On this day in 1963, five weeks after Patsy Cline was killed in a plane crash, her song “Sweet Dreams (Of You)” was released.
“Sweet Dreams (of You)” is a country ballad, which was written by Don Gibson. Gibson originally recorded the song in 1955; his version hit the top ten of Billboard’s country chart, but was eclipsed by the success of a competing version by Faron Young. In 1960, after Gibson had established himself as a country music superstar, he released a new version as a single. This version also charted in the top ten on the country chart and also crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at number ninety-three. The song has become a country standard, with other notable versions by Patsy Cline and Emmylou Harris.
In the summer of 1956 Faron Young recorded “Sweet Dreams” and took it all the way to #2 on the country charts. It was this version that garnered Gibson his first recognition as a talented songwriter.
In early 1963, Patsy Cline was recording songs for her next album, Faded Love, which was set for release in late March, 1963. She recorded “Sweet Dreams” for the album on February 5. However, on March 5, Cline died in a plane crash on the way home from a benefit in Kansas City, Missouri for the family of Cactus Jack Call, a disc jockey who was killed in an automobile accident so, therefore, the album was never released. The songs were later compiled for the release Patsy Cline the Last Sessions in 1988.
Instead, Decca Records issued a double album, entitled The Patsy Cline Story, in the summer of 1963.
In 1963, “Sweet Dreams” was released to the public and became a big crossover hit, making it to #5 on the country charts and to #44 on the pop music charts. It also peaked on the U.S. Adult Contemporary charts at #15. This song was followed by two other songs that were planned for release on Cline’s upcoming album: “Leavin’ on Your Mind” and “Faded Love”, which both became hits.
It was said that Cline did not like the use of the violins that producer Owen Bradley was bringing into the song because she feared she was becoming too “pop” for her country audience. But upon hearing the song after the playbacks the night she recorded it, she supposedly held a record up of her first record and “Sweet Dreams” and proclaimed “Well, here it is: The first and the last.” This quote came from the video called Remembering Patsy, and was quoted by Jan Howard whose husband at the time was Harlan Howard.
In 1985, the song became the title tune of a Patsy Cline biopic starring Jessica Lange as Cline. Cline’s hit version of “Sweet Dreams” was included on the film’s soundtrack, along with “Crazy,” “She’s Got You,” and many of her other songs. The song also featured in Martin Scorsese’s 2006 movie The Departed, Asif Kapadia’s 2006 movie The Return, and The Coen Brothers’ film Blood Simple.
Source: Wikipedia
