A Change Is Gonna Come (1964)

"A Change Is Gonna Come" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. It initially appeared on Cooke's album Ain't That Good News, released mid-February 1964 by RCA Victor; a slightly edited version of the recording was released as a single on December 22, 1964. Produced by Hugo & Luigi and arranged and conducted by René Hall, the song was the B-side to "Shake".

The song was inspired by various events in Cooke's life, most prominently when he and his entourage were turned away from a whites-only motel in Louisiana. Cooke felt compelled to write a song that spoke to his struggle and of those around him, and that pertained to the Civil Rights Movement and African Americans.

Though only a modest hit for Cooke in comparison with his previous singles, "A Change Is Gonna Come" is widely considered one of Cooke's greatest and most influential compositions and has been voted among the greatest songs ever recorded by various publications. In 2007, the song was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress by the National Recording Registry, having been deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." In 2021, Rolling Stone magazine placed it at number 3 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and in 2025, the magazine placed it at number 1 on its list of "The 100 Best Protest Songs of All Time."

Background

On October 8, 1963, en route to Shreveport, Louisiana, Cooke called ahead to the Holiday Inn North to make reservations for his wife, Barbara, and himself, but when he and his group arrived, the desk clerk glanced nervously and explained there were no vacancies. While his brother Charles protested, Sam was furious, yelling to see the manager and refusing to leave until he received an answer. His wife nudged him, attempting to calm him down, telling him, "They'll kill you," to which he responded, "They ain't gonna kill me, because I'm Sam Cooke." When they eventually persuaded Cooke to leave, the group drove away calling out insults and blaring their horns. When they arrived at the Castle Motel on Sprague Street downtown, the police were waiting for them, arresting them for disturbing the peace. The New York Times ran a UPI report the next day, headlined "Negro Band Leader Held in Shreveport," but African-Americans were outraged. In 2019, then-Shreveport mayor Adrian Perkins apologized to Cooke's family for the event, and posthumously awarded Cooke the key to the city.

In addition, upon hearing the Bob Dylan song "Blowin' in the Wind" in 1963, Cooke was greatly moved that such a poignant song about racism in America could come from someone who was not black and also ashamed he had not yet written something like that himself. However, his image and fears of losing his large white fan base had prevented him from doing so. Cooke loved Dylan's song so much it was immediately incorporated into his repertoire. He was further influenced by the message of the dream in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech at the civil rights march on Washington that year. Toward the end of 1963, according to Cooke, the "Change" composition came to him in a dream.

Research by Ian Mance shows that Cooke was in Durham, North Carolina, during sit-ins by North Carolina College at Durham students and others and that Cooke wrote his first draft on a Durham bus.