Mama Cass – Dream a Little Dream of Me

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.

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.