The Prince of Egypt

Overview

Original songs are by Stephen Schwartz. The Prince of Egypt was DreamWorks' first animated movie project, released in 1998. Schwartz's songs offer much of the core emotional impact of the film, from the seven-minute opening number "Deliver Us" through the moving, academy award-winning song "When You Believe."

New Book Chronicles The Prince of Egypt's Development Story

Read about the movie's creative development in the new Stephen Schwartz biography. It includes photographs of Stephen's trip to Egypt to prepare for this movie and fascinating details on the songwriting. Defying Gravity [opens new browser window]

You'll enjoy the songs even more when you read about the songs like When You Believe, Deliver Us, All I Ever Wanted, and Through Heaven's Eyes. Lyrics for "Through Heaven's Eyes" are included.

Recordings - Soundtrack

Music CDs

The Prince of Egypt Soundtrack

BUY IN USA: 1998 soundtrack for The Prince of Egypt

BUY IN EUROPE: The Prince of Egypt Ost

• Songs by Stephen Schwartz on the album include: When You Believe (2 versions), Deliver Us/River Lullaby, All I Ever Wanted, Through Heaven's Eyes, Playing with the Big Boys, The Plagues

Recordings - "When You Believe"

LEGAL DOWNLOADS

ITUNES: Downloads: - Mariah Carey's greatest hits - Sings "When You Believe" with Whitney Houston. If you do not have iTunes installed, you need to go to the Itunes download page first and then return here for correct link.

RECORDINGS: Mariah Carey 1's - Includes "When You Believe"

KARAOKE Sing The Hits Of Whitney Houston (Karaoke)

This Whitney Houston accompaniment track recording produced by Pocketsongs includes "When You Believe." It's 4 minutes and 36 seconds long and starts in the key of D and then shifts to F#

Alison Jiear includes "When You Believe" Alison Jiear - Forgiveness Embrace (opens new browser window to Dress Circle, London, UK) [new browser window]

Note from Carol de Giere, Webmaster: British diva Alison Jiear offers a most beautiful rendition of this moving song from The Prince of Egypt on her album, which also includes Schwartz songs "Forgiveness' Embrace" and "Since I Gave My Heart Away." For "When You Believe" Ms. Jiear is accompanied by Sylvia Young's Theatre School Junior Choir and harpist Hugh Webb.

DVD and Video

Prince of Egypt - DVD or VHS Video, DreamWorks, 1999

USA and Canada: DVD Buy The Prince of Egypt

VHS Buy The Prince of Egypt

EUROPE, etc.: The Prince Of Egypt DVD

PAL FORMAT VIDEO: The Prince Of Egypt [1998]

Don't miss the extra DVD features

The DVD of The Prince of Egypt, has a couple of incredible extras. The multi-language performance of "When You Believe" brought tears to my eyes. It goes through the whole song with dubbed in vocals in many languages.

The feature on "The Making of The Prince of Egypt" is videotaped or filmed spots with many of the people involved including Speilberg, Katzenberg, Val Kilmer, and all the other stars plus animators, Hans Zimmer, etc. It has a fairly long section (well, maybe 4 minutes) with Stephen Schwartz, where he makes comments on some of his original songs, plays the piano, and talks to performers. We also see a few seconds with him in Egypt during his November 1995 trip to the region with Katzenberg and about a dozen others.

This segment on him shows what I might call the "focused" Stephen, so it's only a tiny window on the guy and his work but I think it gives people who have never met him a little bit of a sense of who he is, in the context of one of his favorite projects. We also see Steve Hickner and others explaining the significance of Stephen's contribution to the film. The whole feature will really add to your awe of what is already an awe-inspiring film.--Carol de Giere, webmaster

Sheet Music for The Prince of Egypt 

See various versions including the prince of egypt

When You Believe Musicnotes- 2 part choir

The Prince of Egypt: Sheet Music Plus [new browser window] (opens new browser window) for piano/vocal; concert band, When You Believe for concert band and choir, "When You Believe" Scored For: SAT Choir, etc. Also available from them: A showtrax CD for "When You Believe."

When You Believe and 33 Songs of Inspiration

These songs have provided comfort and inspiration to listeners everywhere. They include: Climb Ev'ry Mountain · From a Distance · Higher Ground · I Believe · The Impossible Dream · Majesty · Simple Gifts · Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree · Turn! Turn! Turn! · What a Wonderful World · You'll Never Walk Alone · more. (Cherry Lane Music)

See the sheet music for lyrics as well. Buy from Amazon.com: The Prince of Egypt : Piano/Vocal/Guitar

"When You Believe" pop music single version $3.95

Contemporary Movie Hits -$7.95. Piano/vocal. 7 favorite songs from hit films:

• Go the Distance (Hercules) ·
• My Heart Will Go On (Titanic) ·
• Remember Me This Way (Casper)
• Someday (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) ·
• When You Believe (The Prince of Egypt) ·
• You'll Be in My Heart (Tarzan) ·
• You've Got a Friend in Me (Toy Story and Toy Story II).

Attention choir directors or choir members: Visit our Choral Music from Stephen Schwartz Musicals page for more options

"When You Believe" Lyrics

Lyrics to "When You Believe" below. Press here for "Through Heaven's Eyes"

"When You Believe" Movie Version Lyrics:

"When you believe"

Many nights we've prayed
With no proof anyone could hear-
In 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 knew we could!

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.

In this time of fear,
When prayer so often proved in vain,
Hope seemed like the summer birds
Too swiftly flown away.
Yet now I'm standing here
With heart so full Ii can't explain,
Seeking faith and speaking words
I never thought I'd say.

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.

A~shi~ra i'a~don~ai ki ga~oh ga~ah
(i will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously)

A~shi~ra l'a~don~ai ki ga~oh ga~ah
(i will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously)

Mi~cha~mo~cha ba~elim adonai
(who is like you, oh Lord, among the celestial)

Mi~ka~mo~cha ne~dar~ ba~ko~desh
(who is like you, majestic in holiness)

Na~chi~tah v'~chas~d'~cha am zu ga~al~ta
(in your love, you lead the people you redeemed)

Na~chi~tah v'~chas~d~cha am zu ga~al~ca
(on your love, you lead the people you redeemed)

A~shi~ra, a~shi~ra, a-shi~ra...
(i will sing, i will sing, i will sing...)

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-
Now you will,
You will when you believe.
You will when you believe.

Pop single bridge lyrics

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
A small, but still resilient voice
Says help is very near.

Pop version has additional music by "Babyface" Edmonds.

WHEN YOU BELIEVE - X FACTOR VERSION

WHEN YOU BELIEVE

Many nights we’ve prayed
With no proof anyone could hear
In 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 knew we could

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

Easy to despair
When all you hear is fear and lies
Easy just to run and hide
Too frightened to begin
But if we dare to dare
Don’t wait for answers from the skies
Each of us can look inside
And hear this song within:

You can do miracles
Etc., repeat chorus
You will when you believe

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 faith
Can't see your way clear through the rain
A small but still resilient voice
Says hope is very near

There can be miracles
Though hope is frail, it’s hard to kill
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe somehow you will
Now you will
You will when you believe
You will when you believe

Links to Relevant Websites

Subscribe to The Schwartz Scene newsletter to stay updated on the work of The Prince of Egypt songwriter Stephen Schwartz.

Egyptian Character costumes: Rameses, etc.

For a wonderfully rich book on the movie, see Charles Solomon's book The Prince of Egypt in a library or buy it: The Prince of Egypt : A New Vision in... [new browser window]

Message from the webmaster: I've asked Stephen Schwartz questions about the show on StephenSchwartz.com discussion forum. You can read one of our Q and A sessions at this link: POE at Schwartz forum [new browser window]

This LONG article on movieweb.com about the making of Prince of Egypt includes some quotes by Schwartz and praise from Katzenberg who states, "Our film benefited enormously from the talents of both Hans and Stephen. They gave the movie its soul."

Screen It offers to parents a detailed review Prince of Egypt.

Prince of Egypt at Big Cartoon Database - This site includes a huge list of credits, awards, etc.

DVD Players from Amazon.com

See www.stephenschwartz.com forum for general discussion of Stephen Schwartz songs.

Film Info

Cast: Brian Stokes Mitchell who sang "Through Heaven's Eyes"

Cast (in credits order)
Val Kilmer .... Moses/God (voice)
Ralph Fiennes .... Rameses (voice)
Michelle Pfeiffer .... Tzipporah (voice)
Sandra Bullock .... Miriam (voice)
Jeff Goldblum .... Aaron (voice)
Danny Glover .... Jethro (voice)
Patrick Stewart .... Pharaoh Seti I (voice)
Helen Mirren .... The Queen (voice)
Steve Martin .... Hotep (voice)
Martin Short .... Huy (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jack Angel .... Additional Voices (voice)
Amick Byram .... Moses (singing voice)
Linda Dee Shayne .... The Queen (singing voice)
Sally Dworsky .... Miriam (singing voice)
Ofra Haza .... Yocheved (voice)
Brian Mitchell .... Jethro (singing voice) (as Brian Stokes Mitchell)
Hugh Panaro .... Additional singing
Jan Rabson .... Additional Voices (voice)
Eden Riegel .... Young Miriam
Mel Brooks .... Additional Voices (voice) (uncredited)

A tribute to Ofra Haza

1957 - 2000

"Ofra Haza was one of the great artists it's been my privilege to work with, and I considered it our enormous good fortune that she consented to lend her talents and her passion to THE PRINCE OF EGYPT. In her magnificent voice and her beautiful soul, she embodied the beauty, mystery, heartbreak and joy of the Middle East to me. Others could have sung the notes, of course, but no one else in the world could have brought the kind of depth that Ofra did. Add to this that she was always entirely easy to work with, tireless, meticulous, and unfailingly good-humored. What a beautiful person and citizen of the world we have all lost in Ofra Haza." -- Stephen Schwartz