Stewart - Sweet Dreams Are Made of This: A Life In Music

NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY

Published by New American Library,

an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

This book is an original publication of New American Library.

Copyright Dave Stewart, 2016

Foreword copyright Mick Jagger, 2016

For song and photo permissions, see pages 31921.

Guitar tree illustration copyright HuHu/Shutterstock Images

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eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-41104-3

LIBRARY OF CONG RESS CATALOGING - IN - P UBLICATION DATA :

Names: Stewart, David A. (David Allan), 1952

Title: Sweet dreams are made of this: a life in music/Dave Stewart.

Description: New York: New American Library, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015034916 | ISBN 9780451477682

Subjects: LCSH: Stewart, David A. (David Allan), 1952 | Rock musiciansEnglandBiography. | Eurythmics (Musical group) | LCGFT: Biographies.

Classification: LCC ML410.S84 A3 2016 | DDC 782.42166092dc23

LC record available at https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/LL2mBEFx8G2SY

Designed by Laura K. Corless

PUBLISHERS NOTE

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This is a work of nonfiction based on the life, experiences and recollections of Dave Stewart.

Penguin is committed to publishing works of quality and integrity. In that spirit, we are proud to offer this book to our readers; however, the story, the experiences and the words are the authors alone.

Version_1

This book is dedicated to ANOUSHKA

Foreword by Mick Jagger

W hen you meet Dave Stewart and have any kind of rapport, small talk is swiftly bypassed. You are immediately thrust into an exchange of ideas, information, plans and projections. When we first met in 1983, we decided to record and write together. We also decided to buy an apartment in Paris, a house in Morocco and a loft in New York City from which we would launch a film company. And this was within a few hours of knowing each other.

Dave is an amazing enthusiast and seems to know as much about technology and business as he does recording and songwriting. He is, I suppose, some sort of creative genius, eccentric and endearing, and he has more e-mails in his in-box than anyone on the planet. He has also, on occasion, been spotted wearing a very long yellow overcoat and carrying a sword.

Dave does things his own way and is never one to follow rules or do things because thats how theyre done. Hes created so many unique sounds and initiated musical trends because hes not afraid to try new things and experiment. And yet, even with this crazy, out-there kind of approach, hes also very disciplined. Weve been longtime friends and collaborators, and he always makes me finish what Ive started, which is not always what I do when Im left on my own. In thirty years of knowing each other, weve shared a love of beautiful women, blues music, films, storytelling and the Caribbean. But what we love doing most is writing songs.

Dave and I are quite similar, both very focused and precise. We never have to explain a lot to each other about whats happening around us because we both read the temperature of the room as soon as we walk in. We also rarely stop laughing. We concentrate on very short bursts of work, and we would put down everything on old tape recorders, Pro Tools or Dictaphones or whatever recording setup we had at the time. Even though its then improved and polished and worked on with other musicians, we often find that we like our original demo recording the best.

Daves main criterion with all his work is that it has to be fun. Theres no point getting into an angst-ridden anxiety attack over a song thats not working. Dave will simply advise you to chuck it like it never happened and then move on to the next song. On the other hand, things can lodge in the recesses of Daves memory for yearsa line, a phrase, a riffand he will suddenly present them to you years later on some sophisticated digital device and transport you back to the exact moment you created it. Just when you think you remember things better than Dave, he will produce evidence to the contrary on film, photographs or voice memo. Its infuriating.

One of our favorite collaborations was SuperHeavy, our pop-up band, which included Joss Stone, A. R. Rahman and Damian Marley, in which we really combined many different musical styles and each of us brought our own unique sound to the table. It started with me receiving a phone call from Dave in Jamaica: Hey, Ive got a really great idea. Once we were in the studio he kept us on track during our marathon sessions, when we put down twenty-nine songs in ten days. All of the songs were composed on the spur of the moment, someone would start playing, someone would start singing, all of us completely extemporizing, and the song was recorded in one or two takes.

I love Daves constant creative search and his passion for making music; I love the fact that hes constantly pushing the boundaries of what we think is possible. I love the support and belief he has for the people he collaborates with whether they are superstars or complete unknowns. He creates a fertile environment in which its almost impossible not to be creative and innovative. This environment includes a compulsory martini at seven thirty in the evening, although by ten thirty, after two or three martinis, no one has gone home and everyone in the control room is dancing.

Its an honor to work with Dave and call him a friend. If you ever get a phone call and hear a low, soft voice with a northeastern English accent tell you, Hey, Ive got a great idea, take the call. It may not change your life, but it will make it much more fun.

Mick Jagger

INTRODUCTION

W riting songs with other people is like falling in love over and over again. Its a fast track into somebodys soulyou can feel their heart beating against yours. When I play guitar and they start to sing, even when we are just improvising, theres something else that starts to happen that no one can explain. We try to follow whatever that something is and understand what it is telling us to do. Its like when you were a child and you ran through a forest with a friend and you came across a hidden stream where you could bathe or quench your thirstexcept this race is in your mind, and when words start to fall out of the improvisation, they are like fireflies lighting the way: they guide us back through the woods till we see the village in the distance. We are soon inside a safe place, a familiar place where melody lives with her best friend, rhythm. We go join them, and let our minds meld in the warm glow of creativity.

Ive had the chance to experience this wonderful state of