“Dreams” is the debut single of Irish rock band the Cranberries. It was originally released in September 1992 by Island Records and later appeared on the band’s debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? (1993). The song reached the top 50 of the US Hot 100 and the top 30 of the UK Singles Chart in early 1994. A 1990 demo version was released in Ireland only in the summer of that year under their initial band name, the Cranberry Saw Us. At the end of the song, the backing vocals are sung by Mike Mahoney, ex-boyfriend of Cranberries lead singer Dolores O’Riordan.
According to lead singer Dolores O’Riordan, “Dreams” was written for an early love; she explained, “I wrote that about my first love when I was living in Ireland…It’s about feeling really in love for the first time”. The song was later released on a demo tape with “Linger” that helped generate excitement for the band. In a 2019 interview for NME, guitarist Noel Hogan said of the song: It’s only really since Dolores passed away that I’ve grown a proper appreciation for songs like ‘Linger’ and ‘Dreams’. They were just songs in the set list for us; everybody else was losing their mind about them. And when I listen to them now I realise how great they are for someone so young, which I never, ever appreciated until a year ago. We must have played it a gazillion times in our lives and it just becomes a part of the set, but it’s different now. We’re so lucky to have left that behind, to have that legacy.
Upon the 1992 release, Ian Gittins from Melody Maker named “Dreams” Single of the Week. He complimented it as “intoxicating, beguiling, a gossamer waltz across sacred ground”, and concluded, “So enjoy the delicate but profound delights of “Dreams” now. The Cranberries may never be this good again.” On the 1994 re-release, the magazine’s Paul Mathur felt it “doesn’t quite scale such heights” as “Linger”. Alan Jones from Music Week wrote, “A very different track to the long-lasting “Linger”, “Dreams” is a more uptempo piece, less melodic but still a good bet.” Leesa Daniels from Smash Hits gave it four out of five, praising the song as a “marvellous” follow-up. She added, “It hooks you right from the start with twangy guitars and loud drums. Then it calms down and Dolores comes in, singing like an angel.”
There are three versions of the music video for the song. The first version features Dolores O’Riordan donning her original hairstyle that is seen on their debut album cover. The video revolves around O’Riordan with the other band members flashing up throughout the video while she’s sitting on in a chair with a cross as a back or a close up of her face and eyes. The video shows a mirrored image of O’Riordan to show she does the background vocals and towards the end the band members fade in and out constantly in front of O’Riordan. The video was directed by John Maybury.
The second version shows the Cranberries performing the song in a dimly lit aquatic-themed room interspersed with shots of geometric flowers hitting water. This video received high rotation on MTV’s 120 Minutes in 1993 before the release of the band’s next single, “Linger”, and the re-release of “Dreams” worldwide. The video was directed by Peter Scammell. The third version, directed by Nico Soultanakis, which was most commonly shown in America and Ireland, shows the Cranberries performing the song in a nightclub. Afterwards, Dolores O’Riordan heads out to a house where grave robbers dressed in black have placed a very large tree pile inside. Dolores bathes the tree pile in water and a man is revealed to be buried in the pile. The water frees him and in the final seconds of the video, the man awakens.
