Although she’ll forever be known as “Mama Cass,” Cass Elliot hated being called “Mama,” especially after The Mamas and the Papas’ breakup in 1968. She really wanted to shed the moniker, but after five years it seemed like “Mama” Cass was here to stay. In all honesty, her years in The Mamas and the Papas were not happy ones. Yes, the music that they made was incredible, and when the times were good, they were really good. But, behind the sunshine pop and perfect harmonies, the drama endured by the members of the group was anything but harmonious. Although everyone in the Mamas and the Papas left the group with their own emotional scars from the toxic situation they were a part of, Cass got the brunt of the hurt and was left with a lot of distrust, betrayal and heartache. However, as the California Dream was coming to an end, Cass Elliott would prove to be the most durable member of The Mamas and the Papas.
In fact, it was Cass, finally fed up with years of disrespect from John Phillips, that issued the death blow that ended The Mamas and the Papas. Lore has it that the final fall out between Cass and Phillips happened at a party when Mick Jagger had asked Cass about her 1967 legal issues in England over stolen hotel linin in which Cass was arrested, strip searched and held in jail overnight, forcing the Mamas and the Papas to cancel a show at the Royal Albert Hall. As Cass was relaying the details of the story to Jagger, Papa John interrupted Cass and condescendingly told her “You aren’t telling the story right.” Well, after years of putting up with Phillips’ repeated abusive attitude towards her, Cass had finally had enough of him. Cass lost her tempter on Phillips in front of the entire party and told him that she was done with him and the whole group and left the party. This marked the official end of The Mamas and the Papas, although the band would be forced to come together again the next year to put out one final album to meet contractual obligations.
As the news that the Mamas and the Papas were essentially finished, their label, Dunhill Records saw Cass as being the most marketable member of the band and the one most likely to spin off to a solo career. Not only was Cass the most visually recognizable member in the group, she was also beloved by both her fanbase as well as the professionals that personally knew her. With a huge personality, a wild sense of humor and an ability to connect with seemingly anyone, everyone who ever came in contact with Cass Elliott seemed to love her. But, even more important than her mass popularity, Dunhill was especially pleased with the critical and commercial success of “Dream a Little Dream of Me” from The Mamas and the Papas’ 1968 album “Papas and Mamas.”
When The Mamas and the Papas recorded ‘Dream a Little Dream of Me,” it was little more than an afterthought which came about after Michelle Phillips had noticed a notice for the death of the song’s co-writer Fabian Andre. When she was a little girl living with her family in Mexico City, Andre had been a friend of Michelle’s father, and the memory of him brought “Dream a Little Dream of Me” to the surface. Having had such nostalgic hits as “Born to Be Unhappy,” “Dedicated to the One I Love,” and “Sing For Your Supper” as part of their repertoire, the group found themselves fiddling with “Dream a Little Dream of Me” and it made the final cut of the album.
Composed by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt, with lyrics by Gus Kahn in 1931, “Dream a Little Dream of Me” was first recorded by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra who had immediate success with it. Over the next few decades the song would be covered by a wide range of artists including Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Doris Day, Dean Martin and Nat King Cole and it eventually became a fixture of the great American Songbook. But despite being a song from another era, The Mamas and the Papas version of the song would eventually become the most successful version of the song ever recorded.
Not intended to be a single, “Dream a Little Dream of Me” essentially became a Cass Elliot solo piece with Phillips doing a little introduction to her in the opening moments. However, Dunhill executives took a second listen to the track after album’s first single “Safe in My Garden” about the East LA Walkout Riots, had failed to chart and was deemed by the upper office to be The Mamas and the Papas’ first flop (ironically, I consider “Safe in My Garden” to be one of The Mama and the Papas’ finest records and I can’t figure why it didn’t connect with audiences). It was rumored that two factors played into the unlikely choice of “Dream a Little Dream of Me” to be the next single. First, it was the furthest thing to “Safe In My Garden” than anything else on the album and, second, the dysfunction within the group was already so noticeable to others that Dunhill was already hedging their bets on who would be the breakout solo star of The Mamas and the Papas once everything imploded, and everybody was putting their money on Cass.
Well, as a single, “Dream a Little Dream of Me” defied all expectations and became a huge radio hit in the summer of 1968, peaking at #12 on the Billboard Charts and becoming the final record credited to the Mamas and the Papas to reach the top 40. As The Mamas and the Papas were falling apart, it became clear that Cass Elliot still had what it took to climb to the top of the heap.
So, with the success of “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” and Cass finally unshackled from The Mamas and the Papas to do whatever she wanted, Dunhill Records signed Cass to a three album solo contract within weeks of the group’s breakup. Furthermore, Cass was given complete creative control of the project and to go any direction she wanted with one stipulation – the album was going to be called “Dream a Little Dream” and have a rerecorded version of the hit song to capitalize on its success. Cass had other ideas, but ultimately agreed to this and set forth into being a solo performer for the first time in her show business career.
For her solo album Cass wanted to make a departure from the pop music she had made popular with The Mamas and the Papas and to harness the sounds that were coming out of her own neighborhood. Cass Elliott had taken up residence in Laurel Canyon which was becoming the home base for a new sort of music that had grown out of the folk scene. Artists such as Joni Mitchell, Gram Parsons, Carole King, Canned Heat, Buffalo Springfield, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were creating music that had a rootsy flavor to it, but with introspective lyrics and modern themes. Although Mama Cass seemed to be the outsider into this movement, when looking at the trajectory of her career up until then, moving into this direction was the obvious next step for Cass. Cass came up with a concept to fill the album full of songs written by her neighbors in Laurel Canyon, and initially wanted to call the album “In the Words of My Friends.” She also wanted to branch out from the traditional folk sound and to experiment with jazz, country, gospel, and bluegrass. For the album Cass was paired with John Simon who had just produced “Songs From Big Pink” for The Band, “Bookends” with Simon and Garfunkel and Leonard Cohen’s debut release, “The Songs of Leonard Cohen” making him one of the hottest producers in the canyon. Simon gave Cass carte blanche as she began to gather songs written by John Sebastian, Leonard Cohen, Graham Nash, Cyrus Faryar, Richard Manuel and John Hartford. She also included a song, titled “What Was I Thinking Of,” which was written by her younger sister Leah.
Cass and Joe Simon went into Wally Heider’s Hollywood based recording studio in October 1968 and recorded the album over ten days. For the recording, Cass wanted to do all of her performances completely live, which was, again, a moment of defiance to her Mamas and the Papas experience where she was forced to do take after take of Phillips intricate arrangements. Meanwhile, Simon put an extra layer in the album by adding sound effects between the songs to help create a sort of narrative to the album.
When the album was completed, Cass and Simon had put together a pretty solid product which was really unlike anything that the public had seen from Cass Elliot before. The album was thoughtful and often emotional. However, when it was presented to the Dunhill executive, the album wasn’t at all what they were expecting. Dunhill wasn’t looking for the authentic Cass Elliot. They were looking for Mama Cass, the colorful and larger than life den mother of Haight Ashbury with her big voice and pop harmonies. They were not expecting something deep, reflective or introspective and they didn’t know how they were going to sell it.
Immediately relations between Dunhill and Cass began to sour once marketing got involved with the album. Considered to “serious” for the pop audience but feeling that Cass was to “camp” for the serious music listener, the marketing department also felt that the album was to “underground” for a mainstream audience and began promoting it to the alternative market which leaned towards sounds like Frank Zappa, The Velvet Underground and The Seeds. But to make matters even worse, the marketing department credited the album to “Mama” Cass Elliot. Although free of The Mamas and the Papas, it didn’t look like Cass was ever going to escape that awful name.
With Dunhill’s lack of enthusiasm for the final product, “Dream a Little Dream” never saw its full potential with the record buying public and only made it to #87 on the sales charts. But, despite this, the album was still deemed a success due to interest from Cass’ core fan base and the album still managed to sell 150 thousand copies. Still popular with the public, as well as beloved by the entertainment community, interest in Cass’ solo “comeback” was high. This led to Cesar’s Palace signing Cass to a three week engagement at $40 thousand dollars a week! Having never performed as a solo artist before, the Caesar’s Palace engagement was daunting to Cass, and it was seen as the test that would make or break Mama Cass. Unfortunately, disaster struck, and it almost nearly broke her.
In preparation for the show, Cass went on a crash diet and reportedly lost approximately one hundred pounds in six weeks, but as a result developed a stomach ulcer and began to have issues with her throat. Confined to a bed for three weeks, she was put on a diet of cream and milk and put back on some weight but continued to suffer from fatigue and vocal issues. Unable to travel to Las Vegas, a musical director cobbled together the program without her until she was able to finally join the production three days before the opening of the show. But despite a tight schedule of rehearsals over the days before showtime, Cass’ voice gave out before they even got through one rehearsal. Cass was back in her room within hours living on tea and lemon in the hope that her voice would return before the show opened that weekend.
On opening night, a sold out audience of 950 attendees filled Caesar’s Palace. Amongst the audience was reported to be notable friends such as Sammy Davis Jr, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Mia Farrow, Liza Minelli and Peter Lawford. Cass made it to the stadium but was suffering backstage with a raging fever and her voice hadn’t returned. Although friends advised her to cancel the concert due to her condition, Cass insisted that she had to go on. However, some reports said as a way to give her that boost of adrenaline that she felt she needed, she injected a dose of heroin right before going on stage. With no voice, little emotion and looking like hell, Cass went on stage and did the show, but it was the disaster that it was destined to be. She managed to do the second show later that night, but after that it was over. The rest of the engagement was cancelled.
The press was brutal to Cass, and the news spread quickly that Cass Elliot’s solo career had sunk before it had even sailed. Cass went into a deep funk, and with her spirits at an all-time low headed back to Los Angeles. Apparently upon her return she found out that the problem with her voice and the infection that was raging through her was a result of inflamed tonsils! Cass needed her tonsils removed and went in for treatment. A simple explanation, but was it too late to save her solo career?
Contracted for two more albums, Dunhill was on the line to put out more solo releases from Cass, but with the mediocre performance of “Dream a Little Dream” and the PR disaster of the Caesar’s Palace debacle, the executives were demanding a tighter grip on creative content and image. If Cass was going to go on, she needed a more controlled marketing makeover which resulted in pushing Cass in a direction she did not want to go in. Ironically this would be the success Cass was looking for and after a stormy year of creative highs but career lows, Cass’ successful final act was yet to come.
Despite its strength, “Dream a Little Dream” remains to be seen as a misstep in Cass Elliot’s career. But, it’s an album that needs to be rediscovered and relistened to as in its grooves sits Cass Elliott in her purest and rawest state and when comparing it to her more marketable releases which would follow, the album is her strongest solo effort and a intimate look of the Cass Elliott we barely got to know and sadly never got more of.
