Mister Sandman

Song facts

From Wide Prairie liner notes:

During the early days of reggae when the Tighten-Up albums were pumping out the good news, we asked Lee “Scratch” Perry to make some backing tracks for us. Mister Sandman was recorded at Black Ark Studios, Kingston, Jamaica, in 1977 when the radio station RJR was still rocking the airwaves and the sun was always hot! Linda’s vocal was done later in great style at Rude Studios UK.

From Wikipedia:

“Mr. Sandman” (sometimes rendered as “Mister Sandman“) is a popular song written by Pat Ballard which was published in 1954 and first recorded in May of that year by Vaughn Monroe & His Orchestra and later that same year by The Chordettes. The song’s lyrics convey a request to “Mr. Sandman” to “bring me a dream” – the traditional association with the folkloric figure, the sandman. The pronoun used to refer to the desired dream is often changed depending on the sex of the singer or group performing the song, as the original sheet music publication, which includes male and female versions of the lyrics, intended. Some time later, Ballard also rewrote the lyrics for Christmas use as “Mr. Santa”. The chord progression in each chorus follows the circle of fifths for six chords in a row. Singer Dorothy Collins charted with “Mr. Santa” (#51, US trade Music Vendor. 1955). The song was later recorded by Tony Sandler and Ralph Young (1968) and Suzy Bogguss. Emmylou Harris’ recording of the song reached the top-ten on the U.S. country singles chart in 1981. […]

Last updated on November 5, 2016

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