About The Song
“I Dreamed There Was No War” is a short instrumental track composed by Glenn Frey, featured on the Eagles’ seventh studio album, Long Road Out of Eden. The double album was released on October 30, 2007, by Eagles Recording Company II, marking the band’s first collection of entirely new studio material since The Long Run in 1979. The piece appears as track 2 on disc two, with a duration of 1 minute and 38 seconds.
Recording for Long Road Out of Eden took place over several years, from approximately 2001 to 2007, in various studios including The Doghouse in Los Angeles, Samhain Sound in Malibu, O’Henry Studios in Burbank, Henson Recording Studios in Hollywood, Mooselodge in Calabasas, The Panhandle House in Denton, and Luminous Sound in Dallas. Production was handled collectively by the Eagles, with Bill Szymczyk serving in a mediating and engineering role. The lineup consisted of Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit, augmented by touring guitarist Steuart Smith.
The instrumental features orchestral arrangements with sweeping strings and brass, evoking a military march that transitions into a hopeful resolution. It was not released as a single and did not appear on any Billboard charts. However, at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in 2009, “I Dreamed There Was No War” won the award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. This was one of two Grammys earned by the album, the other being Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for “How Long.”
Long Road Out of Eden debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling over 711,000 copies in its first week in the United States. It received a last-minute Billboard rule change allowing exclusive retail sales to count toward chart position. The album achieved 7× Platinum certification from the RIAA for shipments exceeding 3.5 million copies in the U.S. and became the highest-selling album of 2007 in that market.
Initial distribution was exclusive to Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and the band’s website, before broader release. Early previews of some tracks, including others from the album, appeared on a 2006 bonus CD tied to the Farewell 1 Tour-Live from Melbourne DVD sold at Wal-Mart. The album supported a major world tour from 2008 to 2011.
This track represents one of Glenn Frey’s final compositions for the Eagles before his passing in 2016, making Long Road Out of Eden the band’s last studio album with original material from the classic era lineup.
Video
Lyric
[Instrumental]