SONG INTERPRETATION

Title	When You Believe
Singer	Whitney Huston & Mariah Carey
Album	My Love Is Your Love & #1’s; O.S.T The Prince of Egypt
Released	November, 2nd 1998
Format	CD single, cassette single, 7" single
Recorded	August, 15th 1998  - New York City
Genre	Pop, R&B
Length	5:01
Label	DreamWorks
Writer(s)	Stephen Schwartz, Babyface
Producer	Babyface
Certification	Platinum (Belgium, Norway) Gold (Australia, France, Germany, Switzerland, U.S.)

“When You Believe” is a wonderful song which written by Kenneth Brian "Babyface" Edmonds (born April 10, 1958) and Stephen Schwartz. I think I was falling in love with this song, when I listen to this song at the first time. That is why, “When You Believe” becomes one of my favorite songs, also I have ever sung this song in one of singing competition and it makes me be the winner. This is such an inspiring and motivational song that tells of miracle that is: an action or event believed to be caused by God, which is impossible according to the ordinary laws of nature. Basically, this song means that everyone can feel and get miracle, if they keep their hope alive, have faith, love and just believe in miracle. Actually, this song does not have too much implicit meaning, but for further details I will give my own interpretation and interpret the meaning of each verse in this song.

(VERSE 1) Many nights we pray With no proof anyone could hear And our hearts a hopeful song We barely understood Now we are not afraid Although we know there's much to fear We were moving mountains long Before we know we could

Actually the word “we” in this song as O.S.T “The Prince of Egypt” is refers to Jewish slaves who wanted to be free from the Egyptians, but for general it can be refers to everyone who sing this song. Obviously, the first verse tells that they are keep pray and full of hope, no matter how difficult their condition (line 1-4). Also, they have no fear anymore because they have ever broken through the difficulties in their life before they expected to do that (line 5-8).

(VERSE 2) In this time of fear When prayer so often proves in vain Hope seems like the summer birds Too swiftly flown away And now I am standing here My heart's so full I can't explain Seeking faith and speaking words I never thought I'd say

The second verse tells what the singer feel when she is trap in a frightened situation. She feels that there is no answer for her prayer; as well her hope begins too quickly gone (line1-4). However, she tried to be strong and does not want to lose faith. Also, she tried to leave the past by no longer think about everything in her past (line 5-8).

(BRIDGE) They don't always happen when you ask And it's easy to give in to your fear But when you're blinded by your pain Can't see your way clear through the rain Thought of a still resilient voice Says love is very near

The bridge gives us more strength to rise from our weakness. Although the miracle (line 1 à they) do not always happen when we pray and we are not able to keep our hope (line 4), there is still one way to be strong and tough after our lowest conditions. The way is to be sure that there is love’s power which gives you a lot of pleasure and happiness (line 5-6).

(CHORUS) There can be miracles when you believe Though hope is frail it's hard to kill Who knows what miracles you can achieve When you believe Somehow you will You will when you believe

The chorus has clearest meaning among two verses and bridge. It has strong statement that there is no other way to achieve miracles, except believe in miracles. No matter whom you are, if you struggle to keep your hope alive you will get the miracles in your life. In addition, it tells us that hope is strong feeling which give you power to believe.

Then, when I think beyond, I can conclude that there is a correlation among faith, hope and love. When we lost our faith, there still a gleam of hope in our heart to bring us in resilient condition. Then, if we lost both of them, there is love which gives its power to turn on the faith and hope to just believe that there can be miracle. Hence, now these three remain: faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love. Well, this awesome song is indeed having a great meaning to motivate us. It tells us to be strong and tough people who never give up to breaking through any problems in our life. Therefore, we can achieve the miracle.