Due to McCurdy's connection with fellow musicians, it was common in repertoires within the folk music community.

The song has been recorded by over 50 acts in English, and has also been adapted into several different languages, the most successful of these translations being a Swedish version by Cornelis Vreeswijk, a song that he recorded live in late 1964 along with Fred Åkerström and Ann-Louise Hanson, and released in 1965 on their album Visor och oförskämdheter.

In the dream, he encountered a room filled with men (presumably politicians) signing papers that stated "They'd never fight again".

[3] Following the ratifying and widespread publication of it, the men put aside their differences, joining hand-in-hand, bowing their heads, and praying.

The lyrics then go on to describe the reaction of the public, which is joyfulness, with citizens dancing on the street while weapons and army equipment could be spotted on the ground.

"Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" was initially composed by McCurdy during the spring of 1950, during a period in time in which there was an ever-looming threat of war, with a big Red Scare being spread by politicians such as Joseph McCarthy.

[5] It was here that McCurdy was introduced to folk music by artists such as Oscar Brand, Josh White, and Pete Seeger, a genre he would embrace on his first album by the name of Sings Canadian Folksongs in 1949.

[5] Following the release of this album, McCurdy migrated back to the United States, settling in New York City's Greenwich Village.

[6] In 1950, Ed McCurdy came up to the hotel room of the Weavers, who were working in the vaudeville show at the Strand Theater on Broadway at the time.

[10] The album was a minor hit and together with the Weavers, Seeger helped popularizing "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" to become one of the most well-known recordings.

[11][12] The arrangement of the song features Seeger unaccompanied, singing and playing banjo on the recording, which clocks in at approximately two minutes and thirty seconds.

[13] Seeger would later re-record "Last Night I Had the Strangest" dream for his 1967 studio album Waist Deep in the Big Muddy and Other Love Songs, 11 years after it was first officially released on record.

[15] "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" was an emotional song for John Stewart and Nick Reynolds; they could barely sing it without crying.

[24] The song, along with "He Was My Brother", "The Sun Is Burning", and the title track "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M." were all recorded on March 17, 1964, at Columbia Studios in New York City.

[26] This led Simon & Garfunkel to temporarily break up until "The Sound of Silence" began rising the charts in late 1965.

In their review of the album, Entertainment Focus writes that "it ties it to another American musical tradition, but there’s no obvious disconnect – already it’s clearly the vocals of the two that go together perfectly, that define their overarching sound.

"[28] In his book Paul Simon: An American Tune, Cornel Bonca writes that the song along with "The Sun Is Burning" are bad examples of political folk-songs due to being shallow requests for peace.

[29] In a review for AllMusic, Matthew Greenwald wrote that while they weren't as good as they later would be, their rendition of the song emphasizes on the duo's "unique and tight harmony vocals.

[41] The song was first translated into Swedish by Dutch-Swedish singer-songwriter Cornelis Vreeswijk, under the title "I natt jag drömde något som" ("Last Night I Dreamed Something That").

Vreeswijk first recorded "I natt jag drömde något som" live on Friday December 4, 1964, a performance he held at the Stockholm Concert Hall in the country's capital.

[72] This performance was together with fellow Swedish singers Fred Åkerström and Ann-Louise Hanson, the latter of which sings solo on the track.

[75] Personnel Charts position Background By mid-1966, the Hep Stars had established themselves as a hugely successful recording artists, but also as great songwriters, with keyboardist Benny Andersson writing their number-1 hit "Sunny Girl" on February 10, 1966.

The Hep Stars had at the time changed their live repertoire as well, due to Hedlund breaking his foot, requiring him to sit still on a chair on stage.

[80] As a result of this, the group had begun incorporating slower songs into their setlist, ditching "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", which they'd frantically closed every show with.

[80] They had now also heard Vreejswijk's rendition of "I natt jag drömde något som", and began playing the song live.

So on the night between August 22–23, 1966, the group entered Phillips Studio in Stockholm, Sweden, successfully recording the song.

The Swedish rendition would be released as a single the following month, while the English version would be included on their second studio album The Hep Stars in December of that year.

[83][84] For reasons unknown, the Hep Stars release of the song shortened the title down to simply "I natt jag drömde" ("Last Night I Dreamed").

[87][100] Due to charting on Svensktoppen, which only played songs in the Swedish language, it attracted an entire new generation of Hep Stars fans.