Sam Cooke, “A Change is Gonna Come” Sam Cooke was one of the pioneers of Soul music, topping the charts with hits such as “Wonderful World” and “Chain Gang.” While he began as a Gospel singer, Cooke’s hits were generally upbeat and rarely if ever crossed into political territory. But by the early 1960s, as the civil rights movement. Sam Cooke was brought up in and first performed with these Churchs) It's been a long, long time coming But I know a change is gonna come Oh, yes it is (- this was the 60s, people did believe that big change was inevtiable, and soon) It's been too hard living But I'm afraid to die I don't know what's up there beyond the sky (-fairly self. This is most likely a reference to an actual event that occurred in Louisiana in 1963, just two months before Cooke wrote 'A Change Is Gonna Come.' While touring in 1963, Sam Cooke and his band tried to stay at a Holiday Inn located in Shreveport, Louisiana.

• A Change Is Gonna Come Lyrics Meaning
• A Change Is Gonna Come Youtube
• Sam Cook Change Is Gonna Come

Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” is a powerful and hopeful piece about the struggle for civil rights in America. Written in late 1963, during a tumultuous period in the Civil Rights Movement, the song’s lyrics and its soaring symphonic music capture the feelings of longing and hope for an end to segregation and discrimination based on race. One who listened to the song today could think that it was about the difficulties of life in general and the importance of not losing hope. The lyrics do not refer directly to the black struggle for civil rights or to any particular incident of segregation or discrimination experienced by the author. When the song is considered in the context of the civil rights movement of late 1963 and Sam Cooke’s personal and political life, however, the meaning of the song’s lyrics come into sharper focus.

Sam Cooke died tragically in December 1964, at age 33, just before “A Change Is Gonna Come” was released. The song quickly soared to the top of the music charts and became part of an historic political movement that led to passage of civil rights legislation in the year following Sam Cooke’s death.

“A Change Is Gonna Come” was different from Sam Cooke’s other songs in that it was “a song that sought to make a social statement.”^[1] The song was built on his early experience as a gospel singer and his later transition to singing pop music. The opening line, “I was born by the river in a little tent,” is delivered in the soaring style and deliberate phrasing that could signal the beginning of a gospel song. His father was a Baptist minister so Sam Cooke had an early start with gospel songs in church choirs in Chicago.^[2] He had a clear emotive voice and an easy confidence that drew an enthusiastic following. As a teenager, he became the lead singer with one of the best-known gospel groups of that time, the Soul Stirrers, and toured the country performing with them for five years.^[3]

Sam Cooke made a transition in the 1950s from gospel to pop music, but he blended the rhythms of gospel and soul music into his pop tunes. His pop lyrics were simple and repetitive. The theme was love or lost love, and the music was upbeat and danceable. His sweet voice and smooth style appealed to both black and white audiences. His first breakthrough pop hit, “You Send Me,” came out in 1957.^[4] From 1957 until his death in 1964, Sam Cooke had 28 “Top 40” hits on the pop charts, including such songs as “Another Saturday Night,” “Twistin’ the Night Away,” “Cupid,” and “Only Sixteen.”^[5] After he signed on with RCA in 1960, Sam Cooke returned in some of his songs to a blues and gospel sound that reflected “the life experiences he understood as a black man in a segregated world in upheaval.”^[6]

Sam Cooke embarked on a new song-writing mission in 1963 when a combination of personal and political events moved him to write and produce “A Change Is Gonna Come.” The political motivation included a series of dramatic developments in the Civil Rights Movement, which had regained momentum in the early 1960s under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King.

The Civil Rights Movement began with the Reconstruction period after the Civil War in 1865.^[7] After a slow start, the Movement progressed through several stages including school desegregation and the Brown v. Board of Education decision in the early 1950s; the Montgomery County, Alabama, bus boycotts sparked by Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her bus seat in 1955; the sit-ins and Freedom Rides of the early 1960s; and, the federally enforced enrollment of the first black student, James Meredith, at the University of Mississippi in 1962.^[8] In 1963, President Kennedy proposed legislation that would outlaw the exclusion of blacks from hotels, restaurants, theatres, and other places of public accommodation as well as a number of other additional measures to end discrimination based on race.^[9]

On August 28, 1963, civil rights leaders and hundreds of thousands of supporters came together for a March on Washington D.C. to rally in favor of the civil rights legislation proposed by President Kennedy.^[10] Nearly half a million people gathered on the Mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial where Dr. King spoke of the urgency of passing the civil rights legislation and closed with his historic “I have a Dream” speech.^[11] Sam Cooke was on tour at the time, but as he watched the televised event, he was very moved and resolved to write a song to support the movement.^[12]

Other disturbing events occurring in quick succession in late 1963 also spurred Sam Cooke to finally write a protest song. Most disturbing may have been the killing of four little girls in the bombing of a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 15, 1963.^[13] Just a few weeks later, Sam Cooke personally experienced the humiliation of racial discrimination when he and his group were told that no rooms were available to them at a Holiday Inn in Shreveport, Louisiana. When Cooke protested, explaining that he had reservations, he was arrested and charged with creating a public disturbance.^[14] Then, on November 22, 1963, Sam Cooke learned, during a performance at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, that President Kennedy had been assassinated.^[15] In addition to the traumatic political upheaval in late 1963, Sam Cooke also experienced personal tragedy and loss when, in June of 1963, his young child Vincent accidentally drowned in the family swimming pool.^[16] His relationship with his wife Barbara also was strained.^[17] The combination of these events in such a short period of time would be overwhelming to anyone. Sam Cooke had enormous pent-up emotion, and he expressed those emotions and feelings through song.

The political climate in the 60s and Sam’s personal life experience were the perfect ingredients for “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Another inspiration was a Bob Dylan song. Sam Cooke had always admired the message and delivery in Bob Dylan’s “Blowin in the Wind.” He commented, when he first heard it, that “he was almost ashamed not to have written something like that himself.”^[18] Clearly, politics had a significant impact on Sam Cooke’s music. Cooke wanted to inspire others, just as Bob Dylan had inspired him.

Sam Cooke explained that the lyrics of “A Change Is Gonna Come” came to him in a dream just after Christmas of 1963. He was very excited and knew it was one of the best things he had ever written, even if it would not make as much money as some of his pop songs.^[19]

The lyrics are simple but powerful. The chorus or refrain, repeated four times, reflects the song’s title, “A Change Is Gonna Come”: “It’s been a long, a long time coming. / But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will.”^[20]

The first verse begins with birth, humble beginnings and the struggles of life –“I was born by the river in a little tent. Oh and just like the river I’ve been running ever since.” The very next verse is about death — “It’s been too hard living but I’m afraid to die. ‘Cause I don’t know what’s up there beyond the sky.” These lyrics reflect the personal emotional turmoil in Sam Cooke’s life at the time, his guilt and sorrow over the loss of his son and estrangement from his wife, as well as his own personal struggle against discrimination. But the refrain at the end of each verse is optimistic and hopeful, declaring that a change for the better is on its way. The message is to keep striving, — don’t give in to fear and despair. This is at once a personal message, a gospel message and a hopeful message for the Civil Rights Movement.

The third and fourth verses speak directly to his personal experience with racial segregation and discrimination: — “I go to the movie and I go downtown /Somebody keep telling me, ‘Don’t hang around’ / …Then I go to my brother / And I say, ‘Brother, help me please’ / But he winds up knockin’ me /Back down on my knees.” These verses reflect the struggle against racial discrimination, the Birmingham church bombing, and the frequent attacks by police forces on non-violent civil rights protestors. The reference to seeking help from his brother, but then being rejected and knocked down, speaks directly to the difficulty of changing the established system.^[21] The final verse returns to an optimistic and hopeful appraisal of where things are headed: “Oh there been times that I thought I couldn’t last for long / But now I think I’m able to carry on / It’s been a long, a long time coming / But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will.”

Once he had the lyrics, Sam Cooke asked Rene Hall, a long-time composer friend, to do the musical arrangement. Guralnick comments that “Rene wrote the arrangement as if he were composing a big movie score, with a symphonic overture for strings, kettledrum, and French horn.”^[22] As Guralnick notes, the rhythm sections take the lead in the first verse, the strings predominate in the second, and the horns take over in the third. The strings and kettledrum then combine for the bridge (“I go to my brother and I say, ‘Brother, help me, please’”). The song ends “with a concluding crescendo worthy of the most patriotic anthem, as Sam extends his final repetition of the chorus (‘I know a change is gonna come’) with a fervent ‘Oh yes it is’ and the strings offer a shimmering sustain, while the kettledrum rumbles and the horns quietly punctuate the underlying message of hope and faith.”^[23]

When Sam Cooke played a recording of the song for his friend Bobby Womack, and asked him what he thought, Womack answered, “It feels like death.”^[24] “No, I’m gonna take that back. It don’t feel like death, but it feels eerie, like something’s going to happen. … The strings and everything is creepy, something’s going on, it sounds like somebody died.”^[25] Sam Cooke agreed, adding that that’s why “he was never going to sing that [song] in public.”^[26]

My impression of the piece is that it sounds triumphant and patriotic. The tremolo in the strings during the bridge verse (“Then I go to my brother”) adds considerably to the overall dramatic effect. The G minor arpeggio, with the held out fifth during “on my knees” is deeply and powerfully moving. Sam Cooke’s emotive lyrics and phrasing combined with Rene Hall’s powerful arrangement made “A Change Is Gonna Come” a perfect medium for the message of the Civil Rights Movement.

The details and structure of the music show how this piece reflects politics. The piece starts off with somber-sounding, high-pitched string instruments descending. The first three descending notes give the impression that the piece may be set in a minor key. However, it soon becomes evident that the tonic is B flat, with the piece set in a major key. A cello then comes in with wind instruments, which gives the introduction a majestic sound. The overall mood of the introduction is somber, yet dignified. This reflects the message Sam Cooke is attempting to get across with this piece. While the situation is distressing, there is hope for a better future.

When Sam Cooke presented the song in early 1964, he heard nothing but praise from his manager, Allen Klein, who recalls that “ [it was] my favorite record. It was chilling. And he was telling a story. A personal story. It wasn’t complicated, and it wasn’t repetitious. Simple words. [But] it was a great piece of poetry.”^[27] In July 1964, Sam Cooke authorized the inclusion of “A Change is Gonna Come” on an album to be entitled The Stars Salute Dr. Martin Luther King. Other artists on the album would include Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Harry Belafonte, Nat “King” Cole, Brook Benton, Ray Charles, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr., and Frank Sinatra. Funds from the album were to be donated to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for its efforts in the civil rights movement.^[28]

Around Thanksgiving of 1964, the single record version of “A Change Is Gonna Come” was being prepared for release. To prepare the song for radio play, Sam had to cut 30 seconds from the album version. He reluctantly decided to cut the verse “I go to the movies / And I go downtown / Somebody keep telling me / Don’t hang around.”^[29] This removes some of the social criticism from the piece, but the message was preserved by keeping the bridge verse, “Then I go to my brother.”^[30]

“A Change Is Gonna Come” was released as the B side to Sam Cooke’s pop hit “Shake.”^[31] These two songs on the same single represent the opposite ends of the Sam Cooke musical spectrum. As a sample verse shows, “Shake” is fun, carefree, and light: “Shake it like a bowl of soup / and make your body loop de loop / Put your hands on your hips / And let your backbone slip / Move your body like a whip / And just shake!”^[32] Turning the record to listen to the other side reveals a totally different Sam Cooke.

Sam Cooke was shot and killed on December 11, 1964, before his single was released, during an altercation with the manager of a Los Angeles motel.^[33] The circumstances of his death were never fully determined. The manager was not prosecuted, and she eventually obtained compensation for her injuries in a civil suit against the Sam Cooke estate.^[34] After his death, the single release of “Shake” and “A Change Is Gonna Come” rose to the top of the popular music charts.^[35] Sadly, Sam Cooke was never able to see just how successful “A Change Is Gonna Come” would eventually become.

After Sam Cooke’s death, many other singers, including Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding, produced their own versions of “A Change Is Gonna Come” and the song became one of the notable anthems of the Civil Rights Movement.^[36] This was the beginning of the eventual fame and recognition “A Change Is Gonna Come” would receive due to its inspirational message and beautiful composition that reaches the hearts and souls of those who listen.

More recently, Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” meshed perfectly with the “Hope and Change” slogan of Barack Obama’s 2008 election campaign. In his November 4, 2008, election night acceptance speech at Chicago’s Grant Park, President Obama paid homage to Sam Cooke’s still relevant song, proclaiming: “It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.”^[37]

Although times have changed, Sam Cooke’s protest song still inspires and brings hope to those who hear it. For nearly 50 years now, the song has remained a favorite of many who still admire Sam Cooke’s music and message. Rolling Stone magazine recently ranked “A Change Is Gonna Come” the 12^th best song of all time^[38] and Sam Cooke the 4^th greatest singer of all time, after Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Elvis Presley.

^[1] Guralnick, Peter. Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2005, 548.

^[3] Guralnick, Dream Boogie, 65-68

^[5] Bracket, Nathan (ed.). Rolling Stone Album Guide, Simon and Schuster, New York, 4^th ed. 2004, 190.

^[7] Wexler, Sanford. The Civil Rights Movement: An Eyewitness History, Facts on File, New York, NY, 1993, 1.

^[8] Wexler, The Civil Rights Movement, 61, 67, 109, 143, 177, 184.

^[10] Wexler, The Civil Rights Movement, 177.

^[11] Wexler, The Civil Rights Movement, 182; Guralnick, Dream Boogie, 511-512

^[13] Wexler, The Civil Rights Movement, 184; Guralnick, Dream Boogie, 521

^[15] Guralnick, Dream Boogie, 530.

^[17] Guralnick, Dream Boogie, 533.

^[19] Guralnick, Dream Boogie, 540-541.

^[20]Seehttp://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/a/sam_cooke/a_change_is_gonna_come.html.

^[22] Guralnick, Dream Boogie, 547.

^[24] Guralnick, Dream Boogie, 549.

^[26] Guralnick, Dream Boogie, 549.

^[28] Guralnick, Dream Boogie, 588.

^[30] Guralnick, Dream Boogie, 608.

^[32]Seehttp://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/sam_cooke/shake.html.

A Change Is Gonna Come Lyrics Meaning

^[33] On December 10, 1964, the day before Sam Cooke’s death, Dr. Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in leading a nonviolent Civil Rights Movement. Wexler, The Civil Rights Movement, 205.

^[35] Guralnick, Dream Boogie, 646.

^[37]Http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/obama.transcript/“Transcript: ‘This is your victory,’ says Obama.”

A Change Is Gonna Come Youtube

^[38]Http://www.lastfm/user/Radiokaka/journal/2013/05/10/5tkd33_rolling_stone’s_500_greatest_songs_of_all_ time_(2010 edition).

^[39] See http://www.rolling stone.com/music/lists/100_greatest_singers_of_all_time_19691231/sam_cooke_20101202.

———————-

Bibliography

Bracket, Nathan (ed.), Rolling Stone Album Guide, 4th Ed. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2004.

Guralnick, Peter. Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke. New York: Little, Brown, 2005.

Sam Cook Change Is Gonna Come

Wexler, Sanford. The Civil Rights Movement: An Eyewitness History. New York: Facts on File, 1993.