Dreams to Dream

Dreams to Dream has been classified as one of the best articles made for the An American Tail Wiki community. Please feel free to contribute.

Dreams to Dream is a song by James Horner and Will Jennings, based on a short instrumental piece from An American Tail (which can be heard in the Orphan Alley scene), appearing in the 1991 animated film An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. There are three versions of the song in the film, one with Cathy Cavadini performing Tanya's version, one being Linda Ronstadt performing the finale version and one being Sarah Lasko performing her own version, which includes extra lyrics. Released as a single on MCA in late 1991, the song climbed to #13 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart but did not cross over to the Hot 100. The music video features Ronstadt performing the song intercut with clips from Fievel Goes West. The composition was nominated in 1992 for a Golden Globe award for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture.

In the film, Tanya sings this song as she's performing chores for her family. Cat R. Waul overhears her and becomes captivated by her voice, bringing her to his saloon to be a singer. This song is part of Tanya's trademark.

Lyrics

Opening Monologue (Fievel and Friends Album Only)

Fievel: Dreams? I always had dreams. Wonderful dreams. Dreams can take you anywhere, and you can be anything you want to be in dreams. The trick is to make some of those dreams come true. Listen while my sister Tanya tells you all about some of her dreams.

Lyrics

Tanya sings "Dreams to Dream"

I lose my way
No one cares
The words I say
No one hears

My life it seems
Is a world of dreams  

Deep in the night
You'll find me
Dream and you're right
Behind me

Stay if you will stay  
We'll dream the night away

Dreams to dream
In the dark of the night  
When the world goes wrong
I can still make it right  

I can see
So far in my dreams  
I'll follow my dreams  
Until they come true

There is a star
Waiting to guide us  
Shining inside us
When we close our eyes

Come with me
You will see what I mean  
There's a world inside
No one else ever sees  

You will go
So far in my dreams  
Somewhere in my dreams  
Your dreams will come true  

Don’t let go
If you stay close to me
In my dreams tonight
You will see what I see

Dreams to dream
As near as can be
Inside you and me
They always come true

Inside you and me
They always come true

Trivia

• The movie version, sung by Cathy Cavadini as Tanya, leaves out the first seven lines.
• According to her website, Cathy Cavadini was chosen to voice Tanya by James Horner himself, who liked her singing voice. A previous voice actress had already voiced Tanya, and had to be dubbed over by Cavadini.
• The song was covered by Vikki Watson in An American Tail: A Musical Adventure With Fievel and Friends.
• The song is sung by Cathy Cavadini again in the Fievel's American Tails episode "The Legend of Mouse Hollow".
• The only time the song was performed without Tanya's involvement at all was in the An American Tail Live Show, where it is sung by Fievel and Tiger.
• As has been noted many times, there is a hidden obscene image for one frame during the song, when Cat R. Waul picks Tanya up in his hands. It is possible that either it could perhaps have been an accident while in production or it was a part of the collected dust from 35mm printings. This image can even be seen on DVD's of the movie. However, the Blu-ray removed that image to avoid anymore controversies. That edit also occurs on the Peacock streaming as well as Discovery Family and Freeform broadcasts.
  • A similar suggestive reference occurred in The Treasure of Manhattan Island, as a painting on the Mousekewitz's wall contained a female figure shown aside a large animal in an inappropriate manner, which the figure is only shown twice while being obscured in all other shots (showing half containing the animal). Without question, this remained uncut on all home releases. Yet, the picture is omitted from the finale.