Sam Cooke's Song 'A Change Is Flying Come'

Music has a dynamic ability of influencing emotions, from mood regulation to rumination and self-expression. The presence of political and social messages in popular music is frequently seen across cultures, in particular focusing on social issues and racism (Back, 2000, 127). This paper attempted to explore the political and social messages in popular music, more specifically it investigated the relationship between Soul music and civil rights movements in the United States.

In the article, McCalla lists 10 famous songs about civil rights movement and analyzed their contents. "Oh Freedom" is about the call for freedom in the Civil Rights movement. "We Shall Not Be Moved" presents the determination in Civil right movement of face with govenment. "Go Tell It On the Mountain" is as an analogy for Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement. "Time They Are A Changin by Bob Dylan captured the spirit and essence of the change and turmoil that surrounded the Civil Rights movement". "Lift Every Voice And Sing" and " Strange Fruit" talk about ugly essence of lynchings racism and the opposition to the Civil Rights movement. Moreover, "People Get Ready" is about the optimism and excitement of the Civil Rights movement

Cooke’s music career was propelled by the captivating influence he had on the black crowd as a gospel singer. But after observing the events that sparked the civil rights movement: Emmitt Till’s dehumanizing murder and Rosa Park’s prideful stance on the bus, Sam Cooke became unsatisfied with the limited role he had in the music industry. Cooke desired

The three appeals of logos, ethos and pathos are used to varying degrees in the songs to present a message of hope to the African American community in light of racial discrimination, specifically segregation. In presenting his message, Cooke takes the audience through his life in an anecdotal form. This topic of invention displays how the song is structured in a logical order, from the description of his humble beginnings “I was born by the river in a little tent” to the final message “a change gonna come, oh yes it will”. The logic of his song is structured through five verses, where all verses except the fourth verse concludes in the same way.

The song” The Revolution will not be Televised”(Gil Scott-Heron) holds a powerful meaning. Heron is a longtime musician, poet, and author in the ‘70’s. One of the most acclaimed pieces of his spoken word has resonated and echoed in 2017 struggles for black rights. During the creation and publication of this Grammy nominated song: The Civil Rights movements was gaining momentum. Activist like Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Muhammad Ali are redefining what is means to be catalyst for change for the Black Community. Gil Scott-Heron illustrates attention, identification, and hope for the African-Americans living in White-America.

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything,” -George Bernard Shaw. In the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans were harshly discriminated against. It was dangerous for a black to leave their own home. Simple tasks such as going to the grocery store became a challenge, even a life or death situation. Important decisions had to be made to change the way people were being treated. Because of the segregation and indifference the African Americans endured, a common theme shared among my three books was change.

The years 1963-1964 were two very big years for Cooke. In mid-1963 he faced the tragic loss of his infant son. The despairing mourning his son’s death made it impossible for Cooke To focus on any music. It was not until 1964 when Cooke released his song “A Change Is Gonna Come”. This song clearly portrayed the many struggles he faced in everyday life as an African American.(Shmoop Editorial Team). It is easy to tell the influences the Civil Rights Movement going on at the time took a great toll on the song.

In the midst of a time where black Americans were facing extreme ridicule and fighting for their rights, Sam Cooke arose from the Gospel music style and merged into the music known as Soul, a genre that spoke to the socially crumbling nation about peace and civil rights changes. Through his smooth style, velvety voice, handsome appearance, and appeal to black and white audiences alike, Sam Cooke made a difference in the lives of Americans in the 1960s by singing with pure emotion and soul, like in "A Change is Gonna Come." Through this genre’s sincere singing with lyrics full of emotion, a sense of understanding was brought to the people of America about the

Sam Cooke, ‘A Change is Gonna Come” Heralded by many as the anthem to the Civil Rights Movement, ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ by Sam Cooke was and still is one of the most influential songs of all time. The song was originally released in 1964 on the album ‘Ain’t That Good News’, but was released again as a single eleven days after Sam Cooke’s untimely death on the 11th of December, 1964. There is no other social movement so effected by pop culture in the last century than the black Civil Rights Movement in America during the 1960s. The music at the time had political motivation and yet it was still enjoyed widely as pop music.

Freedom songs were a key element to the development of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. During mass meetings, marches, and violent confrontations, music offered an outlet for people to express their emotions and a place to draw courage from. The ability of songs to draw together communities in order to build morale and support for the movement, while reaffirming the need for a nonviolent Movement in America during this period of time, profoundly contributed to the development of protest movements across the nation. However, though freedom songs appeared in many styles during the 1960s, with songs such as “We Shall Overcome” and those associated with Black Power like “Mississippi Goddamn” appearing in the same period, the role

The Doctrine of ethos is a powerful tool used throughout time to influence a mass quantity of people about particular ideas, emotions, or social issues. These ideas can be expressed in a multitude of ways to convey a particular message to the observer. In this case, we are focusing on the effects of music as it applies to human beings and their ability to understand the message implied to them and the effect this may cause on them. I chose to focus my selection on a particular time frame, the civil rights movement, as this would be a crucial time where people were looking fro inspiration and morale to fight for a cause. My song choice is “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to be Free” by Nina Simone and written by Billy Taylor ad Richard Caroll Lamb. I believe

For the past few decades, modern African American history has moved past mass protest leading to righteous exasperation to national civil rights reform. Studies show notable areas where protests in the south from 1955 to 1965 need to be understood in the circumstances of social changes that had affected the South as well as the North. Many memoirs of Martin Luther King Jr now bring awareness to the pioneers who played big roles in the Civil Rights Reform era, many biographies interpret MLK Jr, as a leader who initiated events that he did not. Civil Rights reform continues as the main component of many present-day accounts of African American history following World War II, many first-class scholarly reports of such reform that goes in depth in social forces that decided what adjustments were practicable to accomplish the 1960s.

As previously mentioned, music has played a significant role through the ages by shaping social movements and exemplifying the mood of the decade. During the 1960s, there were winds of change that blew a considerable varying collection of musicians. These winds of change came after the post-War expansion, the assassination of an idealistic president, and America’s involvement in the Vietnam conflict. Bob Dylan’s seminal, “The Times They Are a-Changing” can be considered as a song that encapsulated the message and mood of the 1960s decade (Holz, 2010). The song reflected a musical genre that was influenced by issues like poverty, nuclear disarmament, war, racism, and environmentalism.

The 1960’s in America was often referred to as an age of protest because of not only the social protests that have taken place, but also for the upbringing of protest music, which became very popular during that era. The roots of protest music were largely from folk music of American musicians during 1950’. Folk musicians, such as Joe Hill, composed labor union protest songs and distributed song booklets, hoping to “fan the flames of discontent.” (Rodnitzky pg. 6) Symbolically, this meant that the songs, the fan, would reduce the uncontrollable social protests that the United States government caused with the misleading information that they did not keep their word on, or the flames of discontent. Other folk musicians, such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, traveled around the United States spreading their “message music” and becoming involved in political movements. Guthrie and Seeger were the pioneers of protest music, bringing their folk music to New York City and merging it with urban music. Woody’s songs were about the masses, often identifying problems and offering solutions. While Seeger was cautious about referring to his music as folk music, preferring the term “people’s music,” meaning that not everyone may had the same thoughts, but they all expressed it in their own unique musical sense. For both Woody and Seeger, folk music was a necessity in these protests, when the needs

“Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” by Pete Seeger became a popular anti-war protest song during the 1960s. This song did not only protest against the Vietnam War but also made their generation more aware about the global problems. Songs like “Not Ready to Make Nice” by Dixie chicks about freedom of speech was written after they received death threats for singing against the Iraq war, protests against the violation of human rights. But music is not only used to protest, it is also used to give hope and optimism. “We Shall Overcome”, a song sung by Guy Carawan together with the Montgomery Gospel Trio and the Nashville Quartet, is perhaps the best known example of civil rights song. Instead of blaming the government, this song registered a feeling of hope and faith among African-Americans during the civil rights movement.