The Platters formed in Los Angeles, CA, USA in 1953 and were initially managed by Ralph Bass. They had a contract with Federal Records but experienced little record success until they met music entrepreneur and songwriter Buck Ram. He added lead vocalist Tony Williams (who gave the Platters their distinctive sound) and female vocalist Zola Taylor. Under Ram's guidance, the Platters recorded seven singles for Federal in an R&B/gospel style, scoring minor regional hits on the West Coast. One song recorded at Federal, "Only You (And You Alone)", originally written by Ram for the Ink Spots was deemed unreleasable by the label.
Despite lack of chart success, the Platters were a profitable touring group--so successful that The Penguins, fresh from their No. 2 single Earth Angel, asked Ram to manage them too. With the Penguins as a bargaining chip, Ram persuaded Mercury Records into a 2-for-1 deal. In order to sign the Penguins, he insisted, the label also take the Platters. Ironically, the Penguins never had a hit for the label.
Convinced by Tony Williams that "Only You" had potential, Ram had the group re-record it during their first Mercury session. Released in the summer of 1955, it became the group's first Top Ten hit on the pop charts, and topped the R&B charts for seven weeks. It has since become one of the most played records in any genre and the song has been covered by innumerable artists. Ironically, the follow-up, The Great Pretender, with lyrics written by Ram in the washroom of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, exceeded the chart success of their début and became the Platters' first national No.1 hit. The Great Pretender was also the act's biggest R&B hit, with an 11-week run at the top of that chart. In 1956. The Platters appeared in the first major rock n roll movie, Rock Around the Clock, and performed both "Only You" and "The Great Pretender"[2] and they sang "You'll Never Never Know" in The Girl Can't Help It, produced the same year.
The Platters' unique vocal style touched a nerve in the music-buying public, and a string of hit singles followed, including two more Top 100 No. 1 hits, one Hot 100 No. 1 hit, and more modest hits such as "I'm Sorry" (No. 11) and "He's Mine" (No. 23) in 1957, "Enchanted" (No.12) in 1959, and "The Magic Touch" (No.4) in 1956. The Platters hit on a successful formula of updating older standards, such as "My Prayer", "Twilight Time", "Harbor Lights", "To Each His Own", "If I Didn't Care" and Jerome Kern's "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes". This latter release caused a small controversy after Kern's widow expressed concern that her late husband's composition would be turned into a "rock n roll record". It topped both American and British charts in a tasteful Platters-style arrangement.
The group was inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in its inaugural year of 1998. The Platters were the first rock n roll group to have a Top Ten album in America. They were also the only act to have three songs included on the American Graffiti soundtrack that sparked an oldies revival in the early to mid-1970s: "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "The Great Pretender" and "Only You (and You Alone)".
Many groups have toured bearing the name The Platters but only one member of the original line-up, Herb Reed, was still touring and performing with Herb Reed's Platters in 2008.
Zola Taylor died on April 30th 2007 of pneumonia whilst recovering from surgery.
My Dream
The Platters Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Is a wondrous dream
It's the answer too
Wanting only you
My dream
Is a true delight
My escape at night
The world we know
Seems so far away
And where we go
Is for us to say
My dream
Is a wealth of joy
No one can destroy
When I dream my dream
It's no common dream
It's a wondrous dream
Dream
The Platters’ song My Dream is a romantic ballad that conveys the idea of a dream that is a source of pure joy and escape from the everyday world. The lyrics suggest that this dream is a wondrous dream that is the answer to the desire for someone special. The first verse expresses the dream to be a true delight, a way to escape from the blue world at night. The second verse implies the fact that the real world seems so far away and that where the dream takes the dreamer seems to be entirely in their own hands.
The chorus further explains that the dream is a source of joy that one can never destroy. The dreamer explicitly mentions that it’s not just any common dream, but a unique and wondrous dream. The song conveys the idea that this dream provides a place of refuge and happiness from an otherwise bleak reality. Perhaps the audience is meant to feel that the dream is a representation of true love or that the dreamer has found their soulmate.
In conclusion, The Platters' My Dream is a romantic and poetic song that transports the listener into a world of dreams and possibilities. It illustrates the idea that a dream can offer an escape from reality and be the source of pure happiness.
Line by Line Meaning
My dream
The ideal scenario that resides in my mind
Is a wondrous dream
It's an amazing and fantastic dream that exists only in my imagination
It's the answer too
It's the solution to all my desires
Wanting only you
It's the longing for only your presence in my dream
Is a true delight
It's a genuinely pleasant and satisfying experience
My escape at night
It's a way for me to get away from the reality of my life during nighttime hours
From a world that's blue
It's a way to distance myself from a depressing and melancholic world
The world we know
The reality in which we live
Seems so far away
Feels unattainable and distant from my dream
And where we go
The direction we take in life
Is for us to say
It's our decision to find our path in life
Is a wealth of joy
It's an abundance of happiness and contentment
No one can destroy
Cannot be ruined or taken away by others
When I dream my dream
During the moment when I envision my dream
It's no common dream
It's not an ordinary or average dream
It's a wondrous dream
It's an extraordinary and remarkable dream
Lyrics © THE ROYALTY NETWORK INC., Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network
Written by: BUCK RAM
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@jonathonspiers8397
It is said about great people, who are incomparable in their time, that there will never be another group who had the quality of The Platters. And now some 60 years later, now that all of the original group have passed away, we are left with their eternal voices still filling our souls with their heavenly blend of lyrics and score…
@lesterjohnston8888
So true
@wntjst
Tony Williams is one of the greatest singers ever! The backup vocals are fabulous! The fabulous and original Platters!
@maurocoimbra9624
I cannot agree most!!!
@1948treetop
Did they ever sing a bad song. Singer/s like these will stand the test of time.
@janepang484
THE PLATTERS💖👸👬🧑🤝🧑🌟🤩
Great!🎼🎵🎙📀🎧🎥💯👍👏
From Hong Kong🙋♀️🌏💝🌺🥰
@ronjones379
What a masterpiece! This is my very favourite Platters song. A wonderful era is was and I'm so happy and most thankful that I lived to experience the joy derived from the talent this amazing group shared with us.
@rosebrown9265
Brilliant music 🎶🎶
@PreciousSalcedo
Isang kahanga-hangang panahon ang noon at ako ay napakasaya at lubos na nagpapasalamat na nabuhay ako upang maranasan ang kagalakan na nagmula sa talentong ibinahagi sa amin ng kamangha-manghang grupong ito..
@dennismclaurin1487
Ist time hearing this