For My Sunday Song #320, we are ending are Cheap Trick 10 song run with “Dream Police” off the album of the same name. The song was release in September 1979 and broke the Top 40 landing all the way at #26. It was the first single off an album that followed ‘Live at Budokan’ and was destined to be a smash…and it was.
The song was written by Rick Nielsen and seems to be about a very paranoid individual. This guy thinks that Big Brother is monitoring his dreams. No matter where he goes or what he does, the dream police are they waiting to arrest him for that one wrong thought or dream. With each passing moment, he is growing more and more insane and obsessed with the whole idea.
The song is upbeat and starts off with the chorus and then goes straight in to the first verse. The organ/keyboards and the string orchestration add an eerie, spooky vibe to the song which makes the song so dramatic and horrifying. Bun E. Carlos’ drums are spectacular adding perfect fills where needed and Petersson’s bass during the creepy Robin speaking vocals adds so much texture and flavor to the song. It is catchy as hell and bores in to your brain as sweet ear candy. The song also reminds me of The Who with its energy and that is good thing.


Give the song a listen and let me know what you think. Do you love the humor behind as much as I do? It is one of my favorite tracks by them, where does it fall for you? Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful and Happy Sunday!! Be careful when you sleep because you never know who is listening (or watching).
“Dream Police”
The dream police, they live inside of my head
The dream police, they come to me in my bed
The dream police, they’re coming to arrest me, oh, no
You know that talk is cheap
And those rumors ain’t nice
And when I fall asleep
I don’t think I’ll survive the night, the night
‘Cause they’re waiting for me
They’re looking for me
Every single night
They’re driving me insane
Those men inside my brain
The dream police, they live inside of my head (live inside of my head)
The dream police, they come to me in my bed (come to me in my bed)
The dream police, they’re coming to arrest me, oh, no
Well, I can’t tell lies
‘Cause they’re listening to me
And when I fall asleep
Bet they’re spying on me tonight, tonight
‘Cause they’re waiting for me
They’re looking for me
Every single night
They’re driving me insane
Those men inside my brain
I try to sleep, they’re wide awake, they won’t let me alone
They don’t get paid to take vacations or let me alone
They spy on me, I try to hide, they won’t let me alone
They persecute me, they’re the judge and jury all in one
‘Cause they’re waiting for me
They’re looking for me
Every single night
They’re driving me insane
Those men inside my brain
The dream police, they live inside of my head (live inside of my head)
The dream police, they come to me in my bed (come to me in my bed)
The dream police, they’re coming to arrest me
The dream police (police, police)
The dream police (police, police)
The dream police (police, police)
The dream police (police, police)
The dream police (police, police)
The dream police (police, police
Written by Rick Nielsen
I love this one – it’s up with those Who’s Next songs as the best guitar and 1970s synth song out there.
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Nice…that is some serious company!
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It’s one of my band favourites. I had no idea the song was this old. It’s held up great.
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Ha! It was 1979 not 1070…that would be old. I fixed it.
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My joke in regards to this song back in 1979: “You’re under arrest for having an illegal dream.” Anyway, it’s a great song!
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Big brother type stuff!!
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Loved this song and album…this is seventies rock at it’s best.
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Nice one John. Last night me and Tbone did a deep dive into the Budokan album
listening to the deluxe version as are here in Toronto so we had Tbone’s iPhone blasting it!
Dream Police is an amazing song and record from a band that was firing on all four cylinders at that time!
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That they were!! I hope The Maiden show was awesome!! You even met up with Brent…sounds like you’ve been having a great time!
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How did I miss this last week. One of my favourite Cheap Trick songs. Brings back a lot of memories from when I was a kid. Nice one John.
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