“A Change Is Gonna Come”

Sam Cooke wrote it in 1963, moved by Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” and by what happened to him that October, when he and his party were turned away from a motel in Shreveport, Louisiana. He recorded it in Hollywood on January 30, 1964, with René Hall arranging it like a film score. It first appeared on the album Ain’t That Good News that year. After Cooke’s death in December 1964 it came out as a single and grew into an anthem of the civil rights movement. Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin both recorded it, and it is in the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Library of Congress National Recording Registry.