Summer Music: Song 11

Song 11: A Change is Gonna Come

Written: 1964

Subject Matter:
Racial oppression. The song is about a man who has been looked down on and condescended to all his life. He feels a change in the future, and expresses the hope that he will one day be fully accepted by others. The song was originally written by Sam Cooke, and it became a very influential piece during the Civil Rights movement.

Storytelling:
Although Seal is not the original recorder of this song, he sounds almost exactly true to Sam Cooke's original rendition. No matter that Seal sings this song after the era of racial oppression is over, he really feels the distress of his forefathers when he sings. In fact, I'd even venture to say that he puts more feeling into it than Cooke did. But then, Seal was born in the early 60's, so he may have experienced some racism, but not nearly as much as Cooke or other black people living in Cooke's time did.

My Thoughts: hmm hmm hmmmm! Oh, excuse me, I was just humming this song, like I've been doing all day long. It's great, and it's really not a wonder that it was so influential. It's quite inspiring.

What can we learn?:
This song speaks to a great part of the American dream: an equal chance for all to obtain a better, more fulfilling life. Over the course of US history, that hasn't been offered to everyone: American Indians, blacks, the Irish, etc. This song shows that many people, repressed or not, retain hope for a more promising future. Hey wow! America was built on Enlightenment ideals!!