A funny thing about Dreams is that, if you grew up in the mid‑to‑late ’80s, you didn’t just hear this song — you absorbedit through a six‑story IMAX screen at an amusement park. Every elementary school kid in that era got marched into one of those giant dome theaters for the annual field trip “educational experience.” For me it was Great America in Santa Clara, where they’d blast Dreams over footage of jets, landscapes, and whatever else looked cool on a screen the size of a football field. So the song already had this mythic, larger‑than‑life vibe before you even knew who Van Halen was.
Listening to it now as an adult, you realize how much of that huge, soaring energy was entirely Eddie’s doing. The song has this triumphant, larger-than-life feel to it, and his guitar work is the whole engine driving it. He doesn’t just strum along in the background; he creates this massive, shimmering wall of sound with his chorused-out tones and subtle little hammer-on flourishes that just float over the synth and Sammy Hagar’s vocals. It’s one of those tracks where you’re basically waiting for him to just take the wheel because his playing is so infectious and loud, even when he’s holding back during the verses.
And man, when he finally does take over, it’s absolutely worth the wait. If you cue the track up, pay close attention right at the 2:53 mark—that is the exact moment Eddie’s guitar solo kicks in, and it is pure magic. It’s not just a standard solo; it feels like the guitar is literally taking flight, which makes total sense why they used it for those old IMAX aviation documentaries. He weaves in these wild, squealing harmonics, blistering legato runs, and that signature tapped vibrato that nobody else on earth could ever replicate. It’s melodic but incredibly aggressive, showing off exactly why he was considered a god among guitar players.
Ultimately, Dreams is a perfect showcase of Eddie’s ability to make his instrument sound like the true lead vocalist of the band. He blends pure technical shredding with genuine, uplifting emotion, turning what could have been a standard late-80s rock track into something completely cinematic. Whenever I hear those opening notes today, I’m instantly transported right back to sitting in that dark, giant IMAX theater with a bunch of rowdy kids, totally mesmerized by the sound of his fingers on the fretboard. It’s just one of those songs that proves his playing wasn’t just noisy—it was absolutely majestic.
Dreams
World turns black and white
Pictures in an empty room
Your love starts fallin’ down
Better change your tune
Yeah, you reach for the golden ring
Reach for the sky
Baby, just spread your wings
And get higher and higher
Straight up we’ll climb
We’ll get higher and higher
Leave it all behind
Run, run, run away
Like a train runnin’ off the track
Got the truth bein’ left behind
Fall between the cracks
Standin’ on broken dreams
Never losin’ sight, ah
Well, just spread your wings
We’ll get higher and higher
Straight up we’ll climb
We’ll get higher and higher
Leave it all behind
So baby, dry your eyes
Save all the tears you’ve cried
Oh, that’s what dreams are made of
‘Cause we belong
In a world that must be strong
Oh, that’s what dreams are made of
[guitar solo @2:53]
Yeah, we’ll get higher and higher
Straight up we’ll climb
Higher and higher
Leave it all behind
Oh, we’ll get higher and higher
Who knows what we’ll find?
So baby, dry your eyes
Save all the tears you’ve cried
Oh, that’s what dreams are made of
Oh baby, we belong
In a world that must be strong
Oh, that’s what dreams are made of
And in the end
On dreams we will depend
‘Cause that’s what love is made of
Great Guitar Solos Series
- Master of Puppets (by Metallica)
- Free Bird (by Lynyrd Skynyrd)
- Hotel California (by The Eagles)
- Stairway to Heaven (by Led Zeppelin)
- Texas Flood (by Stevie Ray Vaughan)
- Comfortably Numb (by Pink Floyd)
- Powerslave (by Iron Maiden)
- Fade to Black (by Metallica)
- Bohemian Rhapsody (by Queen)
- Sweet Child o’ Mine (Guns N’ Roses)
- Mr. Crowley (by Ozzy Osbourne)
- Rainbow in the Dark (by Dio)
- Róisín Dubh (by Thin Lizzy)
- Rock You Like A Hurricane (by Scorpions)
- Whipping Post (by Allman Brothers Band)
- Carry On Wayward Son (by Kansas)
- War Pigs (by Black Sabbath)
- Since I’ve Been Loving You (by Led Zeppelin)
- Satch Boogie (by Joe Satriani)
- Rambin’ Man (by The Allman Brothers Band)
- Sympathy for the Devil (by The Rolling Stones)
- Little Wing (by Jimi Hendrix)
- While My Guitar Gently Weeps (by the Beatles)
- The Rocker (by Thin Lizzy)
- Bulls on Parade (by Rage Against the Machine)
- Eruption (by Van Halen)
- Killer Queen (by Queen)
- Something (by The Beatles)
- Maggot Brain (by Funkadelic)
- Cliffs of Dover (by Eric Johnson)
- Black Magic Woman (by Carlos Santana)
- Layla (by Derek & The Dominoes)
- Dazed and Confused (by Led Zeppelin)
- Blue Sky (by The Allman Brothers Band)
- Southern Man (by Neil Young)
- Know Your Enemy (by Rage Against the Machine)
- Highway Star (by Deep Purple)
- Sharp Dressed Man (by ZZ Top)
- Black Hole Sun (by Soundgarden)
- Aqualung (by Jethro Tull)
- Scuttle Buttin’ (by Stevie Ray Vaughan)
- All Along the Watchtower (by Jimi Hendrix)
- Paranoid (by Black Sabbath)
- Any Way You Want It (by Journey)
- Light My Fire (by The Doors)
- Falling In Love (Is Hard on the Knees) (by Aerosmith)
- Simple Man (by Lynyrd Skynyrd)
- Into the Storm (by Blind Guardian)
- Jessica (by The Allman Brothers Band)
Through the Shattered Lens 