"#9 Dream" came to Lennon in a dream. Lennon has said that the song was just "churned out" with "no inspiration." According to May Pang's website, two working titles for the song were "So Long Ago" and "Walls & Bridges". Pang also states that the phrase repeated in the chorus, "Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé", came to Lennon in a dream and has no specific meaning. Pang added that Al Coury of Capitol Records initially protested against the use of the word "pussy" in the chorus, but after Lori Burton, the wife of studio engineer Roy Cicala, suggested that it should be sung as "poussé," as if in a foreign language, the lyrics were kept. The song was notable as a favourite of Lennon's, despite his later claim that the song was a "throwaway." Pang said on the matter, "This was one of John's favorite songs, because it literally came to him in a dream. He woke up and wrote down those words along with the melody. He had no idea what it meant, but he thought it sounded beautiful."
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Lennon liked the string arrangement he wrote for Harry Nilsson's rendition of "Many Rivers to Cross," originally by Jimmy Cliff, from the album Pussy Cats so much that he decided to incorporate it into the song. The backing vocal is provided by May Pang, Lennon's partner at the time. Lennon wrote and arranged the song around his dream, hence the title and atmospheric, dreamlike feel, including the use of cellos in the chorus. The song's extensive production is reminiscent of Strawberry Fields Forever.
It peaked, coincidentally, at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, also peaking at number 10 on the Cashbox Top 100 in the US. It charted at number 23 on the UK Singles Chart and number 35 in Canada. Billboard commented on the contrast with Lennon's previous single from Walls and Bridges, "Whatever Gets You Through the Night," stating that "#9 Dream" is a "soft rocker" with "strong production" values which it expected would reach the Top 5.
Chart performance
Weekly charts
Chart
Peak position
Australia
21
Year-end charts
Personnel
The musicians who performed on the original recording were as follows:
John Lennon – vocals, acoustic guitar
The 44th Street Fairies: Lennon, May Pang, Lori Burton, Joey Dambra – backing vocals
R.E.M. covered the song and released it as a single from the 2007 benefit album . The cover featured founding drummer Bill Berry, his only recording with R.E.M. between his 1997 retirement and the band's 2011 disbandment.
a-ha The international version of the Instant Karma! record features a second cover of the song, by Norwegian band a-ha.
British novelist David Mitchell titled his second novel number9dream in homage to Lennon.
Andrea Corr covered this song on her 2011 album, Lifelines.
Bill Frisell included "Number 9 Dream" on his 2011 Lennon-McCartney tribute album, All We Are Saying.
