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"California Dreamin'"
Single by The Mamas and the Papas from the album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears
Released	December, 1965
Format	Vinyl record (7") 45 RPM
Recorded	1965
Genre	pop, psychedelic pop, folk rock
Length	2:42
Label	Dunhill
Writer	John Phillips, Michelle Phillips
Producer	Lou Adler

"California Dreamin'" is a song by The Mamas & the Papas, first released in 1965. The song is #89 in Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[1]

The song was written in 1963 by John and Michelle Phillips while they were living in New York, inspired by Michelle's home sickness for California. At the time, the Phillipses were members of the folk group The New Journeymen which evolved into The Mamas and the Papas.

They earned their first record contract after being introduced to Lou Adler, the head of Dunhill Records, by the singer Barry McGuire. In thanks to Adler, they sang the backing vocals to "California Dreamin'" on McGuire's album This Precious Time. The Mamas and the Papas recorded their own version which was released in 1965. It never made it to number one, topping out at #4, but stayed on the charts for 17 weeks. McGuire later claimed that you can hear his vocals in the background on the record.^[2]

• Wes Montgomery as an intrumental.
• Benny Benassi created and underground rave anthem in 2005 based from the song
• Ace Andres --2002 album Cowboy Hat Blues features former Mamas & Papas member Jill Gibson .
• America -- Used in their live set. Dewey Bunnell handled the lead vocals and Gerry Beckley did the backgrounds.^{[citation needed]}
• American Idol Season 1 contestants.^{[citation needed]}
• Jann Arden -- 2007 album Uncover Me.
• Beach Boys -- two cover versions. One was released on a Radio Shack sampler cassette^{[citation needed]} and a re-recorded version appeared on the CD Made in The USA (1986) The music video for this latter version features cameo appearances by John Phillips, Michelle Phillips (Mamas and Papas) and Roger McGuinn (The Byrds). McGuinn also contributes a 12-string guitar solo on that version.
• The Carpenters -- rough demo version early in their career. Appears on their Gold compilation.^{[citation needed]}
• DJ Sammy -- featured on his 2002 album Heaven.
• José Feliciano -- 1968 album Feliciano! and used as the b-side of his "Light My Fire" single.^{[citation needed]}
• The Flashbulb -- album Kirlian Selections.
• The Four Tops^{[citation needed]}
• Dada -- bonus track on the reissue of El Subliminoso
• Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic -- album Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs as a guitar jam.
• Hi-Standard -- Japanese punk, 1997 EP Californian Dreamin'
• Queen Latifah -- 2004 album The Dana Owens Album.
• The Lettermen -- 1969 album I Have Dreamed.
• Mower -- heavy metal, 2006 album Not For You.^{[citation needed]}
• John Phillips -- solo acoustic version, background vocals sung in Spanish.^{[citation needed]}
• River City People -- 1990^{[citation needed]}
• The Ventures -- 1966 album Go With The Ventures -- an instrumental version
• Lee Moses -- an Atlanta R&B artist on his one release, Time and Place [1] [2]
• Bobby Womack -- R&B remake, 1968.^{[citation needed]}
• Jack Frost. A Doom metal band from Austria. In "Gloom Rock Asylum" (LP, 2000)
• Fleming & John, a folk-pop band, for the album Vietnam -- A Musical Retrospective (1998)
• Multiple techno artists
• Many jazz musicians
• Farhad Mehrad, Iranian blues singer, did an acoustic guitar cover in 1970, re-released after his death on the album Phoenix

• The song was used extensively and as a leitmotif in the Hong Kong movie Chungking Express (1994) by Wong Kar-Wai, and is often referred to as the theme song to that film.
• Congo
• Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
• Forrest Gump.
• Played by the protagonist several times in the film He Died with a Felafel in His Hand. The original version is played during the final credits.
• 2006 remake of The Hills Have Eyes.
• An episode of Jackass.
• First episode of Papa, when Han In-pyo (played by Jeong Chan) jumped about on his own bed mindlessly.
• Was the theme song for the 2001 Japanese drama Yume no California (California Dreams).
• The song is included in the soundtrack of the Argentine movie "Tango Feroz" about the life of rocker Tanguito.
• A 'tribute' to the song was done by Matt Berry in the cult show Snuff Box, with lookalikes of the band (and Matt).
• Played as an intro theme to TV coverage of the 1974 World Series, the first all-California-teams Fall Classic.
• Played as soundtrack and motif in California Dreamin' by Cristian Nemescu (2007).
• Saturday Night Live spoofed the song once.

• This song is part of the soundtrack of the FPS Men of Valor.
• This song is also available in an online music game O2Jam, remixed with more techno sounds.

• The Beach Boys' rendition of the song is mentioned to be playing in a jukebox in the Dead Milkmen's song "Punk Rock Girl."
• Is played amongst other California-themed songs in the Golden State section of Disney's California Adventure theme park.
• California Screamin' at Disney's California Adventure park gets its name from the song.
• Australian band The Smallgoods make mention of the song in a track on their album Down On The Farm.
• The song's title is used as the name of a sandwich sold at Deli counters at some Safeway supermarkets. It contains Turkey, bacon, avocado, and lettuce.
• California Dreaming is the name of a restaurant chain in South Carolina and Georgia.
• The song forms a large part of Current 93's collage album Dawn.

1. ^ The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. RollingStone.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
2. ^ Rock Family Trees, BBC, interview with McGuire, 1999

• NPR California dreamin' article
• Technical article describing how California Dreamin' was originally mixed
• facts and discussion about the song
• The Mamas & the Papas performing "California Dreamin'" from YouTube