The Moody Blues Lyric That Took a Nostalgic Look Back in Time

If you were a band that started in the 1960s and were still hoping to get it done in the ’80s, you had to get with the times, at least from a musical standpoint. The Moody Blues did just that on their 1986 runaway hit single “Your Wildest Dreams.”

To the band’s credit, however, they managed to instill a bit of nostalgia into the song’s lyrics, which muse on the different paths taken by former lovers. It’s a nifty combination of the old and the new, and it proved this stalwart band still had plenty of tricks up their sleeves.

“Dreams” of Future Passed

Adaptability is an absolute must if you’re a band that hopes to last well past the first flush of success. The Moody Blues provided evidence to the validity of that notion time and again throughout their careers. They started as an R&B-indebted beat band, but turned on a dime when new members Justin Hayward and John Lodge came aboard. That’s when they innovated a new hybrid of rock and orchestral music on the landmark album Days of Future Passed in 1967.

After standing out amongst their prog-rock brethren for the rest of the ’60s and ’70s, they pivoted again once that genre fell out of fashion. They traded their Mellotron in for some sleek synths and found an arena-rocking groove on early ’80s hits “The Voice” and “Gemini Dream.”

As the ’80s wore on, it was time for another subtle shift, this one towards more of a pop-oriented sound. This move was abetted by the production work of Tony Visconti, who was known for his collaborations with David Bowie. Visconti helmed The Moody Blues’ 1986 album The Other Side of Life. But even as the lead single gleamed with era-appropriate sounds, Hayward looked back a ways to get inspiration for “Your Wildest Dreams,” as he explained in an interview with Vulture.

“I just stumble through my life into songs. For me, wanting to know about the first girl you ever fell in love with, really fell in love with and broke her heart, you always want to know, ‘I wonder what happened. I wonder where they are.’ Hop in to that time machine. It’s as simple as that, really. I got swept along with that.”

Behind the Meaning of “Your Wildest Dreams”

So many songs look at the immediate aftermath of a breakup. Instead, Hayward found a relatable theme in “Your Wildest Dreams” that hasn’t been done to death by songwriters. What happens when time passes and offers perspective to two people who had fallen out? Do those initial feelings disappear? Or do they deepen?

The song alternates between the narrator’s memories of the past, still vivid, and his present contemplation of his former love. It’s a clever tactic, because as anyone who has a similar scenario in their lives can attest, one tends to lead to the other.

As far as the reminiscing, only the good things seem to linger. I remember skies / Reflected in your eyes, Hayward sings. Recalling the nights of passion, he reflects on how close they were: We couldn’t tear ourselves away. The universe was ours, Hayward sings, the wistful tone of his voice implying he can’t quite fathom how it slipped away from them.

From there, it’s a quick leap into wondering where she is, if her memories are as clear, and how she still feels about it all. In the bridge, Hayward muses on the irony of how the music that pulled him away is now the thing that brings her back to him, especially when the songs he hears include lyrics touched with sorrow.

The song closes with Hayward repeating the refrain, sometimes high and anguished, sometimes low and resigned: Once upon a time / In your wildest dreams. Those dreams might not have been realized like either one of these two one-time, star-crossed lovers might have imagined. But, as The Moody Blues’ touching rendering makes clear, they still mean the world to at least one of them.

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