Hannah Powell
Prof. Rayburn
English 217
January 18, 2016
It’s All in the Name: The Agenda Behind Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” Amidst the American Civil Rights movement, Sam Cooke worked extremely hard as an African-American music artist to cross over to the pop charts. He began his career as a gospel artist and slowly made the transition. As he began to feel more accepted into the white-dominant music culture, he started to incorporate more of his soul, gospel tone back into his music. He attempted to find a balance between appeasing his loyal supporters and maintaining his new mostly white audience. Cooke wrote “A Change is Gonna Come” in response to being kicked out of a hotel and later arrested for disturbing the peace, and it went on to be thought of as one of the many anthems of the American Civil Rights Movement (NPR Staff). Sam Cooke utilized relatable language with an encouraging message in a subtle way in order to fuel the American Civil Rights movement and future political movements in the song “A Change is Gonna Come”. Sam Cooke was inspired to write “A Change is Gonna Come” when he heard Bob …show more content…
Popular R and B singer T-Pain recently did a cover of Cooke’s song, and it was very well received. He dedicated the song to his father, who happened to be alive during the Civil Rights Movement and had felt the need for change at that time. In President Obama’s 2008 victory speech, he referenced Cooke’s song with the statement, “It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America” (Obama). “A Change is Gonna Come” was designed to be a song that inspired people, in particular black Americans to move toward revolution, no matter the time or
Prof. Rayburn
English 217
January 18, 2016
It’s All in the Name: The Agenda Behind Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” Amidst the American Civil Rights movement, Sam Cooke worked extremely hard as an African-American music artist to cross over to the pop charts. He began his career as a gospel artist and slowly made the transition. As he began to feel more accepted into the white-dominant music culture, he started to incorporate more of his soul, gospel tone back into his music. He attempted to find a balance between appeasing his loyal supporters and maintaining his new mostly white audience. Cooke wrote “A Change is Gonna Come” in response to being kicked out of a hotel and later arrested for disturbing the peace, and it went on to be thought of as one of the many anthems of the American Civil Rights Movement (NPR Staff). Sam Cooke utilized relatable language with an encouraging message in a subtle way in order to fuel the American Civil Rights movement and future political movements in the song “A Change is Gonna Come”. Sam Cooke was inspired to write “A Change is Gonna Come” when he heard Bob …show more content…
Popular R and B singer T-Pain recently did a cover of Cooke’s song, and it was very well received. He dedicated the song to his father, who happened to be alive during the Civil Rights Movement and had felt the need for change at that time. In President Obama’s 2008 victory speech, he referenced Cooke’s song with the statement, “It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America” (Obama). “A Change is Gonna Come” was designed to be a song that inspired people, in particular black Americans to move toward revolution, no matter the time or