A Change Is Gonna Come (song)
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| "A Change Is Gonna Come" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Sam Cooke | ||
| from the album Ain’t That Good News | ||
| B-side(s) | Shake | |
| Released | December 1964 | |
| Format | 7" single | |
| Recorded | December 21, 1963 | |
| Genre | Soul | |
| Length | 3:12 | |
| Label | RCA Victor Records | |
| Producer(s) | Hugo Peretti Luigi Creatore |
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| Chart positions | ||
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| Sam Cooke singles chronology | ||
| That’s Where It’s At 1964 |
A Change Is Gonna Come 1964 |
It’s Got the Whole World Shakin’ 1965 |
"A Change Is Gonna Come" is a 1965 single by R&B singer-songwriter Sam Cooke, written and first recorded in 1963 and released under the RCA Victor label a month after his late 1964 death. Though only a modest hit for Cooke in comparison with his previous singles, the song became one of his first blatantly political songs, and came to exemplify the sixties Civil Rights Movement. The song has gained in popularity and critical acclaim in the decades since its release.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Origins
Cooke was greatly moved upon hearing Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" in 1963 and was reportedly in awe that such a poignant song about racism in America could come from someone who was white. While on tour in May 1963, and after speaking with sit-in demonstrators in Durham, North Carolina following a concert, Cooke returned to his tour bus and wrote the first draft of what would become "A Change Is Gonna Come."
In a sense, "A Change Is Gonna Come" is an answer to Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," as well as a song of hope for the Civil Rights Movement. The hypothetical questions posed by Dylan, most obvious being "how many years can some people exist, before they're allowed to be free?", were answered by an implied "Fewer than you think." Though Cooke recognized "it's been a long/a long time coming," the song states that change is inevitable. A similar sentiment was echoed by Dylan in "The Times They Are a-Changin'," written and released after "A Change Is Gonna Come."
"A Change Is Gonna Come" also reflected much of Cooke's own inner turmoil. Known for his polished image and light-hearted songs such as "You Send Me" and "Twistin' the Night Away," he had long felt the need to address the situation of discrimination and racism in America, especially the southern states. However, his image and fears of losing his largely white fan base prevented him from doing so.
The song, very much a departure for Cooke, reflected two major incidents in his life. The first was the death of Cooke's eighteen-month-old son, Vincent, who died of an accidental drowning in June of that year. The second major incident came on October 8, 1963, when Cooke found himself the target of racism. Cooke and his band tried to register at a "whites only" motel in Shreveport, Louisiana and were summarily arrested for disturbing the peace. Both incidents are represented in the weary tone and lyrics of the piece, especially the final verse: "there have 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 time coming, but I know a change is gonna come."
[edit] Recording
After remaining confined to Sam Cooke's notebooks for months of touring, "A Change Is Gonna Come" was finally recorded on December 21, 1963. Recording took place at the RCA Studios in Los Angeles, California during sessions for Cooke's 1964 album, Ain't That Good News.
According to author Peter Guralnick's biography of Cooke, "Dream Boogie," Cooke gave arranger Rene Hall free rein on song's musical arrangement. Hall came up with a dramatic orchestral backing highlighted by a mournful French horn. For his vocal, Cooke reached back to his gospel roots to sing the song with an intensity and passion never heard before on his pop recordings.
[edit] Release
The song made its first appearance on Ain't That Good News, the last album to be released within Cooke's lifetime. The LP did well, peaking at number 34 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, making it more successful than Cooke's previous LP, 1963's Night Beat.
However, Cooke and his new manager Allen Klein thought the song deserved greater exposure. According to Guralnick's book, Klein persuaded Cooke to sing "A Change Is Gonna Come" on his February 7th, 1964 appearance on The Tonight Show. Cooke sang the song; unfortunately, any impact it made was dimmed by The Beatles' history-making appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show just two days later. In a further misfortune, NBC did not save the tape of Cooke's performance, which has never turned up in private collections either.
RCA Records had bypassed "Change" for Cooke's early 1964 single, instead releasing the tracks "Good Times" and "(Ain't That) Good News". But the company agreed to put the song out as a single late in the year, as the B-side to Cooke's latest potential hit, "Shake." At one of his last recording sessions, Cooke approved an edit to the song that would shorten it by about 30 seconds, increasing its chance for airplay on American radio stations.
Finally given proper attention, "A Change Is Gonna Come" became a sensation among the black community, and was used an anthem for the ongoing civil rights protests. On R&B radio, the song peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Black Singles chart, and topped many local playlists, most notably in Chicago. The song had more limited success on top 40 radio. By February 1965, the song had peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and fallen off.
Sadly, Cooke did not live to see the song's commercial success. On December 11, 1964, he was killed at the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles, California under what many consider mysterious circumstances.
[edit] Legacy
Though only a moderate success sales-wise, "A Change Is Gonna Come" became an anthem for the American Civil Rights Movement, and is widely considered Cooke's best composition. Over the years, the song has garnered significant praise and, in 2005, was voted number 12 by representatives of the music industry and press in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and voted number 3 in influential webzine Pitchfork Media's The 200 Greatest Songs of the 60's.The song is also among three hundred songs deemed the most important ever recorded by National Public Radio (NPR) and was recently selected by the Library of Congress as one of twenty-five selected recordings to the National Recording Registry as of March of 2007.
Despite its acclaim, legal troubles have haunted the single since its release. A dispute between Cooke's music publisher, ABKCO, and record company, RCA Records, made the recording unavailable for much of the four decades since its release. Though the song was featured prominently in the 1992 film Malcolm X, it could not be included in the film's soundtrack. By 2003, however, the disputes had been settled in time for the song to be included on the remastered version of Ain't That Good News, as well as the Cooke anthology Portrait of a Legend.
"A Change Is Gonna Come" was a precursor to many later socially-conscious singles, including Marvin Gaye's lauded "What's Going On". Al Green, a self-professed fan of Cooke, covered the song for the concert celebrating the 1996 opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Green's live rendition was included in the soundtrack to the 2001 Michael Mann film Ali. James Taylor recorded a version specially for an episode of the same title of the television drama The West Wing.
Other notable artists who have covered the song include The 5th Dimension, The Band,Billy Bragg, Terence Trent D'Arby, Gavin Degraw, the Fugees, The Gits, Deitrick Haddon, Morten Harket, The Neville Brothers, Otis Redding, and The Supremes. In recent years, the song has served as a sample for rappers Ja Rule (2003) and Papoose (2006).
[edit] Chart performance
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Black Singles Chart | #9 |
| 1965 | Pop Singles Chart | #31 |
[edit] Credits
- Written by Sam Cooke.
- Produced by Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore.
- Instrumentation by Rene Hall (arrangement and conductor of orchestra), Larry Hilton, and Earl Palmer (drums).
- Engineering by David Hassinger
[edit] References
- Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964. Abkco Records, 2003. Los Angeles, California.
- Werner, Craig (1999). A Change Is Gonna Come: Music, Race, and the Soul of America. Plume. ISBN 0-452-28065-6.
- Wolff, Daniel J., S.R. Crain, Clifton White, and G. David Tenenbaum (1995). You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke. William Morrow & Co. ISBN 0-688-12403-8.
