1985 Power Ballad, Originally Rejected by Rock Queen, Became Iconic Band's First No. 1 Hit

While Heart definitely produced their most critically acclaimed, fan-favorite songs during the '70s, like "Barracuda" and "Crazy on You," the band's most commercially successful hits didn't come along until the '80s.

And though their earlier hits were mostly written or co-written by Ann and Nancy Wilson, Heart's very first track to make it all the way to #1 was the result of another musical partnership: Bernie Taupin and Martin Page (the magic-making duo behind Starship's "We Built This City").

Released as the third single from Heart's 1985 self-titled album, "These Dreams" peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 22, 1986, where it stayed for one week. The members of Heart clearly knew a hit when they heard one...although, as Page explained to Songwriter Universe in 2017, another iconic rock queen - Stevie Nicks - apparently did not.

According to Page, at the time, Taupin wasn't writing as much with Elton John and had some time on his hands, so a music exec suggested the two collaborate.

"The first two lyrics Bernie sent me were 'We Built This City' and 'These Dreams.' He just faxed the lyrics to me," Page recalled. "The lyrics would come through the fax machine, and I would just put the paper by the keyboard and off I would go. I liked this approach-it was good for me, because I'm always a chordal, melodic person first. And then I did little 8-track demos of them at home, just to show we could do this. When Bernie heard the demos he said, 'This is going to be great; I'm into this 100%.'"

Originally, "These Dreams" was called "Boys In The Mist."

"It was a lyric that he had originally given to Stevie Nicks," Page explained. "But Stevie wasn't interested in it or wasn't available to do it, so he sent it to me. I was able to convince him to change the title to 'These Dreams' - he had written [those words] in the bridge. And he let me move it around."

Considering the song's mystical lyrics, it makes sense that "These Dreams" was originally conceived of with Nicks in mind:

Spare a little candle, save some light for me

Figures up ahead moving in the trees

White skin in linen, perfume on my wrist

And the full moon that hangs over these dreams in the mist

Darkness on the edge, shadows where I stand

I search for the time on a watch with no hands

I want to see you clearly, come closer than this

But all I remember are the dreams in the mist

Of course, while Nicks would have no doubt delivered an amazing version of "These Dreams," Nancy Wilson knocked it out of the park - and it was the first time she sang lead on a Heart song. Not only that, but according to Fred Bronson's The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, Nancy had a cold when she recorded the song...which turned out to be a stroke of luck. (Her raspy vocals were so popular, producers even joked about her getting sick again for future recordings.)

Related: 1977 Classic Voted 'Greatest Song Sung by Female Rockers'

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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 5:25 PM.