Dream a Little Dream of Me by The Mamas and The Papas (solo bass arrangement) - Karl Clews on bass

Описание: My arrangement, for solo 4-string electric bass guitar, of Dream a Little Dream of Me by The Mamas & The Papas.

Dream a Little Dream of Me is a 1930 song with music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt and lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was first recorded in February 1931 by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra, soon followed by Wayne King and his Orchestra with vocals by Ernie Birchill. A popular standard, it has had well over 400 recorded versions.

The song enjoyed its highest-charting success when it was covered in 1968 by Cass Elliot with the Mamas & the Papas, and followed the same year with a recording by Anita Harris. More than 40 other versions have been recorded, including by the Mills Brothers, Henry Mancini, the Beautiful South, Chicago, Anne Murray, Ella Fitzgerald, Erasure, and Michael Bublé.

While published in 1931, the song's earliest copyright was registered on December 29, 1930, and thus it entered the public domain on January 1, 2026.

Music producer Thom Donovan has described Dream a Little Dream of Me as both a lullaby and a love song, noting its “comforting, childlike quality.” The lyrics by Gus Kahn portray two lovers parting reluctantly, with one asking the other to remember them through dreams while asleep.

Dream a Little Dream of Me was recorded by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra, with vocals by Nelson in New York City, on February 16, 1931, for Brunswick Records. Two days later, Wayne King and his Orchestra, with vocals by Ernie Birchill, recorded the song for Victor Records. Dream a Little Dream of Me was also an early signature tune of Kate Smith.

In the summer of 1950, seven recordings of Dream a Little Dream of Me were in release, with the versions by Frankie Laine and Jack Owens reaching the US top 20; the other versions were by Cathy Mastice, Ella Fitzgerald with trumpet backing by Louis Armstrong, Louis Jordan, Vaughn Monroe, Dinah Shore, and a duet by Bob Crosby and Georgia Gibbs. Other traditional pop acts to record Dream a Little Dream of Me include Louis Armstrong, Barbara Carroll, Nat King Cole, Doris Day, Joni James, Dean Martin, and the Mills Brothers.

Dream a Little Dream of Me was recorded for the Mamas & the Papas April 1968 album release The Papas & the Mamas with lead vocals by Cass Elliot. The group had often sung the song for fun, having been familiarized with it by member Michelle Phillips, whose father had been friends with the song's co-writer, Fabian Andre, in Mexico City, where Michelle Phillips' family had resided when she was a young girl. The song was recorded after the group heard about Andre's death; Philips recalled: "It was very shocking...we had never thought about [the song] again until we were all sitting around that day discussing his death, when we started to pick out the song...to see if we could remember the lyrics to it.

Musically, early versions of the song consistently preserve the same tonal relationship between the main key and the bridge. The original manuscript by Milton Adolphus notates the song in C major, with the bridge modulating to A♭ major. The well-known Louis Armstrong recording transposes the song to G major, with the bridge moving to E♭ major, maintaining the same intervallic relationship found in the manuscript, and early published sheet music followed this key scheme. The Mamas and the Papas recording departs from this pattern: although it returns the song to C major, its bridge shifts to A major rather than A♭ major, raising the bridge by a semitone compared to earlier versions. This change necessitates a brief chromatic progression near the end of the bridge to reestablish the home key for the final section.

Performed here on a Schack Carbon B2, recorded directly into Cakewalk Sonar Platinum, via a Presonus Audiobox. Drums programmed in Stylus RMX and Session Drummer 3. Video edited using TrakAxPC and Wondershare Filmora.

Karl uses Bogart basses: https://www.bogart-bass.de
Instrument & speaker cables by Rigotti Cables: https://www.rigotticables.com
Custom leather guitar straps by River Straps: http://www.river-straps.com
Gig bags by Harvest Fine Leather: https://www.harvest-guitar.com
Gear bags by Lugville: https://www.lugville.com
Amps & cabs by GR Bass: https://www.grbass.com
Karl's website: https://www.karlclews.com
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