If I Can Dream

'If I Can Dream' has become one of my favorite Elvis songs; it's a far cry from 'Jailhouse Rock' or 'Polk Salad Annie', or even 'In the Ghetto'. He first sang it in his 1968 Comeback Special, in the year of the Tet offensive in Vietnam, the year of Martin and Bobby's assassinations. What strikes me is that it's been almost 40 years since it came out and the lyrics are still as powerful as they were then.



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
All 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'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.