I Can Dream About You

First recorded by Winston Ford (1984).
Hit version by Dan Hartman (US #6/UK #12/CAN #11/AUS #3/IRE #4 1984).
Also recorded by Hall & Oates (2004)

(Below: Original motion picture audio)

From the wiki: “‘I Can Dream About You’ was written by Dan Hartman and first appeared in the 1984 movie Streets of Fire, where it was performed by the fictional group The Sorels. The real voice behind the version used in the movie was Winston Ford, but Hartman’s version was the one used on the soundtrack and released as a single.

“In a Songfacts interview with the film’s musical director, Kenny Vance, he recalled ‘The same guy that sings lead on that and ‘Countdown to Love’, a song that I wrote for the film, was a guy working at a Radio Shack (Winston Ford), and I think when you look at the film and The Sorels are singing it live in the movie, that was the version that was supposed to come out, and I recorded that version. But then when Dan Hartman heard it, I don’t know what happened next, but I know that he took that guy’s voice off and he put his own on, and he had a hit with it. Hollywood is a very slippery place.’

“Hartman went through some legal maneuvering to get the benefit of his solo breakthrough. The use of the song in the film being performed by actors did not feature Hartman on vocals but a studio singer (Winston Ford). After some contract negotiating, Hartman insisted he sing the song on the soundtrack album, and that his version be released if a single were to be issued from the album. Additionally, any music video had to feature his own voice using the song; not Ford’s. These clauses helped Hartman become an ‘overnight sensation’.

“According to Daryl Hall, Hartman had initially written the song with Hall & Oates in mind, and offered the song to them to record as their own. Hall & Oates declined, as their new album was about to be released. Later in their career, however, they issued an album of covers called Our Kind of Soul, in 2004, on which they recorded their own version (with changed lyrics) of Hartman’s song.”

Dan Hartman, “I Can Dream About You” soundtrack to Streets of Fire (1984):

Hall & Oates, “I Can Dream About You” (2004):