EURYTHMICS - SWEET DREAMS (ARE MADE OF THIS)

Publicació: 21 de gener de 1983

Llistes: EUA: #1 (1 setmana) Regne Unit: #2

"Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" és la cançó principal del segon àlbum d'Eurythmics i el seu èxit més notable, però va trigar un temps a notar-se. "Vam pensar que havíem fet una cosa realment especial, però no teníem ni idea, realment, de l'impacte que tindria", va dir Stewart. "Tampoc el segell discogràfic, que ni tan sols pensava que fos una cançó per a un single". Tres cançons de l'àlbum es van publicar com a senzills al Regne Unit abans que el segell RCA, finalment es decidís a publicar "Sweet Dreams". Quan ho van fer, es va enlairar ràpidament, arribant al número 2 el març de 1983 només per darrera de "Total eclipse of the heart" de Bonnie Tyler. Després de convertir-se en un èxit al Regne Unit, RCA el va publicar com el primer single d'Eurythmics a Amèrica, on va arribar al número 1 el setembre de 1983.

"Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" no té tornada. Això és perquè tot és una tornada, tot és un ganxo. Freda i autoritària, Annie Lennox t'explica les diferents maneres en què el món t'enfonsarà, tots els impulsos i motius perquèt'enfrontaràs a tothom a qui et trobis. Ella resumeix aquesta visió del món dura i desolada en poques frases, i després les repeteix una i altra vegada. Aquestes línies esdevenen un mantra, un encantament. Naturalment, és un èxit de pista de ball absolut. Això és el que la millor new wave fa: que ballis amb veritats fosques i posicions filosòfiques estridentes.

Com a molts artistes britànics de synth-pop de principis dels 80, va ser MTV qui va obrir la porta d’America per a Eurythmics. El duet estava ben preparst per a l’època del vídeo: Dave Stewart sempre tenia el concepte i Annie Lennox tenia un aspecte i un talent sorprenents per actuar.

L'innovador vídeo de "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)", dirigit per Stewart amb Chris Ashbrook, va presentar a Lennox amb els cabells ataronjats i un vestit negre a mida, convertint-lo en el primer vídeo popular que presenta una dona andrògina. La vaca del vídeo va ser idea de Dave Stewart: era un gran fan dels artistes surrealistes Salvador Dalí i Luis Buñuel. Stewart va dir: "Algunes persones deien:" Dave, per què la vaca? L'Annie és tan bonica". Aquestes persones haurien d'anar a comprar una còpia de Purple Cow de Seth Dogin, sobre com fer que el vostre negoci sigui vistòs. Va ser escrit 20 anys després que sortís la vaca morada al nostre vídeo, que sens dubte va ser el truc i va fer que tota la meva vida fos notable". La vaca, tot i que cridava molt l'atenció, va suposar un problema logístic perquè la majoria d'estudis no els podien acollir. Eurythmics va trobar un estudi al soterrani a Londres amb un ascensor prou gran per transportar l'animal. Lennox recorda el rodatge amb el boví passejant com una de les experiències més surrealistes de la seva vida. Sobre el que va significar tot, va dir en el llibre I Want My MTV: "El vídeo és una declaració sobre les diferents formes d'existència. Hi ha humans, amb els nostres somnis d'indústria i assoliments i èxits. I hi ha una vaca".

Annie Lennox i Dave Stewart van ser parella durant uns tres anys mentre eren membres d'una banda anomenada The Tourists. En aquest temps només van escriure una cançó junts (una instrumental), però quan The Tourists es van separar, van formar Eurythmics com a duet i van començar a escriure junts. Poc temps després, Lennox i Stewart es van separar. Stewart explica la història a The Dave Stewart Songbook: "Quan vam trencar com a parella per alguna raó estranya, va ser com si sempre estiguéssim junts, passés el que passés. Realment no podíem trencar aquest encanteri, així que vam continuar, fent música. Al New York Times del 30 d'octubre de 2007, Annie Lennox va recordar que aquesta cançó va ser escrita pel duet just després d'haver tingut una amarga baralla. "Vaig pensar que era el final del camí i que fins aquí havíem arribat. Estàvem intentant escriure, i em vaig sentir miserable. I ell va dir, bé, 'Ho faré de totes maneres'". Dave Stewart va fer un ritme, Annie Lennox va improvisar el riff del sintetitzador i, de sobte, es van adonar que tenien un èxit potencial.

Quan "Sweet Dreams" va arribar al número 1 a Amèrica, Eurythmics es va convertir en una sensació allà, apareixent a la portada de Rolling Stone i fent espectacles amb les entrades exhaurides. Stewart es va relacionar amb l'escena musical de Los Angeles i hi va comprar una casa. Ell i Tom Petty es van fer bons amics i van escriure tres cançons junts per a l'àlbum de Petty de 1985 "Southern Accents". La casa de Stewart es va convertir en un lloc de trobada per a Petty, George Harrison, Bob Dylan i Jeff Lynne, que van fer equip amb Roy Orbison per formar els Travelling Wilburys el 1988. Van gravar el seu primer àlbum durant dues setmanes utilitzant la casa de Stewart i l'estudi annex. Stewart no va poder participar-hi perquè estava treballant en l'àlbum d'Eurythmics “We too are one”.

EURYTHMICS - SWEET DREAMS (ARE MADE OF THIS)

Released: January 21, 1983

Charted:  US: #1 (1 wk)  UK: #2 

"Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" is the title track to Eurythmics second album and their breakout hit, but it took a while to get noticed. "We thought we'd made something really special but we had no idea, really, the impact it would have", Stewart told. "Neither did the record label, which didn't even think it was a single." Three other songs from the album were released as singles in the UK before their label, RCA, finally issued "Sweet Dreams." When they did, it took off, climbing to #2 in March 1983 behind Bonnie Tyler’s "Total eclipse of the heart". After it became a UK hit, RCA put it out as Eurythmics' first single in America, where it shot to #1 in September 1983.

“Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This),” doesn't actually have a chorus. That's because everything is a chorus, everything is a hook. Cold and authoritative, Annie Lennox tells you all the different ways the world will screw you, all the impulses and motives you'll face in everyone you meet. She sums up this harsh, bleak worldview in a few sentences, and then repeats them over and over again. Those lines become a mantra, an incantation. Naturally, they make for an absolute dancefloor banger. That's what the best new wave did: it made you dance with dark truths and strident philosophical positions.

Like many early '80s British acts with synthesizers (Human League, A Flock Of Seagulls), it was MTV that broke Eurythmics in America. The duo was well equipped for video age: Dave Stewart was always coming up with concepts, and Annie Lennox had a striking look and talent for acting.

The innovative video for "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)," directed by Stewart with Chris Ashbrook, presented Lennox with close-cropped orange hair and a tailored black suit, making it the first popular video presenting an androgynous female. The cow in the video was Dave Stewart's idea - he was a big fan of surreal artists Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel. Said Stewart: "A few people were saying, 'Dave, why the cow? Annie is so good looking.' Those people should go buy a copy of Purple Cow by Seth Dogin, about how to make your business remarkable. It was written 20 years after I had the purple cow in our video - which certainly did the trick and made my whole life remarkable." The cow, while very eye-catching, posed a logistical problem because most studios can't accommodate them. Eurythmics found a basement studio in London with an elevator big enough to transport the animal. Lennox recalls the shoot with the bovine walking around as being one of the more surreal experiences of her life. Regarding what it all meant, she said in the book I Want My MTV: "The video is a statement about the different forms of existence. Here are humans, with our dreams of industry and achievement and success. And here is a cow."

Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart were a couple for about three years while they were members of a band called The Tourists. They only wrote one song together in this time (an instrumental), but when The Tourists broke up, they formed Eurythmics as a duo and began writing together. A short time later, Lennox and Stewart broke up. Stewart tells the story in The Dave Stewart Songbook: "When we broke up as a couple for some strange reason it was like we were always going to be together, no matter what. We couldn't really break that spell so we just carried on making music. In the New York Times October 30, 2007, Annie Lennox recalled that this was written by the duo just after they'd had a bitter fight. "I thought it was the end of the road and that was that," she said. "We were trying to write, and I was miserable. And he just went, well, 'I'll do this anyway.'" Dave Stewart came up with a beat, Annie Lennox improvised the synthesizer riff, and suddenly they realized they had a potential hit.

When "Sweet Dreams" went to #1 in America, Eurythmics became a sensation there, appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone and playing sold-out shows. Stewart fell in with the Los Angeles music scene and bought a house there. He and Tom Petty became good friends and wrote three songs together for Petty's 1985 album “Southern Accents”. Stewart's house became a hang-out for Petty, George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne, who teamed with Roy Orbison to form the Traveling Wilburys in 1988. They recorded their first album over two weeks using Stewart's house and attached studio. Stewart couldn't participate because he was working on the Eurythmics album “We too are one”.