Only When I Dream

Our first imaginary single from the ‘Charm School’ album, a personal favourite and it’s VERY Roxette…

Disclaimer: This artwork is an unofficial fan-made mock-up created in good faith for editorial and creative discussion only – there could possibly be mistakes, no one's perfect. The mock-up does not represent an official Roxette release, past or present, and is not endorsed by Roxette, their Management, or Record Label. No physical or digital products exist and nothing shown here is for sale, ever. All images, names, and likenesses are used for illustrative purposes only and remain the property of their respective copyright holders. No copyright infringement is intended, and no commercial use is made or implied. Here's a list of almost all our mock-ups so far. Enjoy! Thanks!

“Some might say it’s over now, I don’t believe them…”

This one had been hanging around for quite some time, collecting dust in The Roxette Archive, that is, until ‘Charm School‘…

An early T&A Demo dates all the way back to October 10+13, 1997, during the ‘Have A Nice Day‘ album sessions. By 2001, ‘Only When I Dream‘ was among several Gessle compositions registered with BMI and reported by TDR as possible material for Roxette’s forthcoming album. It didn’t make ‘Room Service‘ of course, but good songs have a habit of refusing to disappear…

Per returned to ‘Only When I Dream‘ years later, recording yet another T&A Demo on August 7, 2009, before the song finally found its home on ‘Charm School‘, and it was worth the wait.

Built around one of those classic Gessle melodies that sounding instantly familiar, the finished Roxette version turns the song into a genuine Per and Marie duet, classic but modern Roxette. The production gives it considerably more muscle than the earlier demos, while Marie’s vocal adds exactly the ingredient the song had been waiting for.

TDR’s own ‘Charm School‘ at the time review singled it out, describing Marie’s addition as making the song “complete”, and we think that judgement has aged rather well. Roxette clearly had some faith in it too…

When the ‘Charm School World Tour‘ kicked off in February 2011, ‘Only When I Dream‘ was one of a few new album tracks given a place in the set. It remained there as the Tour moved around the world.

Should ‘Only When I Dream‘ have been a single? We think so, absolutely! It has the chorus, Marie and Per sharing the spotlight, and enough classic Roxette DNA to have worked beautifully on radio.

So in our #ROX40 Countdown, ‘Only When I Dream‘ finally gets the single cover it deserved, designed by Thomas1 with a photograph by our very own Kai. You might recognise the image, as Kai was responsible for a lot of the imagery used for the ‘Roxette Live Travelling The World‘ release. (p.s. I’m in the booklet!)

★ Currently on Streaming
01 T&A Demo, Oct 10+13, 1997
02 T&A Demo, Aug 7, 2009 (incorrectly labelled on streaming)
03 Album Version

★ Missing from Streaming
– No officially released live version is currently available on streaming.