Released December 2008 Genre Rock Producer(s) Brian Deck | Format Airplay only Label Geffen | |
Writer(s) Adam Duritz, David Bryson, Charlie Gillingham, Dan Vickrey, David Immerglück, Jim Bogios, Millard Powers | ||
"When I Dream of Michelangelo" is the eighth track on Counting Crows' 2008 album Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings (the second on the more reflective "Sunday Mornings" half of the record).
Although it was not released as a single, it was featured as the B-side to "1492" on a free downloadable "digital 45" that preceded the release of the album. In December 2008, it would also be serviced to the Adult Alternative (or Triple A) radio format as the third airplay single this era, following up the chart-topping "Come Around". On 21 March 2009 issuing of Billboard's Triple A chart, it was at #11 in its eighth week on the chart.
The track shares a lyric from the band's earlier single "Angels of the Silences", from which the song's title originates: "I dream of Michelangelo when I’m lying in my bed".
Song meaning
Duritz acknowledged in a 23 April 2008 interview via Leo's Music Cast that the song is among the first he ever started writing:
Duritz explained the song's evolution more elaborately in a March 2008 interview with James Campion: