The music to “Dream a Little Dream of Me” was written by Wilbur Schwandt and Fabian Andre, two little-known musicians who were playing in a band touring the Midwest in 1930.  Legend has it they came up with the melody during a 10-minute break at a gig in Milwaukee.  Legendary lyricist Gus Kahn came up with the lyrics soon after.  Over the years, it has been recorded by such notables as Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald.  But the definitive version of the song was recorded in 1968 by the Mamas and the Papas, featuring Cass Elliott.  That recording quickly sold over 7 million copies. 

The most striking part of the melody is its unusual key change in the bridge section.  Because of that, and a few other accidentals that occur throughout the tune, the arrangement presented here uses a 1-3-5 tuning (D-F#-A), which lends chromatic possibilities to the diatonic fret pattern of the mountain dulcimer