Sam Cooke
Ashley McCullers
MUSI 2040
Vanessa Tome
Sam Cooke and “A Change Is Gonna Come”
In the midst of a time where black Americans were facing extreme ridicule and fighting for their rights, Sam Cooke arose from the Gospel music style and merged into the music known as Soul, a genre that spoke to the socially crumbling nation about peace and civil rights changes. Through his smooth style, velvety voice, handsome appearance, and appeal to black and white audiences alike, Sam Cooke made a difference in the lives of Americans in the 1960s by singing with pure emotion and soul, like in "A Change is Gonna Come." Through this genre’s sincere singing with lyrics full of emotion, a sense of understanding was brought to the people of America about the African-American struggle for equality. Soul music came from Gospel roots, emerging onto the music scene around the 1950s. Because it came from Gospel and Rhythm and Blues, the term “Soul” really is what is says: the music itself contains much feeling or “soul” in the lyrics, and the actual style of music and singing reflect gospel-hymns, just with secular lyrics instead (Scaruffi). Soul allowed the sexual innuendoes of blues lyrics, and gave way to a more catchy style that caught on with the young people of America. Major elements of Soul music include a sense of call-and-response between the soloist and the chorus, improvisation in singing various vocal runs, and an almost vocal ‘moaning’ in between lines of verses and choruses. Credited with inventing Soul is Ray Charles, who initially fused the call-and-response format with the song structure and chord changes of R&B, along with the vocal styles of Gospel (Gilmore). Charles’ song, “I’ve Got a Woman,” recorded in 1955, is credited to be the first Soul song, starting a craze of Soul that would flourish through the late 1990s. The 1960s, however, were the golden years of Soul, where the genre gave way to the fame of a few notable names like Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye,
MUSI 2040
Vanessa Tome
Sam Cooke and “A Change Is Gonna Come”
In the midst of a time where black Americans were facing extreme ridicule and fighting for their rights, Sam Cooke arose from the Gospel music style and merged into the music known as Soul, a genre that spoke to the socially crumbling nation about peace and civil rights changes. Through his smooth style, velvety voice, handsome appearance, and appeal to black and white audiences alike, Sam Cooke made a difference in the lives of Americans in the 1960s by singing with pure emotion and soul, like in "A Change is Gonna Come." Through this genre’s sincere singing with lyrics full of emotion, a sense of understanding was brought to the people of America about the African-American struggle for equality. Soul music came from Gospel roots, emerging onto the music scene around the 1950s. Because it came from Gospel and Rhythm and Blues, the term “Soul” really is what is says: the music itself contains much feeling or “soul” in the lyrics, and the actual style of music and singing reflect gospel-hymns, just with secular lyrics instead (Scaruffi). Soul allowed the sexual innuendoes of blues lyrics, and gave way to a more catchy style that caught on with the young people of America. Major elements of Soul music include a sense of call-and-response between the soloist and the chorus, improvisation in singing various vocal runs, and an almost vocal ‘moaning’ in between lines of verses and choruses. Credited with inventing Soul is Ray Charles, who initially fused the call-and-response format with the song structure and chord changes of R&B, along with the vocal styles of Gospel (Gilmore). Charles’ song, “I’ve Got a Woman,” recorded in 1955, is credited to be the first Soul song, starting a craze of Soul that would flourish through the late 1990s. The 1960s, however, were the golden years of Soul, where the genre gave way to the fame of a few notable names like Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye,
Bibliography: Bowman, R.W. (2007). Cooke, Sam. Oxford Music Online. Retrieved October 30, 2010, from "Change Is Gonna Come." Song Facts Gulla, Bob. "Sam Cooke." Icons of R&B and Soul:An Encyclopedia of the Artists Who Revolutionized Rhythm . 1st ed. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008. Print. Scaruffi, Piero. "A Brief History of Soul Music." Piero Scaruffi 's Music Database. Piero Scaruffi, 2002. Web. 13 Nov 2010. . Stephens, R.W. (1984). Soul: a historical reconstruction of continuity and change in black popular music. The Black Perspective in Music, 12(1), Retrieved from http:// www.jstor.org/pss/1214967 Werner, Craig