Mama Cass – Dream a Little Dream of Me


Mama Cass – Dream a Little Dream of Me (Chords)

Dream a Little Dream of Me has been covered by many people since it first appeared in 1931, but it’s best remembered in the version by Mama Cass of The Mamas and the Papas.

I was discussing this song with UkeJill and we decided that the version on Ukulele Boogaloo wasn’t quite right, so I set about working out a version myself.

The most important chord I added in is the E7 just before the ’stars fading…’ part. The verse section of the song is in C but changes to A for this part. The E7 acts as a pivot between the two keys. E7 is the V chord of the key of A and leads you into it. It’s very common to use the V chord to lead into the new key and to stop the two keys jarring against each other.

The chords to this song are a little tricky, but if you’ve got them down you might like to try this little variation.

Dream a Little Dream of Me ukulele sheet music

After the C note lead-in, this follows the melody of, “Stars shinning bright above you.” For the last two strums in the first bar, I strum down on the top the strings with my index finger, then follow through with my thumb on the bottom two strings.

You can catch UkeJill’s version of the tune here. And you can watch the version Pete Doherty and Carl Barat performed when they reunited last year.

5 Comments

  1. Howlin' Hobbit January 29th, 2008 7:49 pm

    Must be Mama Cass day. Every morning I do several crossword puzzles and then move on to the blogs I read. The last puzzle I did before coming here had “Dream A Little Dream Of Me singer” as a clue and Mama Cass (of course) was the answer.

  2. Woodshed January 29th, 2008 8:18 pm

    *Plays the Twilight Zone*

  3. amber January 30th, 2008 3:51 am

    More weirdness:
    I play it
    C B7 Bb7 A7
    too and I’ve never seen anyone else do that way… until now. When I saw that I said aloud “He’s been spying on me!” which kind of startled my boyfriend and cats.

  4. Jill January 30th, 2008 11:27 am

    Thanks so much again for this, Al. My friend was delighted I played for her on her birthday. I opened for a rockabilly band! You saved the day.

  5. Woodshed January 30th, 2008 11:43 pm

    Amber: It scared me when you said it as well, I almost fell backwards into your hedge.

    Jill: Glad it went well. Are you going to put your version of Good Ship Lollypop on YouTube?

Got something to say?