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In the book Annie Lennox: The Biography, Lennox explained that this song is about the search for fulfillment, and the "Sweet Dreams" are the desires that motivate us.

Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart were a couple for about 3 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. This causes many problems, yet through all of this we ended up writing a lot of great songs, some were about 'our' relationship and some were about our relationship wiht the world around us. Whatever we wrote always had a dark side and a light side and in a way I describe it as 'realistic music,' full of the ups and downs of real relationships and life itself."

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. (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England)

This was originally a hit in Europe in 1982. A year later with the advent of MTV it reached the #1 spot in the US, giving Eurythmics their only US chart topper.

Stewart and Lennox had very little money, and were thrilled when a bank gave them a loan to buy some equipment and make a record. They made the most of their meager budget, using an 8 track recorder and a complicated drum machine Stewart drove 200 miles to procure. They made the most of their 8 tracks, with Stewart's Roland synthesizer and Lennox' Kurzweil keyboard added to the drum pattern Stewart created, forming the basis for the song. As Stewart tells it in his Songbook, Lennox was a bit depressed, but coming up with this track snapped her out of it and she quickly came up with the "Sweet Dreams are made of this" and "Some of them want to use you" lyrics. Says Stewart: "I suggested there had to be another bit, and that bit should be positive. So in the middle we added these chord changes rising upwards with 'Hold your head up, moving on.' To us it was a major breakthrough. It just goes from beginning to end and the whole song is a chorus, there is not one note that is not a hook." (Read our interview with Dave Stewart.)

In an interview with Billboard magazine, Lennox talked about her days before the Eurythmics: "I was really a hybrid between Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell, walking the streets as a singer/songwriter, but nobody knew it but me." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

The innovative video presented Annie 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. Says 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."

Marilyn Manson recorded this in 1995, giving a much darker tone to the song.

Nas sampled this for his 1996 song "Sweet Dreams." (thanks, Donovan Berry - El Dorado, AR)

In November 2007, Annie Lennox was interviewed extensively by Malcolm Bragg on The South Bank Show. In this program she said she didn't regard "Sweet Dreams" as a song but as a mantra. She added that people have identified with it over the years and that it's open to interpretation; it contains an overview of human existence; whatever it is that makes you tick, that is what it is. (thanks, Alexander Baron - London, England)

The song ends with a keyboard fade out, but when Eurythmics played it live, they changed the arrangement and ended the song with the lyrics "Keep your head up" so it would end with a sense of hope.

When this became a hit in America, the 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, where he wrote "Don't Come Around Here No More" with Tom Petty.

This was featured in the films Striptease (1996) and Big Daddy (1999).

In 1978, Squeeze had a UK hit with "Take Me I'm Yours," which features the line "Dreams are made of this" in the chorus.

Comments:

I always listen to this song whenever I am making new friends as the song is sort of an advice on the types of people we meet in our daily lives.
- Adrian, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

I love this song, always have!!!!! :)
- Naomi, Philadelphia, PA

the song was also on everybody hates chris and nas's version is the coolest he calls it street dreams!!
- Kane, wytheville, VA

This is one of the songs that defined the 80s! New Wave pop blew up disco and this song was one of the powderkegs involved! IMO, Annie Lennox is a musical powerhouse and deserves her status as a British soulful icon up there with Sir Elton and George Michael.
- Tiffany, Little Rock, AR

This song is hypnotic!! it's incredibl;y good, even for synth-pop!!!!!!! real cool video
- Tony, Chicago, IL

The main bass riff is from a Roland SH-101 synthesizer.
- Chris, Charleston, SC

Later inappropriately matched up to the opening credits of "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart".
- Jason, New York, NY

This Song is on the Simpsons, wehn Artie Ziff comes back and tries to "woo" Marge. This song is used at the very end, with Artie's own lyrics substituted in..." I am watching you through a camera!"
- Shana, Detroit Rock City, Canada

#356 on Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs
- Andy, Arlington, VA

wow eurythmics are quite freaky. i hate hearing the song missionary man because it always freaks me out
- Rick, humboldt, IA