Sam Cooke Radiates the Real American Dream
Change is the hope for many still seeking to reach the mountain top
Sometimes a voice resonates with such heartfelt clarity that it lasts for generations. Sam Cooke’s A Change is Gonna Come is one song that forever lingers in your mindscape.
It is a classic uplifting song in a soulful, downtrodden tone. It is tired but not defeated. The struggle remains, yet so does perseverance.
The song was released in 1964. However, it was borne in the era of Jim Crow laws and racial segregation lasting Sam Cooke’s entire life. He died in the same year at age 33.
If you are not familiar with American geography, Jim Crow laws grew out of the Southern States in the Reconstruction era after the official end of slavery. These laws enforced racial segregation with the goal to disenfranchise African Americans making economic and political gains.
Everything in America is a division. There are the Northern vs Southern states; the East vs West coast lifestyles and the racial divide among Blacks and Whites. These ubiquitous divisions influence life choices, attitudes and progress.
Sam Cooke was front and center in the Civil Rights Movement. He lived the struggle. Even as a major artist, he was turned away from white-only motels. These racial incidents were not isolated, they were common everyday occurrences.
A Song of Soul and Significance
Sam Cooke was a hit-making machine. Nicknamed the “King of Soul”, he brought soul to popular music with records such as Cupid, Chain Gang, You Send Me and Twistin’ the Night Away.
Sam Cooke charted 29 singles in the Top 40 of Billboard Pop Singles in a span of just eight years.
A Change is Gonna Come reflects a lot of living in a few short stanzas. It’s a song of despair, hope, fatigue, ill treatment, racism, perseverance, pain, mental fortitude, fear, death, betrayal and human spirit.
One cannot listen to this influential song without contemplation and introspection. It sinks into your DNA and makes you examine your own genetic code. What are you really made of? What are your true beliefs?
The opening verses of A Change is Gonna Come are haunting in scope and reality. These few lines set the tone for one of the most emotional and powerful songs in the American catalog.
I was born by the river
In a little tent
Oh, and just like the river, I've been running
Ever sinceIt's been a long
A long time coming, but I know
A change gon' come
Oh yes, it will
Coda
So, what change, if any, did come?
My childhood parallels the Civil Rights struggles of the Sixties, the busing of Black students to integrate public schools, the openness of racial dating and lots of other cultural changes.
Despite these ‘advancements’ in the social fabric of American life, there are still a lot of loose threads to grapple with. In retrospect, even the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States seems less genuine.
[For the record: I voted twice for Obama. It was historical and mesmerizing at the time. It now seems like a mirage, a false front meant to capture the goodness of true believers for elitist opportunities. Listen to Hope & Change for more insights.]
The problems that plagued the nation during Sam Cooke’s time are not really gone. Politicians still promise false hope and present incremental change with great fanfare. Yes, the statistics are better, the opportunities are more abundant, but the soul still suffers a great indignity.
The poverty to prison pipeline, homelessness, inadequate health care, and racial bigotry are all ever present.
Perhaps America set the bar too high with “liberty and justice for all,” the ending phrase of The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Or maybe it’s misguided because it honors “the Republic for which it stands.”
If the Republic only stands for the current state of racial division, financial malfeasance, governmental capture and corporate control, then we put our faith (and votes) in the wrong place.
If “A Change Is Gonna Come,” then the people will need to rise up and stand for more than just saluting the flag of the oligarchs.
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