Word Association Wednesday: That’s the Thing to Do

Following Sunday’s Day Dream and rolling right into today’s WAW, my train of thought took a few scenic turns — there are so many songs with “dream” in the title. So why not go straight to Dream, the 1945 classic by Johnny Mercer.

🌙 The First Few Winks

Johnny was one of the bosses at Capitol Records at the time, and he handed the tune to his frequent collaborators The Pied Pipers, who recorded it in late 1944 for release in early ’45.

Let’s spin it:

That record was a huge hit, and it’s easy to hear why — it’s really a dream.

By then, June Hutton had stepped in as the Pipers’ lead singer, replacing Jo Stafford, who was busy becoming a solo star on Capitol.

💫 Frankie's Fantasy

Once the Pied Pipers’ version took off, other labels naturally jumped aboard. Over at Columbia, Frank Sinatra recorded it a little later in 1945:

The song fits young Frankie like a glove. Cue the bobby-soxers!

✨ Martin's Mirage

Singers like Sinatra were starting to take over in 1945, but big bands were still holding strong, so Victor had Freddy Martin cut Dream with vocalist Artie Wayne:

A typically smooth reading from the Martin band with a somewhat haunting vibe.

🌜 Jimmy’s Alto Apparition

Meanwhile, over on Decca, Jimmy Dorsey recorded the tune with Teddy Walters:

Jimmy’s alto floats right through that lush arrangement.

🌠 Castle in the Air

For one more band take, we head to the small Musicraft label, where trumpet star Lee Castle recorded his version with Tony Dexter:

Lovely trumpet work from Lee on that one.

💤 Santo & Johnny's Somnambulism

Plenty of other versions of Dream have appeared over the years. Let’s close out with this 1959 track on the Canadian American label from Santo & Johnny:

They’re in full Sleepwalk mode — and I love it!

Warehouse Whispers

Johnny Mercer was known primarily as a lyricist, and out of the approximately one zillion songs in his catalog, Dream is one of the very few for which he wrote both the lyrics and the music.

Quite a dream!