American actor Dan Fowlks played some old-time rock ‘n’ roll to his 10-month-old daughter, Novie, and the baby just couldn’t help jiving along in the cutest way. The adorable clip, originally posted on Fowlk’s YouTube channel, has been viewed more than 11 million times across various platforms. He plays the 1959 rock hit “Dream Lover” for the bub, which was originally recorded by crooner Bobby Darin.
Baby Novie at first gapes at her dad but then crawls over to him and starts clapping and jumping up and down to the acoustic and vocal performance. Novie’s rocking and rolling get pretty wild during the clip. The video went viral as viewers appreciated such a sweet moment between a dad and his baby daughter that shows off some real bonding between the pair. You can watch the clip below.
Dan Fowlks is an actor, writer, and producer from the US who has starred in several films as well as worked behind the camera on numerous productions. His cute clip of “Dream Lover” with Novie attracted so much attention that The Dad interviewed him about it. Fowlks explained that he often sang to his kids around the house, and one night, he decided to record himself playing “Dream Lover” to see how it sounded.
“While my wife was taking the babysitter home from a date we were on, I started singing to my daughter,” he said. “Her reaction to it caught me by surprise, so I kept singing and feeding off her energy. She was clearly enjoying it.” You can hear the original singer Bobby Darin performing “Dream Lover” in the video below.
Fowlks said that he really appreciated the positive feedback on the clip, but added that the speed at which it went viral surprised him. He explained that the clip initially hit one million views, then he found it “on some European pages climbing over 10 million views! It started getting a little nerve-racking because it was one of those things that are out on the internet, and there is no getting it back.” He said some viewers had turned off the Grammys stream to watch the clip, which was quite humbling. “So many people watched it many times over and found joy from it, which has been quite rewarding,” he said.
Californian singer Bobby Darin originally recorded “Dream Lover” in March 1959 and dropped it as a single the following month. The song mixes classic rock ‘n’ roll, doo-wop, and pop sounds and sold several million copies. The Atco Records single peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the New Musical Express chart in the UK. It’s very much worth checking out as Darin has a superb voice, and his performance of it above has such a beautiful golden oldies sound to it.
“Dream Lover” has been subsequently recorded by numerous artists over the following decades and found itself back on the charts both in the US and internationally several times. The cover versions that found the most success – apart from dad and bub’s famous viral version – were Ricky Nelson’s 1979 country version and Glen Shorrock’s (of the Little River Band) version, both of which were minor hits in the US and Australia, respectively. If you would like to see more from Dan Fowlks, you can subscribe to his YouTube channel or follow him on Instagram.