Only a Dream (The Kinks song)

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Only a Dream (The Kinks song) - Wikipedia

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"Only a Dream"

Single by the Kinks

from the album Phobia

B-side

"Somebody Stole My Car"

Released

29 March 1993

Recorded

September 1990 – February 1992

Studio

Konk, London

Genre

Rock

Length

5:04

Ray Davies

The Kinks singles chronology

"Did Ya"
(1991)

"Only a Dream"
(1993)

"Scattered"
(1993)

"Only a Dream" is a song released and performed by the British rock band the Kinks, written by the main songwriter of the band, Ray Davies. The song appeared on their 1993 album Phobia, the band's final LP.

Background

Ray Davies said of the song in a 1993 interview, "I think I kind of found my voice again on 'Only a Dream,' which I wrote on a plane to England after I decided that the album needed to have a little more humanity. It's odd that an artist who's supposed to have been around still gets intimidated by certain things, but I do, and I had to really get myself prepared to do that vocal. The night before I did, I went out and got rat-arsed drunk on wine. I was still shaking when I got to the studio the next morning, and I did the vocal in one take. It's only a pop song, but there's a lot of emotion in it and there's a lot of me in it."^[1]

Lyrics

In the lyrics of "Only a Dream", the singer falls in love with a woman he describes as "a young executive". He does not expect her to "even look at [him] or bother to glance [his] way, but she actually smiles at him and says "Hi-ya handsome, have a good day". He starts to wonder if the event was real or "only a dream". On another day, the singer awaits his love to return, only to see her talking to another man, ignoring him entirely. He is disappointed, but still wonders if the whole event was "only a dream".

Release and reception

"Only a Dream" was first released as the sixth song on the Kinks' first Columbia album, Phobia. The album was not met with much success, not charting in Britain, and only hitting number 166 in America. Despite the failure of the album, the track was released separately as a standalone single, backed with "Somebody Stole My Car" (another song from the Phobia album). A second single from Phobia, "Scattered", was advertised to follow up "Only a Dream", but was cancelled and eventually released in small quantities to collectors.^[2] One year later, Columbia Records dropped the Kinks.^[2]

The song also appeared on the compilation album, Picture Book.

Music video

Like many other Kinks tracks of the era, a music video was shot for "Only a Dream".^[3] Featuring both Ray Davies and Dave Davies, Ray Davies lip-synced the song.

References

^ DeMuir, Harold. "Brothers at Arms: After three decades of classic pop and internal turmoil, the Kinks are still not like everybody else". davedavies.com. Pulse Magazine. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
^ ^a ^b Hinman, Doug. All Day and All of the Night.
^ Emlen, Dave. "Kinda Kinks". Kindakinks.net. Retrieved 14 June 2014.

v t e The Kinks singles discography
1960s singles (UK & US)	1964 "Long Tall Sally" "You Still Want Me" "You Really Got Me" "All Day and All of the Night" 1965 "Tired of Waiting for You" "Ev'rybody's Gonna Be Happy" "Set Me Free" "See My Friends" "Who'll Be the Next in Line" "A Well Respected Man" "Till the End of the Day" 1966 "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" "Sunny Afternoon" "Dead End Street" 1967 "Mister Pleasant" "Waterloo Sunset" "Death of a Clown" (Dave Davies solo) "Autumn Almanac" "Susannah's Still Alive" (Dave Davies solo) 1968 "Wonderboy" "Days" "Lincoln County" (Dave Davies solo) 1969 "Starstruck" "Hold My Hand" (Dave Davies solo) "Plastic Man" "Drivin'" "The Village Green Preservation Society" "Shangri-La" "Victoria"
1970s singles (UK & US)	1970 "Lola" "Apeman" 1971 "God's Children" "20th Century Man" 1972 "Supersonic Rocket Ship" "Celluloid Heroes" 1973 "One of the Survivors" "Sitting in the Midday Sun" "Sweet Lady Genevieve" "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" 1974 "Money Talks" "Mirror of Love" "Mirror of Love" (band version) "Holiday Romance" "Preservation" 1975 "Everybody's a Star (Starmaker)" "Ducks on the Wall" "You Can't Stop the Music" 1976 "I'm in Disgrace" "No More Looking Back" 1977 "Sleepwalker" "Juke Box Music" "Father Christmas" 1978 "A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" "Live Life" "Black Messiah" 1979 "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" "A Gallon of Gas" "Catch Me Now I'm Falling" "Moving Pictures" "Pressure"
1980s singles (UK & US)	1980 "Lola" (live) "You Really Got Me" (live) 1981 "Better Things" "Destroyer" "Predictable" 1982 "Come Dancing" 1983 "Don't Forget to Dance" 1984 "Good Day" "Do It Again" 1985 "Living on a Thin Line" (radio promo only) "Summer's Gone" 1986 "Rock 'n' Roll Cities" "How Are You" 1987 "Lost and Found" 1988 "The Road" 1989 "Down All the Days (Till 1992)"
1990s singles (UK & US)	1990 "How Do I Get Close" 1993 "Only a Dream" "Scattered"
Other singles (non-UK/US)	1966 "Dandy" (Europe) 1969 "Picture Book" (Australia) "Australia" (Australia) 1983 "State of Confusion" (Germany) 1991 "Did Ya" (Europe)
Other songs	"So Mystifying" "Bald Headed Woman" "Stop Your Sobbing" "Dancing in the Street" "I Need You" "I Go to Sleep" "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" "Big Black Smoke" "Party Line" "Rosy Won't You Please Come Home" "Love Me Till the Sun Shines" "David Watts" "Two Sisters" "Polly" "She's Got Everything" "Do You Remember Walter?" "Johnny Thunder" "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains" "Big Sky" "Sitting by the Riverside" "Animal Farm" "Village Green" "Phenomenal Cat" "All of My Friends Were There" "Wicked Annabella" "Monica" "People Take Pictures of Each Other" "Berkeley Mews" "Mr. Churchill Says" "Strangers" "This Time Tomorrow" "Rats" "Got to Be Free" "Have a Cuppa Tea" "Oklahoma U.S.A." "Muswell Hillbilly" "Sitting in My Hotel" "The Hard Way" "Life Goes On" "Misfits" "Attitude" "Low Budget" "Give the People What They Want" "Heart of Gold"

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