This 1958 Everly Brothers Track Was Recorded Live in Only Two Takes (and Broke Chart Records Everywhere)

Making a record is truly a labor of love, and when you’re deep in the weeds of a studio session, it can feel far more laborious than loving. But once in a blue moon, the stars align just right, and musicians are able to make musical magic in just one or two takes.

For the Everly Brothers in early March 1958, it took two takes to capture the perfect take of their hit single, “All I Have To Do Is Dream”. The wistfully romantic track, written by husband-and-wife songwriting duo Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, was the perfect vehicle for the brothers’ signature harmonies.

Unsurprisingly, the song took off on the charts, making the fact that the musical duo landed the track in only two takes all the more impressive.

“All I Have To Do Is Dream” Broke Chart Records

In just two takes, the Everly Brothers created a chart-dominating song that would remain a beloved staple of 1950s pop decades later. “All I Have To Do Is Dream” became the only single to top all the Billboard singles charts in 1958 simultaneously, proving its tremendous crossover success in the pop, country, and rhythm and blues markets.

Adding to the song’s almost fantastical origins is the fact that Felice Bryant, one-half of the songwriting duo behind the Everly Brothers’ hit, wrote the song based on a premonition she had about her husband…before she even met him…when she was only eight years old. She would see her dream come true in real time, eleven years later, while she was working as an elevator operator in Milwaukee.

“Boudleaux was working in the cocktail lounge at the Schroder, and he was on the wagon, so he’d have to walk over to the water fountain by the elevator,” Felice later recalled, per the Milwaukee Record. “I had dreamed of Boudleaux when I was eight years old. When this man was walking toward me, I recognized him right away. The only thing that was wrong was that he didn’t have a beard.”

“Although,” she continued, “he grew one for me later. In the dream, we were dancing to our song. Only it was our song.”

The Bryants went on to write thousands of pop songs together, one of which was the incredibly successful Everly Brothers hit from 1958, proving that dreams really do come true—for Felice, Boudleaux, and Phil and Don Everly alike.

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