Home > Encyclopedia > SongBase
Sand Castles


Words & Music:
Herb Goldberg/ David HessAt night
When the sky is still
When the south wind blows
And the air is warm
There's a world that's born
And for every child on the beach that day
Stands a castle tall and proud
And the warm wind crawls through the castle walls
And the nightfolk wake as the warm wind calls
At night
When the sky is still
When the south wind blows
And the air is warm
There's a world that's born
Then the fiddler crab plays his violin
On the back of a dancing whale
While the mermaid sing to the shell they bring
And the dragon leads with his sweeping tail
At night
When the sky is still
When the south wind blows
And the air is warm
There's a world that's born
For the rosy dawn
Brings the children on to the beach that's bright and new
And the nightfolk know as the castles grow
They will play once more as the children do
At night
When the sky is still
When the south wind blows
And the air is warm
There's a world that's born
A world that's born
There's a world that's born
A world that's born Recorded:
1965/08/02, first released on
Paradise, Hawaiian StyleReactions
The guitars on this wonderful track are played by Howard Roberts & Alton Hendrickson, who didn't play on the rest off the soundtrack. Elvis & The Mello Men overdubbed their vocals on the same day as the rest off the recording. Elvis overdubbed all his vocals on the soundtrack, so he probably was embarrassed by the songs, although this one & This is my heaven are very good.
I like this song a lot along with This Is My Heaven from the less than marvellous soundtrack. You could always depend on Elvis making the most of a ballad regardless of the material, at any time in his career.
I've always liked this song immensely and it's one of the five good songs from the disappointing "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" soundtrack album.
I really like this very unusual Elvis song ! A great song to chill to or even fall a sleep to ! Beautiful instrumentation and Elvis in top laid back voice. Conjures up images of a warm beach at night time with all the various creatures enjoying the beach free from people ... Just great fantsy stuff !
A surprisingly pretty acoustic song from a horrible movie soundtrack. At a time when psychedelia and folk music was coming into style in the 60s, this song kinda fits right in (think "Puff The Magic Dragon"). And from that point of view, I think it's true, this could have been a nice single at the time. I was surprised it was not on Elvis Sings For Children (and Grownups too!). In a lot of ways this song is an anomaly in Elvis' songbook. Sooo much better than "Cotton Candy Land" which is the nearest similar song I can think of.
Pretty song. I've always liked it. A pity they couldn't have found a spot for this song and dropped one of the really bad ones like "Queenie Wahine."
It must be me then....lousy film & soundtrack. But not as bad as Harum Scarum !
An average song, beautifully performed by the King. Quite lovely.
A slow song with almost a lullaby quality to it, that was recorded in 1965 for the movie "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" and released as a bonus song on the soundtrack LP in 1966 (it was not in the movie). The song is nothing exciting and a little dull, but it is still one of the best four or five tracks on this really sub par LP. Elvis sounds bored by the ten "songs" (and that might be too strong of a word for most of these tracks) he recorded for this movie and while his vocal on this track is better than on some, it is not Elvis at his best. The soundtracks LP to "Harum Scarum" and "PHS" were easily the worst albums of his career (and this includes the Camden budget releases and "Having Fun With Elvis On Stage"!). Amazingly enough the "PHS" LP reached #15 on the pop charts in the U.S. and "Harum Scarum" did even better reaching #8!
I like the 12 guitar string-picking...... rarely used on Elvis records. Cosy, nice and outstanding on that album!
Elvis had lost touch with things in 1965 but he does sound really good on this recording and made a very average tune sound good. But hey, this is why he's the King!
Good recording, more of these and 1965 may have been a better year chart wise. Here was prove that given a decent song with a catchy tune and good lyrics Elvis could still product good recordings.
{Just sorting out my poor spelling & grammer}
The best song from the LP which is not saying much. At this point in the 60's Elvis was so out of touch with the current music scene that he helped establish 10 years before. Frank Sinatra seemed more with it.
Heard it just recently. Kind of boring to me. But of course, there were worse songs, so much worse
Good recording, more of these and 1965 may have been a beter year chart wish. He was prove that given a decent song with catchy tune and good lyrics Elvis could still product good recordings.
The best song on an otherwise dreadful LP, probably the worst soundtrack of them all. Cool lyrics with a catchy refrain and I often wondered if this was released as a single if it could have been a summer hit record.
Available Alternate Versions