In the subway this evening, a lone guy was plunking on a guitar and singing “A Change Is Gonna Come” made popular by Sam Cooke, Tina Turner, and others. The guitar didn’t sound very good, but the voice was heavenly. It’s a song I’m partial to because it was the last song I ever played on the radio, during the finale of my WFHB show “Filet of Soul” before moving to Chicago. (Alas, I can’t remember whose version I played.) As I tiptoed by with a dollar in my hand, I noticed that despite the material, change wasn’t forthcoming to our singer. Fortunately for him, it was mostly small bills.
Posted at October 03, 2002 07:21 PMTed Hawkins did a real nice version.
Did you ever take the History of Rock & Roll class at IU with Glenn Gass? He included Sam Cooke's version on the compilation tapes he made that were required listening for the class. In the corresponding lecture he talked about the upheaval and confusion that disrupted the civil rights movement during the sixties. I believe the class ended that day with him talking about ML King's assasination, showing some film footage from that day, and playing "A Change is Gonna Come" in the darkened lecture hall. My friend Sara and I both left the class in tears, it was so moving.