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

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

, written by Walter Earl Brown of The Skylarks 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, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

's 1963 "

I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a Public speaking, 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, Kin ...

" 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, and also a short time after Robert Kennedy's assassination. The recording was first released to the public as the finale of Presley's ''

'68 Comeback Special ''Singer Presents ... Elvis'', commonly referred to as the 68 Comeback Special'', is an Elvis Presley concert television special that aired on NBC on December 3, 1968. It marked Presley's return to live performance after a seven-year p ...

''.

History

Composer Billy Goldenberg 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". According to Steve Binder, who directed Elvis' ''68 Comeback Special'', the song was also motivated by the assassination of Robert Kennedy which occurred a few weeks prior to its recording. Binder claimed in a 2005 interview that "One night when we were rehearsing, the television set was on the other room and all of a sudden there was this moment of silence. And I said, 'I think Bobby Kennedy's just been shot'. And we all rushed into the other office and that's exactly what happened. They had live at the Ambassador Hotel, Kennedy making his speech. We were in the piano room at the time, but there was just something weird that evening and I just sensed something had gone wrong. Then we spent the whole night basically talking about the Kennedy assassination, of both Bobby and John." 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 Colonel Thomas Andrew Parker (born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk; June 26, 1909 January 21, 1997) was a Dutch people, Dutch talent manager and concert promoter, best known as the manager of Elvis Presley. Parker was born in the Netherlands and Il ...

heard the demo of the song sent by Earl Brown, he said: "This ain't Elvis' kind of song." Elvis was also there, and after countering Parker's argument, pleaded: "Let me give it a shot, man." Binder claimed that Parker in fact wanted Elvis to "come out in a tux and sing Christmas songs." Earl Brown said while Elvis recorded the song, he saw tears rolling down the cheeks of the backing vocalists. 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, who was associated with Elvis Presley and was a member of Presley's Memphis Mafia from the latter part of the 1960s. His other clients have included ...

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” 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, also known as simply the 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), o ...

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 r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

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

Charts

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

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. In 2015, an orchestrated version was released on the album of the same name.

Cover versions

* In 1990,

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow ( ; born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer with a career that spans over sixty years. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Looks Like We Made It", "Brandy (Scott ...

's cover reached #81 on the UK Singles Chart. * Michael Ball's version went to #51 in the UK in 1992. * Christian rock band Mad at the World covered the song on their 1992 album, '' Through the Forest''. * Della Reese covered the song on the 1999 Touched by an Angel Christmas album * A 2010 version by Terry Venables went to #23 in the UK. * At the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, Italian band

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

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

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

of the film '' Elvis''. The song reached #95 on the Lithuanian charts. *

Ed Ames Edmund Dantes Urick (July 9, 1927 – May 21, 2023), known professionally as Ed Ames or Eddie Ames, was an American pop singer and actor. He was known for playing Mingo in the television series ''Daniel Boone (1964 TV series), Daniel Boone'', and ...

on his 1969 album ''A Time For Living, A Time For Hope'' * John Raitt on his 1970 album ''The Giant'' *

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...

on the 2012 album ''The Best of Celine Dion & David Foster'' *

Michael Feinstein Michael Jay Feinstein (born September 7, 1956) is an American singer, pianist, and music Revivalist artist, revivalist. He is an archivist and interpreter for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988, he won a Drama Desk Spec ...

& Cheyenne Jackson - '' The Power of Two'' (2009) * Mojo Nixon on the 1995 album ''Whereabouts Unknown'' * Sofronio Vasquez on season 26, episode 18, of ''The Voice''.

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 written for television series Songs about Martin Luther King Jr. Songs about racism and xenophobia Songs of the Vietnam War