Songfacts®:

• A #1 Adult Contemporary hit for the country group Restless Heart, this song was written by Timothy B. Schmit, his producer Josh Leo, and a keyboard player named Vince Melamed. The song first appeared on Schmit's debut solo album, Playin' It Cool, in 1984 (Schmit's group, the Eagles, broke up in 1980 and didn't re-form until 1994).
  
  Schmit's version wasn't released as a single, but the song found new life when Restless Heart recorded it nearly a decade later. The song's co-writer Josh Leo was doing production work for Restless Heart at the time when someone from their label suggested the song. With Leo at the helm, they recorded it and the song took off - at least on Adult Contemporary radio. It never cracked the Country chart, where the band typically placed their hits.
• In this song, the singer is pretty sure his lover is cheating on him - a tip-off is that she calls out another man's name at night. He's tormented, wondering what she's dreaming about at night and knowing it's probably not him.
  
  In our interview with Timothy B. Schmit, he said that the story was concocted. "That album came out in the year my second daughter was born," he said. "It's a song that you get a scenario in your head and you work with it - you pick it apart and create a song. I don't have anything heavy or super-meaningful to tell you about that."
• The saxophone solos were played by Warren Hill, who was signed to the band's label, RCA, as a solo artist (Kenny G was big at the time). To get some exposure for Hill, RCA had him perform on the song and credited the track to "Restless Heart with Warren Hill."
• The band's drummer, John Dittrich, sang lead on this track because their frontman Larry Stewart had recently left the group. The lineup for "Tell Me What You Dream" was:
  
  Dittrich: drums, lead vocals
  Paul Gregg: bass
  Greg Jennings: guitar