"If I Can Dream" is a song made famous by

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

, written by Walter Earl Brown for the singer and notable for its similarities with

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

's 1963 "

I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, Martin Luther King Jr., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called ...

" speech. The song was published by Elvis Presley's music publishing company Gladys Music. It was recorded by Presley in June 1968, just two months after King's assassination. The recording was first released to the public as the finale of Presley's '' '68 Comeback Special''.

History

Composer

Billy Goldenberg William Leon Goldenberg (February 10, 1936 – August 3, 2020) was an American composer and songwriter, best known for his work on television and film. Early life Goldenberg was born in February 10, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, ...

and lyricist Walter Earl Brown were asked to write a song to replace "I'll Be Home for Christmas" as the grand finale on NBC's ''Elvis'', taped from June 20–23, 1968 (now also known as ''‘68 Comeback Special''). Knowing about Presley’s fondness for

, and about his devastation related to his then-recent assassination in Memphis, Brown wrote "If I Can Dream" with Presley in mind. After Presley heard the demo, he proclaimed "I'm never going to sing another song I don't believe in. I'm never going to make another movie I don't believe in". Goldenberg removed his name from the credits to avoid a publishing dispute. The song was published by Presley's company Gladys Music, Inc. After

Colonel Tom Parker Thomas Andrew Parker (born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk; June 26, 1909 January 21, 1997),

heard the demo of the song sent by Earl Brown, he said: "This ain't Elvis' kind of song." Elvis was also there, and he countered Parker's argument, then he pleaded: "Let me give it a shot, man." Earl Brown said while Elvis recorded the song, he saw tears rolling down the cheeks of the

backing vocalists A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

. One of them whispered to him: "Elvis never sung with so much emotion. Looks like he means every word." Presley associate

Jerry Schilling Jerry Schilling (born February 6, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American talent manager, best known for his association with Elvis Presley and as a member of Presley's Memphis Mafia from the latter part of the 1960s. His other clients ha ...

has said, "I consider Elvis to be a writer on this song. That song was him expressing how he truly felt."

Recording success

After filming for the TV special was complete with its eventual editing, the song was released as a single with “

Edge of Reality Edge of Reality, Ltd. was an American video game developer founded in 1998 and based in Austin, Texas that developed video games for the Nintendo 64, GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox game consoles. It also had games in development for PlaySt ...

” as the flip side on 22 November 1968, with the TV special airing 11 days later. It charted on Billboard's

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

for 3 months and a week, peaking at #12, with more than one million sales; although the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

certified the song as only gold (500,000 units shipped) as of March 27, 1992. In Canada, the song peaked at #6 on ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

''s top singles chart, maintaining that position for two weeks.

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Compilations

The song appeared in many Presley compilations, of which many are related to the '68 Comeback Special or Inspirational collections.

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

remastered the song in 2004. The song is referred to as stereo mix (as opposed to the 2004 remaster honorific) in '68 Comeback Special releases after 2004. Other compilations, such as ''Platinum: A Life In Music'', include alternative takes on the song less polished than the official takes. For instance, the background vocalists are not present in most of these takes, specifically with "If I Can Dream". According to unsubstantiated rumors, Presley nailed the perfect take after the backing vocalists left the studio.

Cover versions

* In 1990,

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...

's cover reached #81 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. *

Michael Ball Michael Ashley Ball (born 27 June 1962) is an English singer, presenter and actor. He made his West End debut in 1985 playing Marius Pontmercy in the original London production of ''Les Misérables'', and went on to star in 1987 as Raoul in ...

's version went to #51 in the UK in 1992. * A 2010 version by

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...

went to #23 in the UK. * At the

Eurovision Song Contest 2022 The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Turin, Italy, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Måneskin. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and h ...

, Italian band

Måneskin Måneskin are an Italian Rock music, rock band formed in Rome in 2016. The band are composed of vocalist Damiano David, bassist Victoria De Angelis, guitarist Thomas Raggi, and drummer Ethan Torchio. Performing in the streets in their early days, ...

performed a version of the song that was later included in the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of the film ''

Elvis Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

''. The song reached #95 on the Lithuanian charts. TV Commercials aired in 2022 for Samsung featured the song.

References

External links

* {{authority control Songs about dreams 1960s ballads Elvis Presley songs Barry Manilow songs Michael Ball songs Protest songs Anti-war songs 1968 singles 1968 songs Pop ballads RCA Records singles Songs from television series Songs about Martin Luther King Jr. Songs against racism and xenophobia