"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" is a song written and performed by the British new wave music duo Eurythmics. The song is the title track of their album of the same name and was released as the fourth and final single from the album in early 1983. The song became their breakthrough hit, establishing the duo worldwide. Its striking music video helped to propel the song to number 2 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was the first single released by Eurythmics in the US.
"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" is arguably Eurythmics' signature song. Following its success, their previous single, "Love Is a Stranger", was re-released and also became a worldwide hit. On Rolling Stone'sThe 500 Greatest Songs of All Time issue in 2003, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" was ranked number 356.[6] Eurythmics have regularly performed the song in all their live sets since 1982, and it is often performed by Lennox on her solo tours.
In 1991, the song was remixed and reissued to promote Eurythmics' Greatest Hits album. It re-charted in the UK, reaching number 48, and was also a moderate hit in dance clubs. Another remix by Steve Angello was released in France in 2006, along with the track "I've Got a Life" (peaking at number 10).
Background
The original recording's main instrumentation featured a sequenced analog synthesizer riff, which Stewart accidentally discovered in the studio when he played a bass track backwards. Apart from the synthesizer, the arrangement also uses a Movement Systems Drum Computer, a piano in the middle eight, and Lennox's multitracked harmony vocals.
Track listings
7"
A: "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (LP version) — 3:36
B: "I Could Give You a Mirror" (Alternate version)* — 4:15
12"
A: "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" (Extended version) — 4:48
B1: "I Could Give You a Mirror" (Alternate version)* — 4:15
B2: "Baby's Gone Blue" (Non-LP track) — 4:19
3" CD (1989 re-release)
"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (LP version) — 3:36
"I Could Give You a Mirror" (Alternate version)* — 4:15
"Here Comes the Rain Again" (LP version) — 4:54
"Paint a Rumour" — 7:30
* - This version is different from the one found on the album Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).
Music video
The music video for "Sweet Dreams" was directed by Chris Ashbrook and filmed in January 1983, shortly before the single and the album were released. The video received heavy airplay on the then-fledgling MTV channel and is widely considered a classic clip from the early-MTV era.
Lennox's striking androgynous visual image, with close-cropped, orange-coloured hair, and attired in a man's suit brandishing a cane, immediately made her a household name. Her gender-bending image would be further explored in other Eurythmics videos such as "Love Is a Stranger" and "Who's That Girl?".
There is also an alternative music video with the duo on a train.[7]
"Sweet Dreams" was Eurythmics' commercial breakthrough in the United Kingdom and all over the world. The single entered the UK chart at #63 in February 1983 and reached number two the following month.[8]
"Sweet Dreams" was the first ever single release by Eurythmics in the United States when it was released in May 1983. The single debuted at #90 and slowly eased up the chart.[9] By August, the single had reached number two and stayed there for four weeks, kept from the top by The Police's "Every Breath You Take" before "Sweet Dreams" took the number one spot.
Marilyn Manson added some extra lines to the lyrics that are not present in the Eurythmics version: "I wanna use you and abuse you/I wanna know what's inside you" along with "I'm gonna use you and abuse you/I gotta know what's inside you."[32]
The video for Manson's cover contains several clips of Manson and bandmates in what appears to be an abandoned building. In between the clips are a number of surreal shots of Manson wearing a wedding gown, Manson wandering around an abandoned street in a tutu, birds fluttering around him and leaving droppings on his body, and of him riding a pig wearing a cowboy hat and covered with mud. In 2010 the music video was rated the "Scariest music video ever made" by Billboard, beating Michael Jackson's Thriller for the top spot.[33] Dave Stewart has said he liked the Marilyn Manson version of his song and "the video was one of the scariest things I’d seen at the time."[34]
Jazz organist Dr. Lonnie Smith released an instrumental cover version on his 2009 album Rise Up! and has performed it live as a regular part of his set ever since.
Macedonian darkwave band Mizar recorded an Orthodox folk cover version in Macedonian for their second album Svjat Dreams. An early version from 1989 appears on the compilation Svedozhba.
Diesel Disko, a well known Dutch band, covered the song in an Electropop way. It was their debut single and videoclip.
Soul Rebels Brass Band covered the song on their Rounder Records debut record, Unlock Your Mind, released on 31 January 2012, and they performed the song on Later with Jools Holland in 2011.[40]
Italian-based Croatian singer Sharon C. covered the song for her same-titled debut single released in 1997, and since then it has been featured on many compilations including Dancemania 8.[41]
Australian girlgroup Girlband recorded a cover of the song for their unreleased debut album.
Tanghetto, the neo-tango band based in Buenos Aires recorded and released the song as part of their El Miedo a la Libertad album in 2008. Their cover is an instrumental version, where the bandoneon takes the "role" of the lead voice.
Ukrainian pop/rock band Lama covered the song as "Світ мрій" ("World of Dreams") for their 2008 album Світло і Тінь (Light and Shadow).
German artist Señor Coconut covered the entire song as "Sweet Dreams" for his "Around the World" cover album as a Cha-Cha in 2008.[44]
The German Underground rapper Frauenarzt covered the sample of this song as "Feuchte Träume" on Feuchte Träume (Gastparts 3) in 2008.
The melody was featured in the U96 featuring Das Bo single "Mr. DJ, Put on the Red Light" and was sung by Tryna Loules, who released it in 2006.[45]
Sylvie Vartan covered it in French (1983) under the title "Déprime", famous for its deep rhymes.
In a 2002 episode of The Simpsons, "Half-Decent Proposal", at the end of the episode, Artie Ziff (Jon Lovitz) begins to sing the song through a speaker, culminating with the lyrics "I am watching you through a camera!"
Doctor Steel covered the chorus of "Sweet Dreams" in the end of his song "Lullaby Bye".
French singer Emily Loizeau covered jazz version of "Sweet Dreams" on her album Pays Sauvage (Track 15).
The German/Greek a cappella band Five Live covered "Sweet Dreams" on their album Five Live live (track 4).[46]
Delta Goodrem covered "Sweet Dreams" on her 2008 Believe Again Tour. The cover was later released on the CD/DVD release of the tour.
Tori Amos covered the song live in Boston, Massachusetts while on her Original Sinsuality Tour in 2005.[47]
Japanese musician Tomoyasu Hotei covered it on his 2009 cover album Modern Times Rock'N'Roll.
Allison Crowe recorded a stripped-down acoustic version of "Sweet Dreams" for a Hollywood movie project in mid-2010
Korean girl group Girls' Generation covered this song on a music TV show in 2010.
Actress Emily Browning made a slow version cover of this song for her movie Sucker Punch, accompanying a scene of Browning's character being taken to an institution and on the film's soundtrack.
British group The Mend recorded a cover of the song.[49]
Singer-songwriter Tracy Bonham will release a cover version of the song on the 2014 multi-artist compilation album Here Comes The Reign Again: The Second British Invasion.[50]
In 2015 Holly Henry released an a cappella cover with three-part harmonies which gathered millions of views.[51]
Remixes and sampling
American pop singer Britney Spears used a sample of the song on the song "Everybody" which appeared as an iTunes and Japan bonus track of her 2007 album Blackout. The song was produced by JR Rotem, and was used later as a B-side of her single "Break the Ice". Spears also used Marilyn Manson's version of the song in an interlude for The Circus Starring Britney Spears world tour.
The American rapper Swing (later on known as Swingfly) released a europop version of the song featuring Dr Alban. It included additional rap verses but sampling greatly on the original song. The single had chart success in Sweden and in many European clubs.
Rapper Nas uses an interpolation of the chorus from "Sweet Dreams" in his 1996 hit "Street Dreams".
Petey Pablo samples "Sweet Dreams" in his song "Get Me Out of Jail".
UK artist M.I.A.mashed "Sweet Dreams" with Pretty Tony's "Fix It in the Mix" and her own "10 Dollar" to produce the seventeenth track off Diplo and her Piracy Funds Terrorism mixtape.
Play-N-Skillz sampled and sped up the famous riff in their song "Get Freaky", featuring Pitbull.
Paris Is Burning, from a sequence filmed in 1986, features this song during a live performance where Paris does a routine using the magazine Elle as a prop.
Appearances in other media
The song was used on D-TV's Monster Hits on NBC in 1987.
Soul Rebels Brass Band performed their version of "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" on Later with Jools Holland in 2011.[40]
Eurythmics performed the song at the 1984 Grammy Awards. The live performance of the song was released on the 1994 album Grammy's Greatest Moments Volume I.[52]
The Eurythmics version was used on Season 3 of So You Think You Can Dance, danced by Neil Haskell and Sabra Johnson, choreographed by Mandy Moore. It was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding choreography. The same routine was later used and made slightly longer for the finale of the UK version, danced by Lizzie Gough and Tommy Franzen.
The song was used as the theme for NBC's 1996 made-for-TV thriller, Sweet Dreams, starring Tiffani Thiessen, using both the original Eurythmics version and the Manson cover.
The Eurythmics version was used in the film Striptease.
The song was used in the first episode of series three of the British drama Ashes to Ashes, on the series unveiling of Gene Hunt's Audi Quattro on Alex Drake's noting that "There's nothing for it – let's fire up the Quattro".
The Marilyn Manson version was used in the horror film Trick 'r Treat during the iconic werewolf transformation scene.
The track was used in the Flynn's Arcade scene on Tron: Legacy.
In the Parks and Recreation episode "Telethon", "Pawnee's most bookable personality" Denise Yermley sings the song during a telethon.
Both the original and the Marilyn Manson cover version were used in the pilot of the 2011 TV series Grimm.
It was used on the YouTube video for See No Evil, where it was sung by Jacob Goodnight (played by Glenn Jacobs), lip syncing Manson's lips; voices from the cast of the film can be heard as well, including Samantha Noble, Luke Pegler, Michael J. Pagan and other actors and actresses.
The Manson cover was used for the credits in one of the episodes of Luther TV series.[55]
^Judith A. Peraino (2005). University of California Press (ed.). Listening to the Sirens: Musical Technologies of Queer Identity from Homer to Hedwig. p. 241. ISBN978-0520215870. "Marilyn Manson entered the mainstream in 1995 with a cover song of the 1980s synth-pop hit "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by the Eurythmics"
^Larry Starr, Christopher Alan Waterman (2007). Oxford University Press (ed.). American popular music: from minstrelsy to MP3, Vol. 1. ISBN978-0195300536. ""Sweet Dreams" is a good example of commercial new wave music of the early 1980s, an outgrowth of the 1970s new wave/punk scene promoted by major record labels."
^Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives: Australian Chart Book. p. 105. ISBN0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between 1983 and 19 June 1988.
^ ab"InfoDisc : Tous les Titres par Artiste". Dominic DURAND / InfoDisc (in French). InfoDisc.fr. 25 July 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2013. You have to use the index at the top of the page and search "Eurythmics"
^Williams, Andrew (11 October 2013). "Metro". Dave Stewart: Copious amounts of vodka and a rocking boat gave the track that ‘whoa’ feel. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
