The Impossible Dream: an autistic song?

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The Impossible Dream is one of my favorite songs ever. But nobody seems to sing it right. So I wonder, is there such a thing as an autistic song that NTs cannot understand?

OK, Impossible Dream is not about autism, but it is about obsession. The whole point of Impossible Dream is obsession. Here is a man who follows his dream, EVEN THOUGH HE FAILS EVERY TIME. He ignoring every rational reason to stop. His quest consumes him: he lives in his own world.

I am looking for a good version on Amazon MP3. I started listening at number 1, and I am now listening to track 451 and not one person gets it! None of them understand the words they are singing! None of them know what an obsession is!

Most of the songs are treated as love songs. Half of them even remove the words "to love pure and chaste from afar." In their version Don Quixote is relaxed, confident, romantic, the kind of guy who seduces the girl. No no no no no! Don Quixote is obsessive! He fails! He does not fit in! People think he's mad! No girl would ever like him, except, as in "Man of L Mancha", she comes to accept his goal, his quest.

Some of the songs are duets, or by choirs. No no no! The guy is a loner! That is the whole point! He follows his quest when nobody else will support him! Making it a duet or a choir piece misses the point! The same goes for instrumental versions - the lyrics are the most important part!

Some of the versions are easy listening. No no no! The Impossible Dream is the very opposite of easy listening! It should be "impossibly difficult" listening! To challenge and horrify and inspire and move you at the deepest level!

The remaining versions are all rich vibrato where successful singers show off their unusual talent. No! No! This misses the point again! If he is a successful and talented man then the song loses its meaning! The song is about a failure! A failure who does NOT seem attractive on the outside! He seems pathetic and confused and old and weak on the outside, and it is only his refusal to give up that matters.

An authentic version of Impossible Dream would have an ordinary singer. Not a trained voice. Somebody who normally could not make a record. but their inner fire gives the song its power, and makes the notes incredibly strong and beautiful and unforgettable. I remember hearing a version like that once. It was on a religious radio station, where the words were more important than the delivery. The guy was obviously not famous. It doesn't look like Amazon has it on MP3, and I can't find anything like it on Youtube either. As soon as I hear vibrato or a rich backing track I know the singer doesn't get it.

All I want is a version of the song that sounds like the words: an ordinary person, not a Great Singer, not a smooth lover, an awkward, outwardly weak man who makes the song real by his inner passion.

After listening to 451 songs I think that NTs just do not understand obsession.

Last edited by trappedinhell on 21 Aug 2012, 6:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

Why not just go with the original cast recording?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGzqbEeVWhs[/youtube]

On as side note, I've never been a fan of show tunes, but I did like the one song "I, Don Quixote" from this musical, probably because they performed it in an episode of Quantum Leap.

As far as the lyrics to the impossible dream, they're a double-edged sword. On one hand they seem admirable, a man who doesn't care how out of step he is with others, or how crazy they think he is. He gets "it," even if all those around him don't, and he can't not be what he is. In that regard I think many here can related.

Of course, it could also be seen as nutty, delusional self-righteousness. The idea that "I've closed my mind to other point's of view, I know I'm right, I refuse to hear any less. I have to do this and any objection is wrong, I'm not listening."

Richard Kiley is a superb singer. That's the problem. For me he is not Don Quixote. Quixote was a weak man, a man without talent. I cannot imagine Richard Kiley failing at anything. The same goes for all the other highly talented tenors.

Ironically, Wikipedia says Rex Harrison was the original choice. I think he would be perfect, precisely because he cannot sing (and is a little pompous) but he is good at conviction: it really worked in My Fair Lady.

I have to conclude that most people don't see Don Quixote as I do.

I think the real question is how does Don Quixote see himself?

He sees the whore as a princess, the windmill as a dragon. Perhaps the way the song sounds is how that weak, frail little man imagines it should sound.

I agree about show tunes. I occasionally hear one version of one song that matters (there was one very beautiful version of "I Dreamed a Dream" that I can't track down), but al the rest do nothing for me. They all seem shallow and dishonest to me.

I agree that this is a danger. I think it depends on the quest.

Also, everybody has to close their mind at some point: if we invest a lot in something (e.g. a career or a marriage) then we have to decide at some point "this is what I will do" and go with it. We then tell ourselves that we are right and do not listen to alternatives. I have never met a successful businessman, politician or leader in any field who seriously examined his/her core beliefs. They do that as teenagers then stick with the results for decades.

I think Don Quixote is especially good in this regard because the don was old: he did not have a wife or career that would be harmed. If he was wrong then the only person he hurt was himself.

On a related note, I should stress that if the dream really is "impossible" then it is foolish to follow. But in most cases "impossible" just means "impossible right now" - if enough people fight for it then eventually one of them will win.

Good point. But that is a knife edge decision: it is easy to slip into confidence. He is singing about something he knows will not happen, but he will do it anyway. In all the versions I can find he sounds too confident of success, too comfortable to me. It just sound like "the possible dream."

EDIT: the best version I can find is sadly not available as a download: from the 1972 movie. There is so much vulnerability and passion in the performance.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfHnzYEHAow[/youtube]

Very difficult song to sing right because of the key changes. What makes it doubly difficult is the singer sings before the key changes. In other words, there is no audible cue. Your inner ear has to hear that upcoming change. Very difficult.

Last edited by redrobin62 on 22 Aug 2012, 7:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I absolutely love this song, and have related to it ever since I first heard it when we had to sing it at school when I was 15. I love the Roberta Flack version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmj7Jmv0Sak

The song is about the fine line between idealism and insanity.
Its not about being a "loner" per se.

Like you yourself said-it is NOT about autism, it NOT about obsessive aspie special interests. But you seem to insists on reading that meaning into it anyway.

I go with the poster who said it should sound like Don Quixote would hear it in his own mind's ear- ideal and perfect and mythic.

And as red robin said-its such a difficult song that you have to be a trained singer to even try to take on the song in the first place.

Not sure what you want-but if you're looking for a raw bob dylan type singer rendering the song- it just would NOT work. Not technically, and not thematically.

Yes, I do. I think the song is strong enough to support both readings. I accept that I am in a tiny minority, judging by how every other version (apart from the 1972 movie version) goes with the mainstream view rather than the obsession view.

I find that very few songs really speak to my interests. I think I'll start a thread asking for suggestions.

That is a great scene in the film clip- vulnerable and passionate as you said.
Ill have to see if I can rent it or something.

There really is no "right or wrong" in interpreting a work of art.

But yours is a novel interpretation of the song "to dream the impossible dream".

But fyi there seems to be no shortage of songs relatable to autism/aspergers according to the inhabitants of WP. There have been more the one thread about that subject that have garnered many pages of lists of songs on this suborum.

Simon and Garfunkel's "I am a Rock" was my suggestion (others suggested it as well).

So if you're looking for "an aspie anthem" or "austism song" you can just check the back pages of this forum.

Thanks. I will!
And yes, I love that movie. Or rather, I love Peter O'Toole in that movie (and in Lawrence of Arabia).