50 years ago today: December 11, 1960"When (Sam Cooke) first heard 'Blowin' In The Wind' on the new Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album J.W. (Alexander) had just given him, he was so carried away with the message, and the fact that a white boy had written it, that he was almost ashamed not to have written something like that himself. It wasn't the way Dylan sang, he told Bobby Womack. It was what he had to say. 'I'm going to write something,' Sam told J.W. But he didn't know what it was."
--Peter Guralnick, Dream Boogie: The Triumph Of Sam Cooke, pp. 512-13
That "something" turned out to be Sam Cooke's finest moment as a songwriter and one of the artistic high points of the 1960s, "A Change Is Gonna Come." But, before writing "Change," Sam took Dylan's civil rights anthem uptown, covering it during his July 1964 gigs at the Copacabana (aka The Copa) in New York City. This video was filmed a few months later for the premiere episode of Shindig (September 16, 1964). Sam takes Dylan to church, despite the overbearing whiteness in the room. An amazing performance, really. Also, keep in mind that this was probably one of the first televised instances of a black man being surrounded by white kids, some of whom were females dancing.
RIP Sam Cooke, January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964
Published originally on Star Maker Machine, 10/5/08
4 comments:
Great post. Again.
Fantastic. I can't believe that he died only a few months after this video was filmed.
I dont want to defend NPR, I mean I like it but they can go to far. Anyway have you seen Willie Nelson or George Carlin in the early 60's? They had that same corporate look and even though very talented in the 60's they went on the much bigger things after they left the confines of starched collar society. When you see him singing the Dylan song do you think he arraigned the music, or had any control over how things looked, or was he under the control of his agents and handlers? Not meant as a critisism, just a comment. Love the blog. Keep up the good work Chris Beef
Thanks a lot for sharing this with us, was a great post.
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