Cheap Trick – Dream Police

Cheap Trick…unlike some of their power-pop brethren had staying power. They toured like crazy and released some great music. They are still out there today playing. I became a fan of them when I heard Surrender. This song is a perfect example of them. Power chords, power pop, power vocals, with a fun subject.

Rick Nielsen has talked over the years about the “dream police” concept as that feeling of being watched or chased, even when you’re trying to shut your brain off. That’s why the song moves the way it does; it’s got a steady drive but it also feels a little tense. Robin Zander sells that perfectly; he keeps the vocal clean and direct, but there’s a nervous edge to it.

This song dates back to 1976. It was one of 22 songs the band had written for their first album, and it didn’t make the cut. The song evolved as they played it live and refined it in the studio, and it was released as the title track of their fourth studio album. By this time, their live album At Budokan had been released, making them big with the single “I Want You To Want Me.” They were wise to release it after they had hit with the live Budokan album.

They went into the studio with producer Tom Werman to make the Dream Police album, and the goal was pretty clear: keep the hooks, keep the punch, and prove they could deliver a big studio record, not just a great live one. The title track was built to be a centerpiece, something that sounded like a single but also carried the album’s theme of paranoia and late-night unease.

The next single was “Dream Police,” which became one of their most popular songs, peaking at #26 on the Billboard 100, #9 in Canada, and #7 in New Zealand in 1979. If you want one track that shows how this band could balance power-pop hooks with a harder bite, Dream Police is the one to listen to.

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 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
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
The dream police
They 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
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
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
The dream police they 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)

Unknown's avatar

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

35 thoughts on “Cheap Trick – Dream Police”

  1. Pingback: Cheap Trick – Dream Police – MobsterTiger

  2. Brilliant album and song. Love the gatefold sleeve to this record, lyrics, them dressed up as the Dream Police. This album and package are a 10/10. If I’m being honest the run of the first 6 studio Trick albums are all classics. Seven, if your counting the live Budokan.
    Wicked post dude!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  3. Before the international sensation of Cheap Trick, there was the Rockford bar band Cheap Trick, which grew out of Fuse, which came from the merger of RIck Nielsen’s band The Grim Reapers and Tom Petersson’s band Toast and Jam; and later added part of Todd Rundgren’s band Nazz, performing as Nazz or Fuse, depending on where they played. The Nazz players were gone before Cheap Trick made it big.

    The Grim Reapers were scheduled as the opening act of Otis Redding on December 10, 1967 – the concert that Redding didn’t make it to because of a plane crash that afternoon. As Cheap Trick they opened for Lou Reed here in 1975. So their overnight success didn’t exactly come overnight.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. They are probably still one of the hardest working rock bands…they worked for what they got for sure.
      Nielsen played with a lot of people…I didn’t know about them opening up for Lou Reed…or about Peterson’s ties with others.
      Hope you are doing well today. We are without electricity….hoping it will come on soon.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I hope you get your power back soon. Cold is one thing. Cold without power is another. Even with a gas furnace we wouldn’t have heat without power – our modern furnace has electronic ignition so it requires power to start (as well as for the fan). Without power, I’d have left the water running and headed for a hotel by now.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. We have a fireplace that we never have used…yesterday I tried it out and it worked great with a test…so our neighbor has a fireplace and he told me to take all the wood we need…we have some good neighbors.

        I hope your power stays on! We couldn’t get to a hotel if we tried because of the roads.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Well this takes me back in a very vivid fashion. You’re like a little Time Machine Max! My buddies and I were obviously not alone in loving Cheap Trick. And this song was attractive for the creative concept among other things. I probably mentioned this to you before but my oldest brother plays bass in a band. He pretty much thought Petersson was a god. No, sorry, theeee guitar god!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. LOL…Petersson is a great bass player I will admit…I like seeing his different bass guitars.
      Cheap Trick was probably the hardest working band in rock…. they are such a fun band…I’m glad I got to see them in 1985.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      4. Oh it was Randy! It’s a damn sore spot for Nashvillians. We are the largest city in America without an amusement park…we loved it. They replaced it with a huge mall…people are still pissed off about it. It was such a fun place to go…it really was.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Love it! I wore that LP out from listening to it so much for a couple of years. They were one of the best examples of ‘power pop’ at that time. Impressive they’re still rolling, 50 years in

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. I remember when I first saw Cheap Trick, they opened here for Kiss on the Destroyer tour and hated them!….then I heard Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace….it’s that voice!….that first album, wow!..yeah I liked them when they were rocking all over the world, but eventually got tired of the ‘I want you to want me era’…..my current favorite Trick album has to be 1997s self titled which I think I have on vinyl somewhere…when they popped up on Daryl Hall’s show was special, Zander seemed challenged by some of the vocals, but still I think someone called him the man with a thousand voices…..hard to believe they started as a bar cover band

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      2. Our electricity is out…it came back on for a little while and then went off and has been off ever since. I live around 25 miles outside of Nashville…a lot of people are without electricity right now.

        Like

  9. To me, this could have been a lost mid-60s Who single. I didn’t get into them right off the bat, but I appreciated them as time went on. Rick Nielsen is one of the greatest for me. Hope you’re doing all right. The snow is hitting us now. I’m preparing to do my first round of shoveling.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. That is a good ear….I never thought about that but you are right.
      Yea right now wer are without electricity…we did build a fire in the fireplace we have never used…we did a test and smoke is coming out of the top…so we are alright.
      We have ever possible battery pack charged up

      Like

      Reply

      1. I have a mental image of your family, meaning the animals, fighting to get in front of the fire.

        But, uhm, being just as serious, how do you know the smoke is going out the top? Did you go outside and look? Brrrr

        And no, I’m not including a weather report from here in Sunny Southern California. Nor a post of the one Riverias hit song.

        Like

  13. Well, yeah. Cheap Trick, and so many other bands we love around here, owe a whole lot to the mid-sixties Who singles. I have no problem drawing a line from Substitute to Surrender. And that’s high praise in both directions.

    Another example of how great those mid-sixties Who singles were is how good they sound in the Who Medley Richard Thompson does on just an acoustic guitar. With a smile to the fact that all he includes of Pinball Wizard is the iconic guitar strum, that’s all that’s required.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to Dana at Regular Girl Devos Cancel reply