Songfacts®:

• Hartman wrote this for the 1984 movie Streets of Fire, where it was performed by the fictional group The Sorels, with the actor Stoney Jackson playing their lead singer, Bird (they do a sweet moonwalk at the line "moving sidewalks" when they perform it in the movie). The real voice behind the version used in the film was Winston Ford, but Hartman's version was the one used on the soundtrack and released as a single. The song also appeared on Hartman's album I Can Dream About You.
• Kenny Vance was the musical director on Streets of Fire. In a Songfacts interview, he explained: "The same guy that sings lead on that and 'Countdown To Love,' a song that I wrote for the film, was a guy working at a Radio Shack [Winston Ford], and I think when you look at the film and The Sorels are singing it live in the movie, that was the version that was supposed to come out, and I recorded that version. But then when Dan Hartman heard it, I don't know what happened next, but I know that he took that guy's voice off and he put his own on, and he had a hit with it. Hollywood is a very slippery place."
• In this song, the singer has a case of love-its (inflammation of the love) and the only cure is to see his girl again. If he can't be with her, at least he can dream about her.
• Hartman was a singer, guitarist, songwriter and producer who was a member of the Edgar Winter Group from 1972-1976. He produced tracks for .38 Special, the Average White Band and James Brown. As a solo artist, this was his biggest hit, but he also charted with "Instant Replay," "We Are Young" and "Second Nature." Hartman died of a brain tumor at age 43.
• Hartman had this song written and demoed when Jimmy Iovine, who was working on the Streets Of Fire soundtrack, asked him if he had a "blue-eyed soul" song they could use. He sent Iovine the demo of "I Can Dream About You," and the song was used in the film.
• The music video for this song was made using footage of The Sorels performing it in Streets of Fire, and it used the version sung by Winston Ford. When Dan Hartman got wind of this, he put a stop to it, as his contract stipulated that any version released commercially or for promotional purposes had to have his voice on it. Hartman recorded a new vocal for the video that replaced the one recorded by Winston Ford. A new video with Hartman lip-syncing was later made for the song.