Crowded House: Don't Dream It's Over Countdown Australia 2/15/87 (My "Stereo Studio Sound" Re-Edit)

Crowded House - Don't Dream It's Over - on Countdown Australia February 15, 1987 (My "Stereo Studio Sound" Re-Edit)

"Don't Dream It's Over" is a song by rock band Crowded House, recorded for their 1986 self-titled debut studio album. The song was composed and written by New Zealand frontman Neil Finn and released in October 1986 as the fourth single from the album.

"Don't Dream It's Over" became the band's biggest international hit, reaching No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in April 1987. The song reached No. 1 in Canada and in Finn's native New Zealand, while in Australia, it peaked at No. 8. In continental Europe, it reached No. 6 in Norway, No. 27 in the Netherlands, No. 13 in West Germany, and No. 25 in the United Kingdom. At the 1986 Countdown Australian Music Awards the song was nominated for three awards, winning Best Video.

In May 2001, the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) ranked "Don't Dream It's Over" second on its list of the Top 100 New Zealand songs of all time and seventh on its list of the Top 100 Australian songs of all time. In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Don't Dream It's Over" was ranked number 65. In 2025 the song was voted 5th in the Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian Songs. The song has been recorded by other artists, including Paul Young, Sixpence None the Richer, and New Zealand artist Stan Walker—the latter producing a Māori version titled Moemoeā ("Dream").

Composition:
"Don't Dream It's Over" is written and composed in the key of E-flat major and is set in the time signature of common time with a tempo of 82 beats per minute.

Reception:
AllMusic described the song as a "majestic ballad".[16] Cash Box said "The easy going and pretty song camouflages a pained longing. Neil Finn's voice, recognizable from his stint with Split Enz, is reedy and expressive and full of irony."