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December 25, 2005
A Change is Gonna Come
> Brenton Wood - A Change is Gonna Come
On December 21, 1963, Sam Cooke recorded "A Change is Gonna Come," a song that like "Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay" had for Otis Redding, would ring out posthumously as unforgettably moving and career defining, if only because it represented the beginning of another innovative chapter in music, tragically taken from us before it even began. The song, which was written in response to Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," at a time when Sam was deeply affected by the loss of his son Vincent became an anthem of the nascent Civil Rights Movement. It is hauntingly, unclassifiably, beautiful.
Originally released by RCA a month after Sam’s death, "A Change is Gonna Come" reached 31 on the Pop Charts, and since then practically every soul artist of note has attempted to sing it smoother and with more self-assured soul than Sam Cooke; a fruitless exercise that has resulted in many beautiful renditions, but none that re-imagined the song more than Brenton Wood's version. Wood, best known for his late 60s danceable soul and borderline corny hits such as "Give Me Some Kind of Sign, Girl" and "I'm your Puppet" re-invents the classic with just enough heartbreak to convince us that he isn't blaspheming on the gospel of Cooke, rather he is merely taking as Cooke himself had with Gospel, music that touches people and modernizing it. "A Change Is Gonna Come" remains to this day the only song that I can remember start to finish.
Posted by pd3000 at December 25, 2005 12:04 AM