![]() ![]() Seeger himself also featured the song on his live repertoire. The Weavers quickly incorporated "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" into their live repertoire, with a live version being recorded on April 1, 1960, for their live album The Weavers at Carnegie Hall Vol. ![]() Cohen, Will Kaufman, Singing for Peace: Antiwar Songs in American History, Pete Seeger The song has never been in the top-forty, but has gradually spread throughout much of the world, and has been translated into several languages He just sang "Last Time I Had the Strangest Dream" which he'd just made up. In 1950, Ed McCurdy came up to the hotel room of the Weavers, who were working in the vaudeville show at the Strand Theater on Broadway at the time. There he met another folk act, the Weavers, and introduced them to the song at a hotel. He had a residency at a local club, where he often played together with Seeger. Following the release of this album, McCurdy migrated back to the United States, settling in New York City's Greenwich Village. It was here that McCurdy was introduced to folk music by artists such as Oscar Brand, Josh White, and Pete Seeger, a genre he would embrace on his first album by the name of Sings Canadian Folksongs in 1949. It was written in a period of McCurdy's life in which he resided in Canada, where he moved in 1948. The song was one of McCurdy's first original compositions. "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" was initially composed by McCurdy during the spring of 1950, during a period in time in which there was an ever-looming threat of war, with a big Red Scare being spread by politicians such as Joseph McCarthy. I dreamed the world had all agreed, to put an end to war." Background The song ends with the opening verse, which is "Last night I had the strangest dream, I'd never dreamed before. ![]() The lyrics then go on to describe the reaction of the public, which is joyfulness, with citizens dancing on the street while weapons and army equipment could be spotted on the ground. Following the ratifying and widespread publication of it, the men put aside their differences, joining hand-in-hand, bowing their heads, and praying. In the dream, he encountered a room filled with men (presumably politicians) signing papers that stated "They'd never fight again". "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" tells the tale of a narrator, who during one night slept and had a dream. It acts as the theme song for the Peace Corps. Although only successful in a few languages, it was translated into close to 80 languages. Written during the prelude of the Korean War, "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" remains one of the most influential anti-war songs written, as such it is considered McCurdy's signature song and is still referenced in popular culture to this day. Danish songwriter Thøger Olesen translated it into Danish in 1965, and German singer-songwriter Hannes Wader translated it to German in 1979 for his own studio album Wieder Unterwegs. In mid-1966, Swedish rock group the Hep Stars released a version of it as a single it became their first Swedish-language song and peaked at number 2 on Kvällstoppen and number 1 on Svensktoppen. The song has been recorded by over 50 acts in English, and has also been adapted into several different languages, the most successful of these translations being a Swedish version by Cornelis Vreeswijk, a song that he recorded live in late 1964 along with Fred Åkerström and Ann-Louise Hanson, and released in 1965 on their album Visor och oförskämdheter. ![]() The strong anti-war theme of the song led it to be recorded by multiple other artists, including The Weavers (1960), Joan Baez (1962), The Kingston Trio (1963), Simon & Garfunkel (1964), and Johnny Cash who released two versions of the song during the 2000s. Seeger would later re-visit the song for his 1967 album Waist Deep in the Big Muddy and other Love Songs. The song had its first album release when Pete Seeger recorded it as " Strangest Dream" for his 1956 album Love Songs For Friends & Foes. Due to McCurdy's connection with fellow musicians, it was common in repertoires within the folk music community. " Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" (also known as " The Strangest Dream") is a song written by American folk singer-songwriter Ed McCurdy in 1950. From the album Love Songs for Friends & Foes ![]()
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