Country Music Reclamation Project: Sweet Dreams

Sometimes I wake up in the morning confused about what I just dreamt. Why has someone I haven’t thought about in years suddenly appeared in my subconscious, or why did a person I barely know walk into the scene I watched while deep asleep? What did that appearance mean? Our dreams might seem like keys to mysteries we need answered, but more often than not, they result in more questions.

One of the best-loved of all country songs, Sweet Dreams is one of the simplest, saddest expressions of lost love that I’ve ever heard. Few things are worse than using sleep to escape thinking about someone, only to be ambushed by those thoughts in a murky, twilight world where you can’t deny the truth to yourself.

Sweet Dreams (Performed by Faron Young)
Written by Don Gibson

Sweet dreams of you
Every night I go through
Why can’t I forget you and start my life anew
Instead of having sweet dreams about you

You don’t love me, it’s plain
I should know I’ll never wear your ring
I should hate you the whole night through
Instead of having sweet dreams about you

Sweet dreams of you
Things I know can’t come true
Why can’t I forget the past, start loving someone new
Instead of having sweet dreams about you

I prefer Faron Young’s version. His nasal warble really does pick out the heavy line and base the song around it. And in Faron’s version, it’s “I should hate you the whole night through/instead of having sweet dreams about you.” Whoever coined the phrase about there being a thin line between love and hate deserves a co-writing credit on this song. Being robbed of a good night’s sleep by someone you thought you were over is incredibly unfair. You wake up, and can’t deny that she’s still in there, somewhere.

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