What can I do, still loving you/
It’s all a dream.

Tim Hardin’s “How Can We Hang On To A Dream” is a simple but beautiful song about a love that is falling apart. The narrator is clinging to the hope that the love can be rekindled, but we get the impression that for the woman the love is already over. The sorrow in Hardin’s voice betrays that he already knows—even though he still holds out the slimmest of hopes of reconciliation.

Both the music and the lyrics capture how surreal a breakup can seem. Your reality is changed very significantly. One day someone is the closest person to you and the next day they are out of your life forever. That reality can be devastating. Was it all a dream? I guess I have to start over again. Tomorrow is going to be so different than today.

“How Can We Hang On To A Dream” sounds so unique in its minimalism. It primarily features vocals and piano with contributions from strings and an understated percussion part. This is produced very well. It sounds very raw and there are no superfluous sounds or instruments to get in the way of the strong vocal. If there is anything lacking about this song it is its short length (2:03). Another minute and verse would have been welcome.

Hardin’s name might not sound familiar, but you’d probably recognize another all-time-great song he wrote: “Reason To Believe”.

How Can We Hang On To A Dream Lyrics

What can I say, she’s walking away,
From what we’ve seen.
What can I do, still loving you,
It’s all a dream.

How can we hang on to a dream?
How can it, will it be, the way it seems?

What can I do, she’s saying we’re through,
With how it was.
What will I try, I still don’t see why,
She says what she does.

How can we hang on to a dream?
How can it, will it be, the way it seems?

What can I say, she’s walking away,
From what we’ve seen.
What can I do, still loving you,
It’s all a dream.

How can we hang on to a dream?
How can it, will it be, the way it seems?
How can we hang on to a dream?

Songwriters: Tim Hardin