Mama Cass and the Mamas & the Papas – "Dream a Little Dream of Me" (1968)

Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you

Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you

“Dream a Little Dream of Me” has been recorded dozens of times since it was written in 1931.

Bandleader Ozzie Nelson – who later developed and starred in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet TV series, which ran from 1952 to 1966 – was the first to release a recording of the song.  

Ozzie and Harriet Nelson

Since then, everyone from Bing Crosby to Doris Day to Dean Martin to Louis Armstrong to Anne Murray to Barry Manilow to Eddie Vedder has recorded it.

(Eddie Vedder?  That’s no misprint, boys and girls.  Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam included “Dream a Little Dream of Me” on his 2011 album, Ukulele Songs – a collection of originals and covers performed on the ukulele.)

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The biggest-selling version of “Dream a Little Dream of Me” was Cass Elliot’s 1968 cover, which made it all the way to #12 on the Billboard “Hot 100.”

“Dream a Little Dream of Me” was recorded for the Mamas & the Papas’ fourth studio album, which was titled The Papas & The Mamas. 

But by the time that album was ready to be shipped, it seemed clear that the Mamas & the papas were going to break up.  So the group’s record company decided to credit the single to “Mama Cass with Mamas & the Papas.”  (The UK single was credited to “Mama Cass.”)

A slightly different version of the song was included on Mama Cass’s first solo album, which was titled Dream a Little Dream:

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Cass Elliot was born Ellen Naomi Cohen in 1941 in Baltimore.  All four of her grandparents were Russian-Jewish immigrants.

She started using the name “Cass” in high school.  Fellow Mamas & Papas member Denny Doherty said she took the name from actress and comedian Peggy Cass, who I remember mostly as a frequent talk-show guest and game-show panelist in the 1960s.

She later began to use “Elliot” as her surname in memory of a friend named Elliot who had died.

Cass Elliot

By the way, Cass Elliott’s death did not result from her choking on a ham sandwich – that’s an urban legend.  The pathologist who autopsied her after she died in a London apartment in 1974 – she was only 32 – said that the cause of death was heart failure.

Four years later, Who drummer Keith Moon died in that same flat.  He was also 32.

Click here to listen to “Dream a Little Dream of Me.”

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