“I Dreamed of an Old Love Affair” is credited to Jimmie Davis, Charles Mitchell and Bonnie Dodd. Davis was a singer from Quitman, Louisiana, who recorded for Decca and later served two terms as governor of Louisiana, from 1944 to 1948 and from 1960 to 1964. Mitchell played steel guitar on Davis’s sessions in the early 1940s. Davis recorded the song on 4 December 1941 at Decca’s studio in the Pythian Temple on West 70th Street in New York. Tony Gottuso played guitar, Vaughn Horton steel, Haig Stephens bass, Frank Signorelli piano and Bill Graham trumpet. Decca issued it in 1942 on Decca 6070, with “A Sinner’s Prayer” on the other side.
The singer has a dream that his old love is back with him as she was in better days. For one night his sorrows and cares are gone. In the dream she smiles and tells him they can make a new start. Then he wakes alone in the dark, and the morning light tells him she is gone. Since she left, his life has been empty, and he still loves her with all his heart.
Ernest Tubb recorded it in Nashville on 12 June 1956 at Music City Recordings, 804 16th Avenue South. Billy Byrd played guitar, Rusty Gabbard steel, Tommy Jackson fiddle, Jack Drake bass and Owen Bradley piano, with Paul Cohen producing. Decca put it out in 1957, first on the EP Ernest Tubb Encores (ED 2522) and then on the LP The Daddy of ’Em All (DL 8553), issued in July of that year.
Stan Dudley & Bluegrass 1 recorded it at Arnold Studios in Lynchburg, Virginia, for The Last Letter (Lark, 1980), with Wayne Epperson singing lead. Dan Tyminski cut it at Doobie Shea Studios in Boones Mill, Virginia, for Carry Me Across the Mountain (Doobie Shea, 2000). He and Stan Tyminski share the lead, with Dan singing tenor and playing mandolin. Tony Rice played guitar, Ron Stewart banjo, Aubrey Haynie fiddle, Jerry Douglas dobro and Barry Bales bass.
