In the late '50s the sexual revolution was right around the corner, but hadn't yet arrived.  So those late '50s dudes did more dreaming than doing.  The dream theme is well explored in these 'classics':  Dream Lover (Bobby Darin, 1959), Dreamin' (Johnny Burnett, 1960), In Dreams (Roy Orbison), In Dreams (Orbison, live version), All I Have to Do is Dream (Everly Brothers, 1959).

Sentimentality and schmaltz, you complain?  I won't deny it, but surely it is to be preferred to the crudity and soullessness and outright malevolence of much of what came later.