Having taken last week off to do something different – marking Earth Day – I thought I’d come back to where I had been for the previous couple of weeks, and give you a third set of dream songs. There are still quite a few I could play for this! Today I’m going with a bit of a mixture: a couple of classics, an album track you may know from way back, and a pair of my favourite singer-songwriters. This is a set of fairly gentle songs, some of which are bit off the beaten track, but they are all good, even if I do say it myself!

Let’s get going with a classic Sixties pop hit:

The Monkees’ Daydream Believer was one that I loved when it was released in December 1967, and still do. It was written by John Stewart, shortly before he left The Kingston Trio: it became a #1 hit in the US, also in Canada and Ireland, and reached #5 in the UK. It was on their fifth album, The Birds, The Bees And The Monkees, which had the dubious distinction of being their first album not to reach #1 in the US, where it got to #3. They should worry: it didn’t make the album chart at all here! It’s still a great pop song, though, and the video brings back memories of Saturday evenings having our tea in front of the tv watching their show: even our parents enjoyed it!

My second tune goes back even further. If you didn’t have the album you may not know this one:

Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream was, as the clip shows, a track on Simon & Garfunkel’s debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3AM, which was released in October 1964, peaking at #24 in the UK and #30 in the US, and over time has achieved a Silver Disc here in the UK for 60k sales. It is a mixture of original Paul Simon songs, some covers, and some traditional tunes. I had the album – along with all of their others – and played them all to bits. This one is notable for Paul playing banjo – as far as I can tell, this is the only time he did. It is one of the cover songs, having been written by the American folk singer-songwriter Ed McCurdy in 1950, and having previously been recorded by Pete Seeger in 1956. Other recordings were made by The Weavers, The Kingston Trio, and Joan Baez before S&G got to it, and they were followed later by Johnny Cash, who recorded it twice. It is, as you will have heard, a delicate anti-war protest song, which is just as valid today as it ever was.

Now for my two from favourite singer-songwriters. First, this one:

Mike Rosenberg, aka Passenger, with Things That Stop You Dreaming, which was the opening track on his fourth album, All The Little Lights. This was the one that made him a huge star, largely on the back of the success of Let Her Go as a single – still a favourite of mine. The album was released in February 2012 and reached #3 in the UK and #26 in the US. It has sold more than a million in the US and half a million here, and if you don’t know it I can highly recommend it: twelve tracks of beautiful music, with Mike’s quirky little voice which is so pleasing to my ears. This wasn’t released as a single, but I’m guessing that it had been considered for that – the existence of the video is the big clue!

For my second singer-songwriter track I’m going back to the Seventies, to someone who was taken from us far too young:

That was, of course, the late, great Jim Croce with Dreamin’ Again, a track from his fourth album, Life And Times, which was released in January 1973, just nine months before he was killed in a plane crash. The album was successful in N America, peaking at #1 in Canada and #7 in the US, driven by the successful single from it, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, which topped the charts in both countries, though neither the album or single made the UK charts: we have been very unkind to him! This wasn’t released as a single, but it is a typical Jim Croce song: intelligent lyrics, lovely tune, and a wistful song with another great vocal.

Time for today’s closing track. So far this has been a fairly reflective set, so should I end with something loud and rousing for a contrast? Nope. How about another pop classic from way way back:

The Everly Brothers had a huge success with All I Have To Do Is Dream, which they released as a single in April 1958, topping the charts in the US, Canada, the UK, and New Zealand, and reaching #3 in Australia. It wasn’t released on a studio album but has since featured often on compilations, as you’d expect. It was written by Boudleaux Bryant, and is ranked No. 141 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Neither Don or Phil is still with us, sadly, but they have left us some great tunes by which to remember them. There have been numerous other covers of this, including by the likes of Roy Orbison, Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell (a UK #3 in 1969), Richard Chamberlain (aka Dr Kildare!), R.E.M, and even one by Phil with Cliff Richard, a UK #14 in 1994. Fortunately for you I don’t recall that at all and have absolutely no inclination to seek it out! 

That’s all for today, now that I’ve lulled you into a state of relaxation. I’ll probably go for a different theme next time, so I offer my apologies to those who have suggested songs for this one which I haven’t played. I’ve noted them all down, though, so maybe I’ll bring this back at some point…

Have a great week – we’re promised a mini heatwave for the next few days, which as every Brit knows means that we’ll need to enjoy it while it lasts, as it may turn out to have been what passes for our summer. Stay well and happy 😊