The lyrics for dream a little dream of me are taken from the poem Dreams by William Blake. The melody was written by Fabian Andre and Wilber Schwandt, both of whom played in a band together that toured the Midwest. Schwandt once recalled that they wrote the song during a 10-minute break at a gig in Paw Paw, Michigan. A partial score dated January 6, 1930 has been found in the Milton Adolphus papers at the W.B Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives in Sandwich, Massachusetts. The song was made famous by the Mamas and the Papas in their 1967 album Mamas & the Papas. The song is one of the highest-charting singles of all time and was ranked at #35 on Billboard’s Hot Top 100 chart. It has also been recorded by a number of traditional pop artists, including Louis Armstrong, Barbara Carroll, Doris Day, Joni James, and Dean Martin.
After the success of the Mamas and the Papas version, Anita Harris recorded her own version which was released on the RCA Records label. The Harris version of the song debuted in the UK Top 50 dated 10 August 1968 at #46, ahead of the Mamas and the Papas version, but it would maintain a lower chart presence than Cass’s single.
British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams recorded a single version of the song for his 2013 album Swings Both Ways. The song is a duet with Lily Allen but she is only present on the album version; the single release excludes her. The song was covered by the children’s entertainers Sharon, Lois & Bram on their 1995 album Let’s Dance!. Korean composer and pianist Yiruma recorded a piano version of the song for his 2001 album First Love: Piano Collection. lyrics for dream a little dream of me