A Change Is Gonna Come

“A Change Is Gonna Come”
is a song by American recording artist Sam Cooke.
The song was inspired by an episode in Sam Cooke’s life, when he and his friends were turned away from a “whites-only” motel in Louisiana, USA. The song was recorded in 1963 and became a symbol of the Civil Rights Movement and of the “Black Struggle”

Now lets hear the song:

I was born by the river

In a little tent
Oh, and just like the river
I’ve been running
Ever since

It’s been a long

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
Cause I don’t know what’s up there
Beyond the sky

It’s been a long

Along time coming
But I know
A change is gonna come

Oh yes it will

I go to the movie

And I go downtown
Somebody keep telling me don’t
Hang around

It’s been a long

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
Knocking me
Back down on my knees

And oh
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,

Along time coming
But I know
A change is gonna come

Oh yes it will

A funny video that tells the story of how the song was written: Drunk History – A change is gonna come

Legacy:

“A Change Is Gonna Come” became an anthem for the 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 the webzine Pitchfork Media’s The 200 Greatest Songs of the 60s. The song is also among three hundred songs deemed the most important ever recorded by National Public Radio (NPR) and was selected by the Library of Congress as one of twenty-five selected recordings to the National Recording Registry as of March 2007. Acclaimed Music ranked it as the 46th greatest song of all time, as well as the third best song of 1964. NPR called the song “one of the most important songs of the civil rights era.”

In 2007, the song was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress, with the National Recording Registry deeming the song “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important.”

In 2019, then-Shreveport mayor Adrian Perkins apologized to Cooke’s family for the Shreveport event (see above under Background), and posthumously awarded Cooke the key to the city.

The words “A change is gonna come” are on a wall of the Contemplative Court, a space for reflection in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture; the museum opened in 2016.

Bibliography:

(1)https://www.smule.com/song/sam-cooke-a-change-is-gonna-come-karaoke-lyrics/183055337_176823/arrangement

(2) wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Change_Is_Gonna_Come