A song penned by Sam Cooke during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s after being greatly moved upon hearing Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" in 1963.
"A Change Is Going to Come" was voted #12 for Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
This song has been covered by Bob Dylan, Tina Turner Aretha Franklin, The 5th Dimension (in a 1970 medley with The Rascals' "People Got to Be Free"), The Band, Al Green GreeneBilly Bragg, Solomon Burke, Terence Trent D'Arby, Gavin Degraw, the Fugees, the Cold War Kids, The Gits, Deitrick Haddon, Prince Buster, Morten Harket, The Neville Brothers, Johnny P, Otis Redding, Leela James, Tina Turner, and The Supremes. Arcade Fire has used the song in support of Barack Obama's nomination for President of the United States. In recent years, the song has served as a sample for rappers Ghostface Killah (1996), Ja Rule (2003), Papoose (2006), Lil Wayne (2007) "Long Time Coming (remix)" and Nas's It Was Written album also features a similar opening as the song. On their album "The Reunion" hip-hop artists Capone-N-Noreaga used an excerpt from the song on the opening track which shares the same title as the Cooke original. British soul singer Beverley Knight says the song is her all time favourite and has performed it live many a time; most notably on 'Later with Jools Holland'. On May 6, 2008, during the seventh season of American Idol, the song was sung by contestant Syesha Mercado as the remaining top 4.
And for the obnoxious country music fans... Jerry Lee Lewis, Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley
Tags: Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin Change Is Gonna Come Civil Rights Obama soul rock r&b atlantic jerry wexler inaugeration tina turner otis redding gladys knight bet
