"If I Could", lyrics and artist, sounds like Whitney

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YAHOO I THINK THIS IS IT!!!

But I'd like to know the female singer too..I'll find it...Altavista is THE BEST...really really great song btw..

Track Title: If I Could
Album Title: My World

Prime Artist: Ray Charles (Robinson)
Arranger: Jeremy Lubbock
Drums: Jeff Porcaro
Bass: Jimmy Johnson

Piano: Greg Phillinganes
Producer: Richard Perry
Written by: Ken Hirsch
Written by: Marti Sharron

Written by: Ron Miller

Lyrics:
If I could
I'd protect you from the sadness in your eyes
Give you courage in a world of compromise
Yes, I would

If I could
I would teach you all the things I've never learned
And I'd help you cross the bridges that I've burned
Yes, I would

If I could
I would try to shield your innocence from time
But the part of life I gave you isn't mine
I've watched you grow, so I could let you go

If I could
I would help you make it through the hungry years
But I know that I could never cry your tears
But I would If I could

Yes, If I live
In a time and place where you don't want to be
You don't have to walk along this road with me
My yesterday won't have to be your way

If I knew
I would try to change the world I brought you to
And there isn't very much that I could do
But I would If I could

Oh baby
Daddy wants to protect you
And help my baby through the hungriest
'Cause your part of me
And if you ever ever need
Said a shoulder to cry on
Or just someone to talk to
I'll be there, I'll be there

I didn't change your world
But I would if I could

Oh darling, I love you baby.


Transcribed by Todd Peach

Well Celine Dione did a version of it - she's not black she's canadian... and I believe that Barbara Streisand (she of funny girl) may have covered it too. Sorry but neither of them is black - but damn they can sing!!

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Thanks...and I'm sure they are both awesome but I'm equally sure the singer I heard was neither of those big voices...

I like the song so much I could probably sing it myself and love it, lol...

It's funny but there is a great Waylon Jennings song with much the same ideas, and a great cover by Willie Nelson and Leon Russell, "It's Not Supposed to Be That Way"...I'll bring the lyrics for that one too...

Actually both songs are about every person having to live his own life, and those who love him look on hurting with him (or rejoicing sometimes)...but in a sense we are each on our own...the just shall walk by his faith...sort of a takeoff on that too to me...I also know a wonderful Ogden Nash poem with the same idea...will bring it all here..JUST BECAUSE I CAN, lol...

And lovely things belong together.

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Here are the wonderful Waylon lyrics...

It's not supposed to be that way
You're supposed to know I love you
But it don't matter anyway
If I can't be there to console you.

And like the other little children
You're gonna dream a dream or two
But be careful what you're dreamin'
Or soon your dreams'll be dreamin' you.

It's not supposed to be that way
You're supposed to know I love you
But it don't matter anyway
If I can't be there to console you.

When you go out to play this evenin'
Play with fire flies till they're gone
Then you rush to meet your lover
Play with real fire till the dawn.

It's not supposed to be that way
You're supposed to know I love you
But it don't matter anyway
If I can't be there to console you...

And here is the Ogden Nash poem...about how we are all in this together...but alone too...called "Listen":

There is a knocking in the skull,
An endless silent shout
Of something beating on a wall,
And crying, "Let me out!"
That solitary prisoner
Will never hear reply.
No comrade in eternity
Can hear the frantic cry.
No heart can share the terror
That haunts his monstrous dark.
The light that filters through the chinks
No other eye can mark.
When flesh is linked with eager flesh,
And words run warm and full,
I think that he is loneliest then,
The captive in the skull.
Caught in a mesh of living veins,
In cell of padded bone,
He loneliest is when he pretends
That he is not alone.
We'd free the incarcerate race of man
That such a doom endures
Could only you unlock my skull,
Or I creep into yours.

Actually I'm a mom...wishing I could save my children...but also a human being, wishing I could save myself...end all the pain...maximize all the joy...life...is a little too full sometimes.

Maybe you heard Regina Belle's version of "If I Could" - she recorded it in 1997 on her Passion CD.