Just Read It

I was wondering how I should close this series exploring the music of the civil rights era, and ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ by Sam Cooke couldn’t be more fitting. Inspired by various events in Cooke’s life, ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ is at once mournful and full of hope.

It’s one of those songs that is so familiar that it’s possible to overlook the meaning of the lyrics and the context in which they were written. Each verse details an experience of injustice and hardship, then the chorus repeats Cooke’s hope and belief of social change. In the words of his biographer, Peter Guralnick, ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ “told the story both of a generation and of a people”.

I was born by the river
In a little tent
Oh, and just like the river, I’ve been runnin’
Ever since

[Chorus]

It’s been a long
A long time comin’, but I know
A change gon’ come
Oh yes it will

Cooke was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1931, and when he was two his family moved north to Chicago during the time of the Great Migration. Like many Black families, they left to escape the Jim Crow laws of the south in the hope of a better life in the north. But as a Black man, it would be a continuous search or ‘run’ in order to survive and succeed in America.

It’s been too hard livin’
But I’m afraid to die
‘Cause I don’t know what’s up there
Beyond the sky

Racial segration and discrimination made life extremely difficult for African Americans, regardless of being in the south or the north. Living an existence where life is constantly under some sort of threat, Cooke implies that even death cannot promise him peace because he doesn’t know if there’s a heaven or whether it would be a safe place for him to be.

I go to the movie
And I go downtown
Somebody keep tellin’ me “don’t hang around”

This verse references the frustration Cooke and other African-Americans felt about not having the freedom to go where they pleased. In 1963, he and his entourage were turned away from the Holiday Inn motel in Shreveport, Lousiana. Cooke had called the motel ahead to make reservations, but on arrival the desk clerk told the group that there were no vacancies.

Furious, Cooke kicked up a fuss and refused to leave until he saw the manager, prompting his wife, Barbara, who was travelling with him, to try and calm him down for fear that he might be killed. This incident was one of several reasons that prompted Cooke to compose the song.

Then I go to my brother
And I say, “Brother, help me please”
But he winds up
Knockin’ me on my knees

Sam Cooke was a successful cross-over artist and at the time managers and producers put a lot of pressure on their artists with a broad appeal as Cooke to avoid making ‘protest’ records. They were more interested in keeping the artist popular with the whites i.e. ‘keeping them on their knees’, and thus making a profit.

When Cooke heard ‘Blowing In The Wind‘ by Bob Dylan, he was so moved that this poignant anti-racism song had come from someone who wasn’t Black, that he was a bit ashamd that he hadn’t written something like that himself.

Coming from a gospel background, Cooke could no longer ignore the moral outrage of what he saw going on. Dr Martin Luther King Jr had just given his infamous I Have A Dream speech at the civil rights march on Washington, and he felt compelled to write a song that spoke to his struggle and those around him.

The legacy of a complex and ominous song

Cooke first performed ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and after that decided to never perform the song again because of the complexity of the arrangement and the ominous nature of the lyrics. In December 1964, an edited version of the song was prepared for single release, but just two weeks before the song’s release, Cooke was fatally shot at a Los Angeles hotel.

The civil rights movement immediately picked up on the song and it became one of several anthems of the movement. Though it was only a modest hit for Cooke in comparison to his previous singles, ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’, is considered one of Cooke’s greatest and most influential compositions.

It’s legacy is long and enduring because despite its melancholy, it has a universal message of hope that is timeless. Cooke’s lyrics, not only goes hand in hand with Dr King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech but can be adapted to whatever goal or movement of the time.

After winning the 2008 United States presidential election, Barack Obama quoted the song to his supporters in Chicago, saying, “It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, change has come to America.” I can only imagine how it felt in that moment to hear those words from the first ever African-American president of the United States, considering all that generations of Black Americans had lived through.

It’s no wonder that this song has stood the test of time.

Listen to ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ here:

Sources:
Sam Cooke And The Song That ‘Almost Scared Him’ – NPR
A Change Is Gonna Come – Wikipedia
A Change Is Gonna Come – Genius Lyrics
Sam Cooke – Wikipedia