All I HAve To Do Is Dream by The Everly Brothers

All I Have To Do Is Dream

1958

The Everly Brothers

All I Have To Do Is Dream boasts what's arguably the shortest intro of any pop song...a single guitar-strummed note leading straight to the Felice and Boudleaux Bryant penned lyrics. Don and Phil Everly recorded it on just two takes in March of 1958 and released it as a single the following month. It shot up all three of the charts...Country, Pop, and R&B...topping out at #1 on all three on June 2 to become the only single to ever hold the top spot on all three of the charts at the same time. IMHO, it also gives 'Wake Up Little Susie' a run for the money for the title of Best Loved Everly Brothers song

That singular introductory guitar-strum, as well as the rest of the guitar in the song, was courtesy of Chet Atkins, who lent his signature sound to many of The Everly Brothers' songs. His stellar guitar playing along with Phil and Don's close harmony gave their music the immense staying power it's enjoyed over the course of pushing six decades. (Fifty seven years to be exact...their first two hits are the same age I am).

All I Have To Do Is Dream, in fact, apparently had some particularly good staying power...it managed to chart five times in four separate decades. The Everly Brothers, of course, took it to #1 in 1958. Then five years later, in 1963, Richard Chamberlain added his own signature sound and more of a big band feel to it and cracked the top 5 with it, taking it to #4 . Than it charted twice on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970s...Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry recorded a version that stuck tight to the original, and reached #27 with it in 1970 and five years later The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band landed at #66 when they went Country with their cover, which was very different from The Brothers' original. Then finally, Andy Gibb and Victoria Principal took it #51 in 1981with a version that did stick pretty tightly to the original.

Of course the Everly Brothers' is the one that's still heard, regularly... It's a classic love song, and I think that's part of both it's charm and it's staying power. All of us have known someone who we're head over heals in love with, and who we felt this very way about in their absence. That's very much part of the reason that it's not only another song you're just about guaranteed to hear on any given Oldies station on just about any given day, it's still requested fairly regularly, often dedicated to a significant other.

And ya know what...from listening to those dedications on long night-shifts when Oldies 107.3 is one of the few things keeping me awake, not all of the ones making the dedications are as old as the song. All I Have To Do Is Dream keeps getting rediscovered by couples in love. Classic Oldies are good at making that happen...that's why Oldies'll never die.

So Enjoy! 'All I Have To Do Is Dream', by The Everly Brothers!

A slew of bonuses with this one! First up, Richard Chamberlain's 1963 cover, which evoked the Big band Era, and made it to #5 on the Hot 100 while it was at it. His would be the highest charting cover of the song.

Next , Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry's awesome cover of All I Have To Do Is Dream, which made it to #27 on The Hot 100.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's made their cover of All I Have To Dream their own when they made it into about a pure a Country song as you can get. It sounded awesome as a Country tune, and made it to #66 on the Hot 100 while it was at it.

And finally...Andy Gibb's romance with Victoria Principal back in the early 80s yielded their cover of All I Have To Do Is Dream...they kept the song's original feel, and took it to #51 on the Hot 100.