Story Behind the Song: Ronnie Milsap's 'Daydreams about Night Things'

"I'm having daydreams about night things/ In the middle of the afternoon/ And every night, you make my daydreams come true."

In Ronnie Milsap's 1975 chart-topper, the singer can't wait to finish his factory shift and head home to his sweetheart. In reality, the song's writer, John Schweers, was sitting at home trying to write a hit while his wife worked at the bank. When he played the tune for her that night, both agreed he was onto something, and so did Milsap, who called Schweers personally to tell him he'd cut it.

Schweers told the Story Behind the Song to Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International.

Bart Herbison: “Daydreams,” man. I don't know that there's still ever been anything like that musically. Now, Ronnie does it very country. It's a rock song wrapped up as a country tune from 1975. Take us back. Did you intend for that to be that way? Because man, it's a rockin’ tune that holds up to this day, in my opinion.

John Schweers: I just heard of somebody interviewing Olivia Newton John. And when he interviewed her, his comment was, "Boy, when we were talking, I was having daydreams about night things." (Laughs) And then I thought, 'Well, man, that's a song idea! What's the matter with you guys!" Later on, I got married, and my wife was working in the bank and I was at home writing songs So she comes in one day. She says, "Well, let me hear what you wrote today while I was in town working."

So I played her "Daydreams About Night Things," and she said "Sounds pretty good." So did a demo of it and everything. (Producer/publisher) Tom Collins liked it, and he pitched it to Milsap. I was out showing a house for a relative, and they called and said "Are you John Schweers? You have somebody calling you on the phone." And it was Ronnie Milsap: "Man, I love that song. I want to do it. Don't pitch it to anybody else!" (I said), "You got it, Ronnie!"

…Tom, he signed me as a writer for $75 a week when I first got to town. I thought, "$75 a week?" I hadn't seen that much money since I left school.

BH: Songwriters get a "draw." That's what that's called, that 75 a week to live on. Because you are trying to let that support you, so you can do nothing but write songs full-time.

JS: Right, and when you have a hit, you pay it back to the publisher.

BH: It's basically in advance against your future royalties. They're trusting that you're going to have some hits. I love Tom Collins. Did Tom's company pitch it then to Ronnie? Is that how he got it?

JS: I think he did…I had a couple of album cuts on Charley Pride. And then I had another one, "Amazing Love," on Charley Pride. So I was beginning to get some things cut, and then they told me (about Ronnie) at that house, and it was hard driving home (laughs).

BH: I think this came out in the summer of '75. Because I believe I just graduated from high school. So 11 weeks, and then it was number one. My guess is John, is this the one that let you quit (your day job)? Because that'd be a pretty nice royalty day, and unlike a lot of the songs we do, you wrote this one by yourself.

Yes, I was able to quit and write full-time and my wife was really thankful....in the music business, you have to have a hit before you make any money. And I understand that she was wanting to have a house and family and everything. And when I had this (song), she said "That's pretty good." So we pitched it, Ronnie cut it, and it was a big record, number one. ...We were walking around on air. It changed my life, it was unbelievable. Because we started having money out of the music business. And that's very hard. I got a house, and a beautiful wife. She's crazy about me, and I'm crazy about her. We still have a good time.

BH: It was kind of racy for the day. Did you get any brush back for that? Because back then country radio wouldn't play anything that had to do with daydreams about night things. Was that an issue back then?

JS: … I never had any blowback. Some people asked me that same question, so no, I never heard of anybody upset about it. They just liked it, you know?

BH: Do you remember the first time you heard (the record)?

JS: We hadn't had a vacation in three or four years. So we went down to Florida for a week, we had the radio on. (The song) came on the radio, and we nearly ran off the road. We were just yelling and screaming and jumping up and down and everything in the car. That's the first time I heard it on the radio. And man, I just, I was so thankful to the Lord for letting us have that.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Story Behind the Song: Ronnie Milsap's 'Daydreams about Night Things'