"California Dreamin'" is a song written by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips and was first recorded by Barry McGuire. However, 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 song is No. 89 in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The lyrics of the song express the narrator's longing for the warmth of Los Angeles during a cold winter in New York City.

The song became a signpost of the California sound, heralding the arrival of the nascent counterculture era.

Lyrics

All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray

I've been for a walk on a winter's day

I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A.

California dreamin' on such a winter's day

Stopped in to a church I passed along the way

Well I got down on my knees and I pretend to pray

You know the preacher liked the cold

He knows I'm gonna stay

California dreamin' on such a winter's day

All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray

I've been for a walk on a winter's day

If I didn't tell her I could leave today

California dreamin' on such a winter's day

California dreamin' on such a winter's day

California dreamin' on such a winter's day