47

A Change Is Gonna Come
Sam Cooke
1964

Here's another message song, and it's probably no accident that I put this and Born This Way back-to-back.  This song...gives me chills every time.  This is a masterpiece.  You can hear the voice of an entire people in this number, and it still resonates nearly 60 years later.  In addition to the history behind the song, it just feels like birthplace of soul right here.  Yes, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, and others came before, but the song just feels like it all started here.

What I didn't know about this song is that it was released just after Sam Cooke was killed at the age of 33.  We were robbed of what would've been a voice of a generation, but we instead got the song of a generation with this one.

Other Songs Considered:
Bring It On Home to Me