Although the song is not technically gospel music, Presley performed the song with the intensity and intonations of southern gospel. It has since appeared on various Presley gospel and/or inspirational compilations.
Edit to add:
Elvis Presley - If I can Dream (1968)
There must be lights burning brighter somewhere
Got to be birds flying higher in a sky more blue
If I can dream of a better land
Where all my brothers walk hand in hand
Tell me why, oh why, oh why can't my dream come true
There must be peace and understanding sometime
Strong winds of promise that will blow away
The doubt and fear
If I can dream of a warmer sun
Where hope keeps shining on everyone
Tell me why, oh why, oh why won't that sun appear
We're lost in a cloud
With too much rain
We're trapped in a world
That's troubled with pain
But as long as a man
Has the strength to dream
He can redeem his soul and fly
Deep in my heart there's a trembling question
Still I am sure that the answer, answer's gonna come somehow
Out there in the dark, there's a beckoning candle
And while I can think, while I can talk
While I can stand, while I can walk
While I can dream, please let my dream
Come true, right now
Let it come true right now
Oh yeah
If I Can Dream
Elvis Presley Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Got to be birds flying higher in a sky more blue
If I can dream of a better land
Where all my brothers walk hand in hand
Tell me why, oh why, oh why can't my dream come true
Oh why
There must be peace and understanding sometime
If I can dream of a warmer sun
Where hope keeps shining on everyone
Tell me why, oh why, oh why won't that sun appear
We're lost in a cloud
With too much rain
We're trapped in a world
That's troubled with pain
But as long as a man
Has the strength to dream
He can redeem his soul and fly
Deep in my heart there's a trembling question
Still I am sure that the answer, answer's gonna come somehow
Out there in the dark, there's a beckoning candle, yeah
And while I can think, while I can talk
While I can stand, while I can walk
While I can dream
Oh, please let my dream
Come true
Right now
Let it come true right now
Oh yeah
The song "If I Can Dream" by Elvis Presley is all about the desire to see a better world, a world where we all live together in peace and love. The song reflects on the current state of the world and the pain and suffering that exists. Elvis is calling for a change, for hope, and for people to come together, to support and love one another. In the lines "There must be lights burning brighter somewhere, got to be birds flying higher in a sky more blue," Elvis is expressing his belief in the possibility of a brighter future, one with peace and serenity, and not the chaos and conflict that exists now. He's hoping for a world where all his brothers and sisters walk hand in hand.
The lyrics reveal that Elvis is aware of the pain and suffering in the world, but he's refusing to be defeated by it. He's convinced that there's a way out of this spiral of darkness and despair. He sings "We're lost in a cloud with too much rain, we're trapped in a world that's troubled with pain, but as long as a man has the strength to dream, he can redeem his soul and fly." Here, He's telling us not to let go of our dreams and that there's always hope, despite the current circumstances.
The singer is convinced that his dream will come true, and he's calling out for people to share in his belief. He pleads "while I can think, while I can talk, while I can stand, while I can walk, while I can dream, oh please let my dream come true."
Overall, "If I Can Dream" is a song about hope and the power of dreams. It's a reminder that, despite the brokenness and chaos, there's always a reason to hope and keep dreaming of a better world.
Line by Line Meaning
There must be lights burning brighter somewhere
I believe that there are better places, and brighter futures yet to be discovered.
Got to be birds flying higher in a sky more blue
The world must be full of beauty, grace, and majesty beyond what we know today.
If I can dream of a better land
If only I can envision a more hopeful reality,
Where all my brothers walk hand in hand
Where all of humanity can walk together in unity and solidarity,
Tell me why, oh why, oh why can't my dream come true
Why can’t this dream of a better world be realized? Why is it so hard to achieve this better reality?
There must be peace and understanding sometime
I am convinced that one day, we can attain world peace and full understanding with one another.
Strong winds of promise that will blow away the doubt and fear
Our dreams will be driven by the winds of hope that will dispel all doubts and fears about the future.
If I can dream of a warmer sun
If only I can imagine a future filled with warmth and hope,
Where hope keeps shining on everyone
Where hope is ubiquitous, and everyone enjoys its light,
Tell me why, oh why, oh why won't that sun appear
Why can’t we achieve this radiant future which is filled with hope and warmth?
We're lost in a cloud
Humanity is currently stuck in a kind of fog, where everything is uncertain and sometimes scary.
With too much rain
We face many difficulties and challenges on our journey to find a better future.
We're trapped in a world
It can sometimes feel like our current situation is inescapable and unchangeable.
That's troubled with pain
Our world is fraught with hurt and suffering, and it can seem never-ending.
But as long as a man
But—despite all this—so long as humans are still capable of dreaming, imagining and hoping,
Has the strength to dream
as long as someone is still capable of dreaming,
He can redeem his soul and fly
then there is still a chance to turn things around, and move towards a better, brighter future. We can all 'fly' and can better ourselves in the process.
Deep in my heart there's a trembling question
I have a question that stems deep in my heart, one that is hard to articulate or ask, but that is there nonetheless.
Still I am sure that the answer, answer's gonna come somehow
Despite this trepidation, I remain convinced that the answer will come to me/ us somehow, eventually.
Out there in the dark, there's a beckoning candle, yeah
Even though it may feel as though we are in a dark, unknown place, there is yet a glimmer of hope from far-off that beckons us to keep moving towards a better future.
And while I can think, while I can talk
As long as Ii still have the ability to communicate and have thoughts,
While I can stand, while I can walk
As long as I am still mobile and standing,
While I can dream
As long as I still have my imagination and my dreams,
Oh, please let my dream
I implore the universe—please, let me have this dream
Come true
and let it become a reality.
Right now
May it become true urgently and immediately
Let it come true right now
may my dream become true right away
Oh yeah
Yes, it should happen. It's necessary.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Walter Earl Brown
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Feeling-ie6cu
@@benmoore42 Yes. Elvis devoted himself to film acting for quite some time in the 60s. “Although there were good songs and hit songs during the Elvis movie era.”
But Elvis evolved in the 60's and 70's and accomplished many great things.
In the 70's Elvis was crazy about concerts, playing big shows like Madison Square Garden and Aloha From Hawaii.
He could do almost anything. Jailhouse Rock, if i can dream, its now or never, blue moon, surrender, one of his best songs, but there were many other great songs as well. I think Elvis' take on funk is perfection. "I Got A Feeling In My Body 1974". Elvis focused on country in the 70's. Elvis was a perfectionist in song interpretation and recording. His voice was deep and one of the most soulful singers. passion, heart and soul.
Deep Purple's lead singer and frontman, Ian Gillan, a damn good singer in his own right, said: " he was the greatest singer that ever lived."
Henry Pleasants, Classical Music Critic in his book “The Great American Popular Singers” (1974). Elvis had a magnificent voice and towards the end of his life, he enjoyed singing in a somewhat operatic style, displaying his amazing range. Opera star Kiri Te Kanawa told Michael Parkinson that the young Elvis had the greatest voice she had ever heard. The tenor Placido Domingo similarly enthused in an interview in Spanish magazine Hola in 1994: “His was the one voice I wish to have had.” Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel told The New York Times in 2007 that Presley was: “very classically orientated with his voice and diction and very sincere and wanting to get everything perfect.”
The australian Elvis Network there is an article called "the 50 voices of Elvis" and a lot of voice specialists (great) oppinion of Elvis. Pawarotti is on record saying " I can't sing as Elvis, but he can sing as I !" Elvis was not an opera singer and whether or not he could have been does not matter. What made him so different was not his so-called opera singer range but the utter freedom of his singing.
"People will often say that opera singers sound too stiff and operatic when singing contemporary music. This is because the vowels in an operatic style tend to be more open, whereas in a rock style singers tend to thin out the vowel. There is nothing wrong, and everything right, in opening the vowel in the higher register so that the higher notes can be sustained. Elvis Presley was very open in his singing style even though he was 'the' rock and roller." - Brian Gilbertson, world-famous voice teacher
Record producer John Owen Williams says of Elvis: "People talk of his range and power, his ability and ease in hitting the high notes. But the real difference between Elvis and other singers was that he could sing majestically in any style, be it rock, country, or R&B – because he had soul. He sang from the heart. And that is what made him the greatest singer in the history of popular music.”
Only singer in music Hall of Fame Rock, Country, Blues, Gospel.
"I taught him some lyrics in Spanish and he learned them. I wrote it for him the way it was sung (phonetically). He was very talented. It was very difficult Mexican music." --Manny Lopez, RCA vibraphone recording artist known as the King of the Cha Cha Cha, explaining how, under his tutelage, Elvis sang the Mexican standard, Guadalajara, (1963) in Spanish, like an authentic Mariachi, as published in Las Vegas' The Desert Sun, on March 16, 2007.
Elvis' lowest effective note was a low-G, as heard on 'He'll Have To Go' (1976); on 'King Creole' (1958), he growls some low-F's; going up, his highest full-voiced notes were the high-B's in 'Surrender' (1961) and 'Merry Christmas Baby' (1971), the high-G at the end of 'My Way' (1976 live version), and the high-A of 'An American Trilogy' (1972); using falsetto, Elvis could reach at least a high-E, e.g, as in 'Unchained Melody' (1977), so, it was very nearly a three-octave range, although more practically two-and-a-half'. (George Barbel).
In his voice, he possessed the most beautiful musical instrument, and the genius to play that instrument perfectly; he could jump from octave to countless other octaves with such agility without voice crack, simultaneously sing a duet with his own overtones, rein in an always-lurking atomic explosion to so effortlessly fondle, and release, the most delicate chimes of pathos. Yet, those who haven't been open (or had the chance) to explore some of Elvis' most brilliant work - the almost esoteric ballads and semi-classical recordings - have cheated themselves out of one of the most beautiful gifts to fall out of the sky in a lifetime. Fortunately, this magnificent musical instrument reached its perfection around 1960, the same time the recording industry finally achieved sound reproduction rivaling that of today. So, it's never too late to explore and cherish a well-preserved miracle, as a simple trip to the record store will truly produce unparalleled chills and thrills, for the rest of your life; and then you'll finally understand the best reason this guy never goes away. (Mike Handley,'The Jim Bohannon Show', Westwood One Network)
On his live versions of songs like 'How Great Thou Art' (1975), 'Unchained Melody' (1976) and 'Hurt' (1977), you will be able to hear how high he can go; 'What Now My Love' really his true vocal power. (Cory Cooper on Elvis Presley's vocal range, as published February 4, 2005).
"Even in his laziest moments, Presley was a master of intonation and phrasing, delivering his rich baritone with a disarming naturalness. And when he caught a spark from his great T.C.B. Band, Presley could still out-sing anyone in American pop. You can hear it here on inspired versions of Muddy Waters' Got My Mojo Working, Wayne Carson's Always on My Mind, Chuck Berry's Promised Land, McCartney's Lady Madonna, Percy Mayfield's Stranger in My Own Hometown, Dennis Linde's Burning Love and Joe South's Walk a Mile in My Shoes..."
"Presley's voice was remarkable in the sense that, through it, he touched people in a way only great artists can do. (In fact), the people he touched are as diverse as humanity itself and, because of that his popularity has transcended race, class, national boundaries, and culture. There is no simple answer about why that is so, all I can say is he had that magic. - John Bakke, professor emeritus of the University of Memphis, in an interview with the US State Department, transcripted by UNUSINFO on July 18, 2006 on the legacy of Elvis Presley.
@Feeling-ie6cu
Elvis is one of the greatest legends.
1 out of every 3 records sold in the U.S. in 1977 was an Elvis record. If soundscan had been around, Elvis would have had no less than 40 albums on the hot 100 at the same time. The Beatles haven’t even come close to that.
At no other time in music history in western culture did the sale of guitars ever explode or increase as they did when Elvis burst onto the scene.
On Elvis’ records was where his guitarist, Scotty Moore, invented rock and roll guitar. Anyone who can read sheet music knows that Moore initiated the technique known as “power chording”. It’s an alternate chord figure that goes with everything. It’s mostly used by heavy metal and Punk Rock guitar.
He didn’t write a song but his sheer raw performing talent, his phrasing of a song and ability to make a song absolutely his were all so extraordinary that someone like Chuck Berry - who was a legend and who wrote all of his own songs - still said that Elvis was ‘the best and the best there ever will be
He became one of the most significant pop culture icons of the 20th century before passing away at the young age of 42.
To this day, he remains the best-selling solo artist of all time, racking up an estimated 600 million to one billion in album sales.
It’s not that he was the first to be associated with the term Rock and Roll; in fact, Rocking and Rolling had been around since the early 1900s as a descriptive of the spiritual excitement of African-American church services.“I don’t think there is a musician today that hasn’t been affected by Elvis’ music. His definitive years – 1954-57 – can only be described as rock’s cornerstone. He was the original cool.” (Brian Setzer)
“Heartbreak Hotel” had a colossal impact – both on Elvis’ career and on rock & roll history. It was Elvis’ first nationwide hit after a string of regional successes, and it changed the lives of countless future stars – John Lennon, George Harrison, Keith Richards and Robert Plant have all proclaimed its transformative effect. Elton John, recalling the day he first heard the song, said, “That weekend, my mum came home with ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ and that changed my life. … Elvis Presley changed everyone’s life. I mean, there would be no Beatles, there would be no Hendrix. There would be no Dylan.” Paul McCartney once declared it nothing less than the most important artistic creation of the modern era.
“On July 5th, 1954, at Sun Studios in Memphis, Elvis Presley, guitarist Scotty Moore, and bassist Bill Black were horsing around with ‘That’s All Right,’ a tune by bluesman Arthur Crudup, when producer Sam Phillips stopped them and asked, ‘What are you doing?’” Rolling Stone said. “‘We don’t know,’ they said. Phillips told them to ‘back up and do it again.’ Bridging black and white, country and blues, Presley’s sound was playful and revolutionary, charged by a spontaneity and freedom that changed the world. He released four more singles on Sun — including definitive reinventions of Wynonie Harris’ ‘Good Rockin’ Tonight’ and Junior Parker’s ‘Mystery Train’ — before moving on to immortality at RCA. They’re all here on a collection that serves as well as anything out there as a definitive chronicle of the birth of rock ‘n’ roll.” It’s notable Rolling Stone sees Elvis as having created rock ‘n’ roll.
Brian Setzer, “Everything in popular music is a tribute to Elvis”
Carl Perkins, “Everyone has their own ideas about what rock is. But make no mistake, The first time anyone ever did what was called rock-a-billy was when Elvis, Scotty and the boys started recording”
Roy Orbison, “Elvis was the firstest with the mostest”…
Dick Clark, “I know he didn’t write the songs but there isn’t anybody or act in rock and roll history that was more influential than Elvis” ca.1990
“There are some songs only Elvis could sing” Dick Clark, ca. 1987
Lennon, “Before Elvis there was nothing”
Bob Dylan, “I don’t look at myself as a ‘poetic genius’ ‘voice of a generation” or anything like that, I just want to be Elvis”….as told to Ed Bradley of 60 minutes around 1997
Bobby Womack black performer and producer, “Elvis sent a shockwave through the black community like nobody I have ever heard before. Now that’s power”
B.B.King, “Elvis had an influence on all of us. They didn’t make a mistake when they called him the king”
Glen Campbel, “Elvis is the best singer that ever lived”
Writer of Mary in The Morning, “I think Elvis was the best singer ever”
Trisha Yearwood, “You’ve got to be pretty bold to try and take on an Elvis vocal performance”
“Elvis had an influence on everybody with his musical approach. He broke the ice for all of us.”—Al Green
“Elvis is the best ever, the most original.” —Jim Morrison
“Elvis Presley possessed genuine rhythm guitar chops” — Johnny Cash
“Nobody can sing blues better than Elvis”. —Jackie Wilson,
"Nobody can sing the gospel better than Elvis" -Mahalia Jackson
“I remember Elvis as a young man hanging around the Sun Studios. Even then, I knew this kid had a tremendous talent. He was a dynamic young boy. I was a tremendous fan, and had Elvis lived, there would have been no end to his inventiveness.”—B.B. King
“He was a unique artist, an original in an area of imitators.”—Mick Jagger
“He was just amazing and spectacular. He really opened the door to my whole love of music. Because of him, and because of the choice of his material, I found Smiley Lewis [and] all those great singers.”—Robert Plant
“Elvis was the king. No doubt about it. People like myself, Mick Jagger and all the others only followed in his footsteps.”—Rod Stewart
“You have no idea how great he is, really you don’t. You have no comprehension—it’s absolutely impossible. I can’t tell you why he’s so great, but he is. He’s sensational.”—Phil Spector
“There have been a lotta tough guys. There have been pretenders. And there have been contenders. But there is only one king.”—Bruce Springsteen
“I wasn’t just a fan, I was his brother. There’ll never be another like that soul brother.”—James Brown
“When I first heard Elvis’ voice, I just knew that I wasn’t going to work for anybody; and nobody was going to be my boss…Hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail.”—Bob Dylan
“Elvis Presley is like the ‘Big Bang’ of rock ’n’ roll. It all came from there and what you had in Elvis Presley is a very interesting moment because, really, to be pretentious about it for a minute, you had two cultures colliding there. You had a kind of white, European culture and an African culture coming together—the rhythm, OK,, of black music and the melody chord progressions of white music, just all came together in that kind of spastic dance of his. That was the moment.” —Bono
“Elvis is the greatest cultural force in the 20th century. He introduced the beat to everything, music, language, clothes, it’s a whole new social revolution – the ’60s comes from it.”—Leonard Bernstein
@armandoluevano6452
Hits different after the movie .
@SRLTUESDAYS
i cried in the cinema during this scene
@eliontopyeah
100%
@dawnraid7496
I cried as well. Two different emotions and meaning in one song. Apart from his effort to put ppl together during the crisis thru the song, he also tells how hard and why is he dream kept taken down. He tried to let us know what he actually felt actually.
@free1k821
U aint lyint bruv
@jamestyson458
I get misty eye everytime I watch this. Because Elvis was truly talented and he left us way too soon.
@DropTheMike53
After seeing the 2022 Elvis movie, I realized how much they nailed this scene. This is amazing
@chelseaphillips7459
Brought tears to my eyes, it was so beautiful!
@sizzles6006
was amazing, movie was just incredible
@edahandankocanoglu8607
I ran back home to watch this and cry more :')