It has always confused me that this song, one of the most inspirational anthems ever to come out of Broadway, has gained a reputation among later generations as some kind of generic Easy Listening piece with no real relevance to them, even though it introduced an idiom that has become part of our daily language. Granted, the song has the deepest meaning in the context of the immortal musical it comes from, and the popular versions’ persistent habit of playing it at half its original speed does drain a bit of intensity from it, but the soaring ideals in the lyrics are clearly there to see in any version, so the people dismissing it as just some dull Lounge ballad are either not listening properly or just not very bright.
Verdict: This is one of the greatest songs of all time, and any jury that would find otherwise is either biased or just plain unqualified.