1966.....#4 U.S. Billboard Hot 100, #4 U.S. Cash Box Top 100, #3 Canada
Original video edited and AI remastered with HQ stereo sound.
"California Dreamin'" is a song written by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips and first recorded by Barry McGuire. The best-known version is by the Mamas and the Papas, who sang backup on the original version and released it as a single in 1965. The lyrics express the narrator's longing for the warmth of Los Angeles during a cold winter in New York City. It is recorded in the key of C-sharp minor.
"California Dreamin'" became a signpost of the California sound, heralding the arrival of the nascent counterculture era. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in June 1966 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001. The song is No. 89 in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The song was written in 1963 while John Phillips and Michelle Phillips were living in New York City during a particularly cold winter, and she was missing sunny California. He would work on compositions late at night and one morning brought her the first verse. At the time, John and Michelle Phillips 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 Barry McGuire. In thanks to Adler, they sang the backing vocals to "California Dreamin'" with members of the session band The Wrecking Crew on McGuire's album This Precious Time. Adler, impressed with the Mamas and the Papas, then had the lead vocal track re-recorded with Denny Doherty singing and paired with the same instrumental and backing vocal tracks and an alto flute solo by Bud Shank, reportedly improvised. The guitar introduction was performed by P. F. Sloan. McGuire's original vocal can be briefly heard on the left channel at the beginning of the record, having not been completely erased.
The single was released in late 1965 but was not an immediate breakthrough. After gaining little attention in Los Angeles upon its release, a radio station in Boston was the catalyst to break the song nationwide. After making its chart debut in January 1966, the song peaked at No. 4 in March on both the Billboard Hot 100, lasting 17 weeks, and Cashbox, lasting 20 weeks. "California Dreamin'" and SSgt. Barry Sadler's "Ballad of the Green Berets" tied for #1 on the Cashbox end-of-the-year survey for 1966. "California Dreamin'" also reached number 23 on the UK charts upon its original release, and re-charted after its use in a Carling Premier commercial in 1997, peaking at number nine there. Billboard described the song as having "a fascinating new sound with well written commercial material" and praised Lou Adler's production." Cash Box described it as a "medium-paced, rhythmic shufflin’ romantic woeser with a plaintive, lyrical undercurrent."
Michelle Phillips wrote the lyrics, "Well, I got down on my knees, and I pretend to pray," but Cass Elliot had sung "began" on the original recording and had continued doing so on tour until corrected by Phillips.

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