The River of Dreams

"The River of Dreams"
Single by Billy Joel
from the album River of Dreams
B-side	"The Great Wall of China", "No Man's Land"
Released	July 19, 1993 (UK)
Format	7-inch, CD, cassette single
Recorded	1992, in New York
Genre	Pop
Length	4:05
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Billy Joel
Producer	Billy Joel, Danny Kortchmar
Billy Joel singles chronology
"All Shook Up" (1992) "The River of Dreams" (1993) "All About Soul" (1993)

"The River of Dreams" is a single by Billy Joel. It is the title track and first single from his 1993 album River of Dreams. The song was a hit, peaking at #3 on the US and UK charts, making it his highest charting of the 1990s. It also hit the top spot in Australia and on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. At least four versions of Billy's song have been recorded and released. Two versions (released years later) include a bridge section containing a piano interlude paralleling Joel's melody from his song "Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)" [also from the same album]. These versions can be found on the boxed sets "My Lives" and "Complete Hits Collection: 1973-1999" - but even these versions differ from each other, both in length and in arrangement (one, for instance, has more percussion.) A fourth mix appears as a bonus cut on the UK CD single of "River of Dreams" - the "percapella mix". "The River of Dreams" was nominated for the 1993 Grammy Record of the Year award, but lost to "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston.

In his performance of the song during the 1994 Grammy Awards telecast, Joel left a long pause in the middle of the song to protest the decision to cut off Frank Sinatra's acceptance speech after Sinatra received that year's Grammy Legend Award. During the pause, Joel noted he was wasting "valuable advertising time."

Track listing

UK CD single

All songs written by Billy Joel.

1. "The River of Dreams" - 4:05
2. "The River of Dreams" (Percapella mix)
3. "The Great Wall of China" - 5:45

Chart positions

Peak positions

Chart (1993)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	1
Austrian Singles Chart	2
Canadian Singles Chart	2
Dutch Top 40	5
French Singles Chart	4
German Media Control Charts	4
Irish Singles Chart	2
New Zealand Singles Chart	1
Norwegian Singles Chart	8
Swedish Singles Chart	8
Swiss Singles Chart	2
UK Singles Chart	3
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	3
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Singles Recurrents	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Recurrent Airplay	1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	1

End of year charts

End of year chart (1993)	Position
Australian Singles Chart	13
Austrian Singles Chart	25
Swiss Singles Chart	37
UK Singles Chart	27
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	26

Preceded by "(I Can't Help) Falling in Love with You" by UB40	Australian ARIA Singles Chart number-one single August 28, 1993 - September 4, 1993 (1 week)	Succeeded by "I'd Do Anything for Love (but I Won't Do That)" by Meat Loaf
Preceded by "I Don't Wanna Fight" by Tina Turner	New Zealand Singles Chart September 11 - November 27, 1993 (1 week)	Succeeded by "Said I Loved You...But I Lied" by Michael Bolton
Preceded by "I Don't Wanna Fight" by Tina Turner	Billboard Adult Contemporary number-one single September 11 - November 27, 1993	Succeeded by "Said I Loved You...But I Lied" by Michael Bolton

External links

• "The River of Dreams" Music Video on YouTube / ⒞1993 Sony BMG channel