Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Background

The original recording's main instrumentation featured a sequenced analog synthesizer riff, which Stewart accidentally discovered in the studio when he played a bass track backwards. Apart from the synthesizer, the arrangement also uses a Movement Systems Drum Computer, a piano in the middle eight, and Lennox's multitracked harmony vocals.

Chart performance

"Sweet Dreams" was Eurythmics' commercial breakthrough in the United Kingdom and all over the world. The single entered the UK chart at #63 in February 1983 and reached number two the following month.

"Sweet Dreams" was the first ever single release by Eurythmics in the United States when it was released in May 1983. The single debuted at #90 and slowly eased up the chart. By August, the single had reached number two and stayed there for four weeks, kept from the top by The Police's "Every Breath You Take" before "Sweet Dreams" took the number one spot.

Music video

The music video for "Sweet Dreams" was directed by Chris Ashbrook and filmed in January 1983, shortly before the single and the album were released. The video received heavy airplay on the then-fledgling MTV channel and is widely considered a classic clip from the early-MTV era.

The music video begins with a fist (presumably Stewart's) pounding on a table, with the camera panning up to reveal Lennox in a boardroom, with images of a Saturn V launch projected on a screen behind her, which are later replaced by a shot of a crowd walking down a street. Stewart is shown typing on a computer (actually an MCS drum computer). The camera cuts to Lennox and Stewart meditating on the table. Stewart is next shown playing a cello in a field. The scene then returns to the boardroom, with Lennox and Stewart lying down on the table, and a cow walking around them. Stewart is shown again typing on the computer, with the cow chewing something right next to him. The scene cuts to the duo in a field, with a herd of cows, and Stewart still typing. Lennox and Stewart are then seen floating in a boat, with Stewart again playing cello. The video ends with Lennox lying in bed, with the last shot being a book on a nightstand bearing a cover identical to the album. The screen then fades to black as Lennox turns off the bedside lamp. The video has 125 million views by March 11, 2017.

Lennox's androgynous visual image, with close-cropped, orange-coloured hair, and attired in a man's suit brandishing a cane, immediately made her a household name. Her gender-bending image would be further explored in other Eurythmics videos such as "Love Is a Stranger" and "Who's That Girl?".

A second video was also produced, featuring Lennox and Stewart on a train. A close-up shot of Lennox's lips is occasionally seen in the train car's window as she sings the song.

Formats and track listings

7"

12"

3" CD (1989 re-release)

1. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (LP version) – 3:36
2. "I Could Give You a Mirror" (Alternate version)* – 4:15
3. "Here Comes the Rain Again" (LP version) – 4:54
4. "Paint a Rumour" – 7:30

Note

Credits and personnel

Original release

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2006 Reissue

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2017 Reissue

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Marilyn Manson cover

Marilyn Manson released a cover version of "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" as the first single from the 1995 EP, Smells Like Children. This version became an MTV staple and helped to establish the band in the mainstream. Their groundbreaking video was directed by Dean Karr and produced by Arthur Gorson. It also appears on the band's greatest hits album, Lest We Forget: The Best Of. This version is featured on the soundtracks to the films Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) and Gamer (2009). It is also featured in the films House on Haunted Hill (1999), Trick 'r Treat (2007), the trailer to Wrath of the Titans and in the pilot of The Following and on the BBC drama Luther . In Manson's autobiography, The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, he states that Nothing Records did not want to release this as a single. They wanted to release their cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You", which, according to Manson, "was far too dark, sprawling and esoteric, even for some of our fans."

Marilyn Manson added some extra lines to the lyrics that are not present in the Eurythmics version: "I wanna use you and abuse you/I wanna know what's inside you" along with "I'm gonna use you and abuse you/I gotta know what's inside you."

The video for Manson's cover contains several clips of Manson and bandmates in what appears to be an abandoned building. In between the clips are a number of surreal shots of Manson wearing a wedding gown, Manson wandering around an abandoned street in a tutu, birds fluttering around him and leaving droppings on his body, and of him riding a pig wearing a cowboy hat and covered with mud. In 2010 the music video was rated the "Scariest music video ever made" by Billboard, beating Michael Jackson's Thriller for the top spot. Dave Stewart has said he liked the Marilyn Manson version of his song and "the video was one of the scariest things I’d seen at the time."

Formats and track listings

Australian CD single

1. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" – 4:25
2. "Dance of the Dope Hats" (Remix) – 4:46
3. "Down in the Park" – 4:58
4. "Lunchbox (Next Motherfucker)" – 4:47

US promotional CD single

1. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" – 4:25

Charts