Desert Island Singles: “Girl Of My Dreams” by Bram Tchaikovsky (1979)

Sometimes you go back to a song you thought was fabulous in your misguided youth, only to find it reeks of cheap glitter and greasepaint. Not this one – it actually sounds even better to me 30+ years on. – Robert J. Stava

1979 was one of the best years ever for rock music. Predictably, people were growing tired of disco and “urban cowboy” country music, having been force-fed a steady diet of both. Quite by accident, therefore, the usually tone-deaf music industry embraced power pop. For one brief shining summer the airwaves were awash in jangling guitars, chimey power chords, Farfisa organs, and three-minute pop songs.

Image from powerpop.blogspot.com

Lots of one-hit wonders emerged. This was one of the best: “Girl Of My Dreams” by Bram Tchaikovsky. This is a song that was just made for AM radio.

And a man needs something
When he ain’t got
Nothing to hang on to
And there ain’t no telling
When I’ll feel like
Yelling I love you

Oooh, it gets lonely in the night
When there ain’t no one around
Oooh, she makes me feel all right
Get my feet right off the ground
She’s the girl of my dreams

I read an article at the time, a Rolling Stone interview with lead singer/songwriter Peter Brumell. He observed how different the responses were to this song in the UK and the US. UK listeners asked, “How did you get it to sound so polished?” while US listeners asked, “How did you get it to sound so rough?”