Elvis Presley's "If I can Dream" was a strong and very meaningful song that meant a lot for the 60's age and for the time around which it came out. The song was recorded June 1968, 2 months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr and even the name of the song is obviously in reference to the tragic event. The lyrics "If I can dream of a better land, where all my brothers walk hand in hand" is in direct relation to King's quote " I have a dream that one day [...] little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hand with little white boys and little white girls". The song was also released in the prime of Elvis' career. At that time whenever a song was released by him, everyone heard it. This song in particular hit Billboards Top 100 and stayed for 13 weeks reaching at its highest the #12 spot. To this day it is considered by many as one of his deepest songs.
Until reading this, I did not realize that Elvis Presley wrote songs with these rhetoric meanings. It is actually quite amazing that he used his position of popularity to write a song that reflected true problems of the day. His allusion to Martin Luther King Jr. gives the song much more meaning and depth.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that Elvis was alluding to MLK Jr. in this song. This reminds me of the song analysis between "Ain't no Rest for the Wicked" and "House of the Rising Sun." Throughout this course, it is very interesting to listen to songs knowing the societal context in which they were written and released.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting connection. Although the title has "dream" in it, I did not realize it was alluding to MLK's speech either. Do you think Elvis Presley meant for the song to be released with this kairos? Usually it takes a while for a song to be written and produced and released. Anyways, the speech and song was a distinct correlation and it is cool to see the relation between pop and political culture.
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