our Kind of Soul. And that’s your daily bonus track of the day, which I bet few of you have heard—until now, at least.