Dream On

Tyler wrote it, drawing on chord ideas from his father, a Juilliard-trained musician. He has said he first worked it out on an upright piano at a lodge in Sunapee, New Hampshire, about four years before the band formed, and that he finished the lyrics at 14. It was recorded in October 1972 at Intermedia in Boston with Adrian Barber producing, with Tyler on vocals and keyboards, Perry on lead guitar, Whitford on rhythm guitar, Hamilton on bass and Kramer on drums. The single edit runs 3:25 against 4:28 on the album.

The single appeared in June 1973 and reached number 59 in the United States, and was a large hit around Boston. Columbia reissued it in January 1976. It debuted at 81, peaked at number 6 in April, and ended the year at 51. It reached number 12 in the Dutch Top 40 in 1994. Rolling Stone placed it at 172 in 2004, and it entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2018. It passed one billion Spotify streams on 29 November 2023.

Live

In 1991 the band played it at MTV's tenth anniversary with an orchestra under Michael Kamen, a version that appears on the Last Action Hero soundtrack. They performed it with the Boston Pops in 2006. In 2010 Tyler played piano atop Fenway Park's Green Monster, and it was part of the Boston Strong concert in 2013. In 2022 Tyler joined Eminem at the rapper's Rock Hall induction.