A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke is a powerful song that was needed during a time of sorrow for black Americans. The talented Sam Cooke wrote and performed this song live on the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. He wrote this song in 1964 during the civil rights movement. What most don’t know about Cooke was that he was afraid to publish it when he first wrote the song. He was, at the time, what people called a crossover performer; He was able to integrate into musical genres that mostly white people would listen to as opposed to black musical genres. For the most part, he wrote songs that were “palatable” for his white audience. However, after having a violent and racially discriminatory experience at a hotel in Louisiana, Cooke felt compelled to write a song that acknowledged what black people were feeling at this time. The song spoke to the hardships black Americans experienced and, in my opinion, still speaks today. Click the link to listen to A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke.
References below:
Staff, NPR. “Sam Cooke and the Song That ‘Almost Scared Him.’” NPR, NPR, 1 Feb. 2014, www.npr.org/2014/02/01/268995033/sam-cooke-and-the-song-that-almost-scared-him.
