“I Got a Little Melodramatic”: What Made Steven Tyler Start To Cry While Writing “Dream On”

Steven Tyler of Aerosmith is not known for writing and creating overly sentimental songs. While the lyrics in Aerosmith’s songs are romantic, dramatic, and vigorous, that isn’t what the group is remembered for. Rather, the memory of the masses looks back on their music with a 70s rock ‘n’ roll romanticism, as Tyler and Aerosmith embodied the sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.

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Despite this connotation, Tyler is still, at heart, a songwriter. It is what he does for a living, and it is what ultimately garnered him his notoriety. So, while you probably remember Tyler for his dramatic stage presence and ear-piercing vocals, you should also remember him as a man with a bit more sophistication and sentimentality. One instance that showed that sophistication and sentimentality was during the creation of Aerosmith’s 1973 hit, “Dream On”.

From Piano to Guitar: The Major Turn in Steven Tyler’s Hit Single

Steven Tyler’s “Dream On” was not a song he wrote while he was on rock’s mountain top. Instead, it was a song he wrote when he was just a teenager. Recalling the song’s inception, Tyler stated, “‘Dream On’ was written four or five years before the group even started. I wrote it on an upright piano in my parents’ living room at Trow-Rico Lodge in New Hampshire. Never in a million years did I think I’d take it to guitar,” per Songfacts.

Regarding the transition from piano to guitar, Tyler divulged, “When I transposed it to guitar, Joe played the right fingers, and Brad played the left hand on guitar. Sitting there working it out on guitar and piano, I got a little melodramatic. The song was so good it brought a tear to my eye.”

It’s hard to envision Aerosmith’s hit song on an instrument other than the guitar, and Tyler seemingly agrees. However, it seems that the decision to translate the song from guitar to piano benefited Aerosmith commercially and culturally, and Steven Tyler personally. After the initial release of “Dream On” in 1973, the single peaked at No. 59 on the Billboard Hot 100. Years later, it was re-released, and it then peaked at No. 6 on the chart.

To this day, Aerosmith’s hit single is arguably the most seminal track in their catalog. It has been sampled by Eminem, The Game, and Immortal Technique. It is a cross-generational standard, and the song that brought a tear to the eye of the “Demon of Screamin’,” Steven Tyler.

Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns