Rolling Stone's Top 20

“A Change is Gonna Come”- #12

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Released- 1965

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Cooke wrote this as a protest song to support the civil rights movement, as black Americans fought for equality. Up to this point, most of his songs were either touching ballads or lighthearted songs. When Cooke heard Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind," he became determined to write something similar - he couldn't believe Dylan's song wasn't written by a black man. Cooke’s song, “A Change is Gonna Come” was inspired by Bob Dylan, but its intention was to send a message of equality for black Americans during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The beginning of the song talks about Cooke’s tough upbringing, “I was born by the river in a little tent, Oh, and just like the river I've been running ever since.” He is depicting the life of a black man in the 60s; searching for answers, looking for jobs, running a race in his mind where he cannot slow down. More evidence of this can be seen in the following verse, “It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die, 'Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky.”

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Themes: Protest, Rebellion, Life