A Change is Gonna Come

Written by Sam Cooke.
Produced by Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore.
Instrumentation by Rene Hall (arrangement and conductor of orchestra),
Engineering by David Hassinger



This is one of my all time favorite songs.   And a lot of other people must agree.

This song was first sung by Sam Cooke in 1963, but the extant recording was made in 1964.  The album on which the song appeared did ok, but Cooke was disappointed with its play and appeared in February of 1964 to sing it on the Tonight Show.   Unfortunately the Beatles' blackbuster appearance on Ed Sullivan two days later overshadowed the Sam Cooke appearance.  The tape of Sam Cooke's appearance has disappeared and there is no record of his performance.

Prior to his writing this song, Sam had written and performed mostly smooth and light songs.   He was very taken, however, by Bob Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind, especially that a white musician would write and perform a song about racism in America.   In addition to Dylan's inspiration, Sam experienced the death of his 18 month old son by drowning, and his and his band's arrest in Shreveport Louisiana for trying to check into a "whites only" hotel.   The fact that he doesn't specifically identify the change that's gonna come likely represents both these incidents.   In December of 1964, Sam Cooke was killed in a California hotel (under mysterious circumstance) and did not live to see the success of the song.  By 1965, the song had risen to 31 on Billboard charts.   Despite its lack of commercial success, the song became an anthem for the 1960's civil rights movement and remains influential to this day.   Obama quoted the song in his acceptance speech.   The song has won many awards during the intervening decades.

Here are the lyrics:

I was born by the river
In a little tent
And just like the river
I've been running ever since

It's been a long, long time coming
But I know a change gonna come
Oh, yes it is

It's been too hard living
But I'm afraid to die
I don't know what's up there beyond the sky

It's been a long, long time coming
But I know a change gonna come
Oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother
I say brother help me please
But he winds up knocking me
Back down on my knees

There's been times that I thought
I wouldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come
Oh, yes it will 

The song has been covered by:
Cory Wells, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, The 5th Dimension, The Band, Wane Brady, Billy Bragg, Solomon Burke, Ternce Trent D'Arby, Gavin Degraw, the Fuggs, the Cold War Kids, the Gits, Deitrick Haddon, Patti Labelle, Solo, Prince Buster, Morten Harket, th eNeville Brothers, Jacksoul, Ben Sollee, Johnny P., Bill Presont, Otis Redding, Michael Thopson, Bobby Womack, Leela James, Tin Turner, The Righteous Brothers, and the Supremes.   It's also been sampled by numerous rappers.


So if you haven't heard it, buy it.  You can get an mp3 from Amazon for $.99.


Well having written this, I'm very aware that the printed page just doesn't come close to touching the beauty in this song.   If you don't know it, I hope I've gotten you interested.


A fantasy:  an album of Sam's version plus the best covers.  I wouldn't get bored.




....most of this information comes from Wikipedia