SONG #19: The Cranberries - Dreams

Inducted on May 8, 2014

Dolores O' Riordan is definitely in my top 3 female vocalists. While I don't tend to enjoy female-led rock bands (I'm not sexist, I swear!), O'Riordans voice is simultaneously ethereal and edgy. I bought the Cranberries second album, No Need to Argue, without hearing the first album which contains this gem of a song. Instead, I heard this song from the movie "You Got Mail". If I remember right, the song was a perfect fit for what was going on in the movie. I discovered this song around the time I started dating my first girlfriend, so it had some extra meaning at the time.

Besides O'Riordan's voice, and the lyrical beauty to the song, I like the beat of the song, as well as that little guitar hook that leads into the verses. Oh, Back to her voice.. I almost get goosebumps she does that "wailing". I think I read somewhere that she was trying to imitate bagpipes. It was an element I hadn't heard in rock music before.