Sam Cooke, A Change Is Gonna Come | Music Lifts

In the ninth edition of Music Lifts (2026), we’re uplifted by short-lived soul legend Sam Cooke performing “A Change Is Gonna Come.”

Welcome to Music Lifts, featuring songs that encourage, inspire, and uplift the spirit; songs that exude fortitude, positivity, and resolve, even in the face of adversity.  Featured songs aren’t genre-specific; songs may or may not be faith-based. The goal is for these songs to make you feel better – be LIFTED to new heights!  So, for the ninth edition of Music Lifts (2026), we highlight “A Change Is Gonna Come” as performed by Sam Cooke.

Those lyrics are iconic and instantly recognizable.  They hail from the first verse of the moving soul classic “A Change Is Gonna Come”. Sam Cooke (1931 – 1964), the King of Soul, did his big one, without question. “A Change Is Gonna Come” appeared as the seventh track on Cooke’s final studio album, Ain’t That Good News. Cooke’s most renowned song was NOT his highest charting, however.  “Change” peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100, a far cry from the number two peaking “Chain Gang”. Even so, the more important record is “A Change Is Gonna Come,” which Cooke composed himself.  Hugo & Luigi – Hugo Peretti (1916 – 1986) and Luigi Creatore (1921 – 2015) – produced it.

“A Change Is Gonna Come” is an ultra-sophisticated, gospel-infused protest anthem.  The musical orchestration and production are dynamic.  Sam Cooke features a celestial backdrop (those lush, emotional strings and articulated brass), which further fuels his fire.  Vocally, he oozes with soul. Every lyric he sings, you buy what he is selling, because of the authenticity and sincerity he brings. In the second verse, he speaks of how hard it is to live, yet, the fear of death – the unknown (“‘Cause I don’t know what’s up there / Beyond the sky”).  Later, someone tells him not to hang around downtown, referencing the racism running rampant in the South at the time.   The fourth and final verse is troubling, but timeless:

“Then I go to my brother

And I say, ‘Brother, help me please.’

But he winds up

Knockin’ me

Back down to my knees.”

Perhaps the context was different back in the 1960s, but as we know, history repeats itself.  Despite all the bad things going on, Sam Cooke is optimistic that change will happen, eventually. The chorus is the crème de la crème – the crowning achievement of this unforgettable masterpiece:

“It’s been a long

A long time comin’, but I know

A change gon’ come

Oh, yes, it will.”

No extensive analysis is necessary for “A Change Is Gonna Come”. It is one of the most important songs of the soul catalog, one of the best songs of the 1960s, and one of the greatest songs of all time.  Yes, change has come, but there is still much change needed to make the world a better place for all of its people.

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Sam Cooke » Ain’t That Good News » ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. » 1964

Sam Cooke, A Change Is Gonna Come: Music Lifts No. 9 (2026) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; ABKCO Music & Records, Inc.; Emma Bauso, foad shariyati, nappy, Niko Twisty, Victoria Strelka_ph, Wolrider YURTSEVEN from Pexels; Gordon Johnson from Pixabay]

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