Sam Cooke never lived to watch Barack Obama take office, let alone see his own 1964 civil-rights soul classic "A Change Is Gonna Come" become the unofficial anthem of the campaign — the singer was shot and killed by an L.A. hotel proprietress in 1963, weeks before the song hit the charts.
But in a nice little bit of cosmic timing, the man behind that song, and 29 other Top 40 hits, including "You Send Me" and "Bring It On Home to Me," would have turned 78 tomorrow. Over the years, "Change" has been covered by Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, the Fugees, the Band, and Otis Redding, among countless others; this past weekend, Betty Lavette and Jon Bon Jovi performed it for Obama at the Lincoln Memorial. Unfortunately, there’s no good audio clip available on YouTube, but if you’ve got 99 cents, get it on iTunes — or better yet, spend $11.99 and treat yourself to the entire remastered 30-track collection Sam Cooke: Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964; he’s worth it.
Sam Cooke is awesome! I strongly recommend Portrait of a Legend. His songs are fantastic, and he has such a smooth, amazing voice.
You could listen to the song on Youtube before the election but once Obama won they were all removed. Seal’s version is still pretty good.
Sam’s version is the best but one that follows it in my opinion is by Mike Farris.
Sam Cooke – what an amazing voice, and an amazing songwriter. Thanks for that nice article…
Sam was not only an amazing artist, but his pioneering spirit in life and in business makes him one of America’s most underappreciated Heroes.
Erik Greene
Author, “Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story From His Family’s Perspective”
http://www.OurUncleSam.com
Whenever I have had a rough day, week or month, I play this song and just cry… the emotion of Sam Cooke’s original are so raw I cant help but feel his yearning for change.
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