Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come (1963)

Here's a win / win situation if I ever saw one! An unsurpassably amazing negro singer with the smoothest, velvet soul voice one could ever hope to imagine. If you havn't heard of Sam Cooke then all I have to say is; 1) Where the fuck have you been?, 2) You seriously have been missing out and I pity your foolish behaviour and 3) GO AND GET HIS ALBUMS! His output, from the soul gospel quintet The Soul Stirrers (where he began in the late 1940's) til' his untimely murder in 1964 and all the posthumous releases and hits he had well up into the mid 1970's... is ALL worth a listen.

ANYWAY - A year before he was shot dead by the manager of the hotel Cooke was staying at (an arguable case of self defence) - he recorded a self-penned masterpeice that has brough generations to their knees.

A CHANGE IS GONNA COME was finally released in 1964 as a single on the RCA label and became an immediate posthumous top 20 smash, likewise with the LP the single was released ona few months later, 'Ain't That Good News'.

The lyric tells of a melancholy story of a man who, born near the river, has been; like the river; running ever since. He has never felt accepted on the once segregated and disgustingly racist world, and although he is confident a change is gonna come, he is also afraid to die, scared of what lies above the sky.
Poetic, moving, emotional and beautiful sung, this is one for the record player...I mean iPod.

"A Change Is Gonna Come"

I was born by the river in a little tent
And just like that river I've been running ever since
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will

It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
Cos I don't know what's out there beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie
And I go down town
somebody keep telling me don't hang around
Its been along time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will

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

There were times when I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gone come, oh yes it will