User:FrostFairBlade/sandbox/You Make My Dreams

Background

 * Following the release of Bigger Than Both of Us (1976), which contained the No. 1 hit "Rich Girl", Hall and Oates struggled with maintaining their success
 * Their following albums, Beauty on a Back Street (1977) and Along the Red Ledge (1978), did not yield any hit singles
 * In his memoir, Oates recalled that after producer David Foster mentioned that the duo didn't need him during the recording sessions for X-Static (1979), both he and Hall realized that they should produce their own albums
 * Oates said in an interview with Wax Poetics that they began taking more control over their albums' production during Along the Red Ledge, which was produced by Foster
 * Hall and Oates were tired of recording in Los Angeles because they lived in New York, so for the X-Static album, they recorded it with their band in New York; this helped them define their future sound that they would take with them into recording Voices (1980)
 * Hall and Oates were allowed to produce their own songs
 * Hall recalled writing most of the song himself after liking a piano riff he was playing
 * Oates recalled: "Daryl had this great piano groove that you hear when you hear the record. It's really the heart and soul of that record. It had this positive, upbeat type of feel to it. It was a very simple idea saying you make my dreams come true. We were king of laughing saying that this was too simple to be anything."
 * In an Songfacts interview in 2011, Oates said: "The record of 'You Make My Dreams Come True' represents a vibe, it represents a collaboration between myself and Daryl and the band in the studio in the '80s. That's what the record represents. The song is a great song. Its simplicity and directness is where the charm lies in that song."
 * According to Oates, the pair's manager, Tommy Mottola, disliked the first verse's candle metaphors for being too flowery, saying, "Who the hell do you guys think you are, Wordsworth?"
 * Hall recalled that the song was one of the last ones he recorded for Voices (1980)

Lyrics and music

 * The lyrics are written by Hall, Oates, and fellow songwriter Sara Allen, who was Hall's girlfriend
 * The distinctive electric piano riff was played on a Yamaha CP-30 by Hall
 * Oates: "When we wrote the words, we were really concentrating on writing some interesting words because the chorus was so simple. We thought the verses needed to have some meat and potatoes to support the simplicity of that chorus."
 * In the first verse, Hall alludes to Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle" when he sings: "What I want, you've got / But it might be hard to handle / Like the flame that burns the candle / The candle feeds the flame"

Release and commercial performance

 * It was never released as a single in the United Kingdom

Critical reception

 * Record World praised the song's "vocal and musical inspiration"; described it as "lively, mass appeal music"

Accolades and impact

 * By October 2020, the song was streamed over one billion times

Live performances and other versions

 * Following the release of the song, Hall and Oates went on a college tour in the spring of 1981
 * The duo performed the song live on an episode of Saturday Night Live that aired on February 27, 1982
 * Usage in film
 * The song was used in The Wedding Singer (1998) in a montage detailing a character's wedding preparations
 * The song was prominently featured in 500 Days of Summer (2009), where Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character breaks out into a spontaneous dance number while walking down the street
 * Originally, Daryl Hall and John Oates themselves were originally going to be included in this scene
 * Variety reported that its inclusion in 500 Days of Summer helped proliferate the song's usage in other films and television shows, in particular commercials
 * Jonathan Palmer, an executive at BMG Rights Management, the publisher that handles synchronization rights of many of Hall and Oates' songs, said: "We can make a killing with that song every day of the week. The appetite for it and using it in mainstream looks doesn’t seem to diminish [...]"
 * Usage on television shows
 * It was featured as part of a mashup with "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" on the Glee episode "Mash Off"
 * Usage in commercials
 * It was featured in a 2020 television commercial for Michelob Ultra, where Jimmy Butler sings along to the song as he packs his luggage for his trip to the 2020 NBA Bubble in Florida
 * Boots used the song in their 2022 Christmas commercial titled "Joy For All" featuring Lydia West
 * Usage in sports
 * The Toronto Maple Leafs have used the track as a goal song from 2018 to 2023