The Story Behind How Reba McEntire Turned One of Patsy Cline’s Final Recordings Into a “Sweet” Tribute to Her Years Later

In 1955 Don Gibson released his ballad “Sweet Dreams,” which took him into the Country charts, along with Faron Young, who also released a cover of the song in 1956 that peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. George Jones also released a version in ’56, and Gibson later re-released an updated version of “Sweet Dreams” that made the Top 10 at No. 9 and even crossed over into the Hot 100.

Patsy Cline’s “Sweet Dreams”

While working on her next album, Faded Love in early February of 1963, Patsy Cline also recorded a cover of Gibson’s ballad at Bradley Studios in Nashville. The album, which was set for release in late March of 1963, was never released after Cline died in a plane crash on March 5, 1963. A month after her death, several of Cline’s final recordings were posthumously released, including “Faded Love” and “Sweet Dreams.”

Cline’s version of “Sweet Dreams,” recorded on February 5, soared the highest on the chart at No. 5 and also peaked at No. 15 on the Adult Contemporary chart and No. 44 on the Hot 100.

The recording sessions, which ran from February 4-7, 1963, were Cline’s final ones before her death.

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“The First and the Last”

Cline bared a feminine perspective to the lyrics that couldn’t be delivered in Gibson and Faron’s versions of the song, a come to terms with a love that isn’t meant to be. In it, Cline sounds as if she’s crying through the realization You don’t love me, it’s plain / I should know you’d never wear my name.

Sweet dreams of you
Dreams I know can’t come true
Why can’t I forget the past
Start loving someone new
Instead of having sweet dreams about you
Sweet dreams about you
You don’t love me, it’s plain
I should know you’d never wear my name
I should hate you the whole night through
Instead of having sweet dreams about you
You don’t love me, it’s plain
I should know you’d never, never wear my name
And I should hate you the whole night through
Instead of having sweet dreams about you
Instead of having sweet dreams about you

At first, Cline didn’t like the strings incorporated into the arrangement for “Sweet Dreams,” which she thought was too pop, but after recording it she changed her tune. “Well, here it is,” Cline reportedly said, holding up the “Sweet Dreams” and her album. “The first and the last.”

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Reba’s “Sweet” Tribute

On Reba McEntire‘s second album Out of a Dream, she closes on a moving rendition of “Sweet Dreams.” Years after its release, McEntire would often close her shows with a cappella version of the song, which went to No. 19 on the Country chart, her first Top 20 hit.

“‘Sweet Dreams’ was a song I recorded because I was such a huge fan of Patsy Cline, and I would end the show with that, a cappella,” said McEntire in a 2017 interview. “It’s just that type of song, the first time you hear it, it just touches your heart. And probably everybody has been in that situation at one time or another in their life.”

Reba retired “Sweet Dreams” from her live set following the 1991 plane crash that killed seven members of her band and her tour manager, she performed it again in 2020 during Big Night at the Museum, a benefit concert for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

Since its release “Sweet Dreams” has also been covered by Emmylou Harris, Tammy Wynette, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Brenda Lee, Roy Orbison, and Elvis Costello and the Attractions, among dozens of other artists.

Photo: Reba McEntire (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)