In which Jeff is reminded that Sam Cooke takes a back seat to no one, not even to Smokey Robinson; and that the sweetest fruits are often those closest to the roots.
Continue reading...Sam Cooke
152: Sam Cooke, ‘A Change is Gonna Come’
Sam Cooke wrote ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ as a black response to ‘Blowing in the Wind’. It was only released a week after he was killed by a motel manager, and has become the unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights movement. Second in a series of three death-premonition songs.
Continue reading...136: James Taylor, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel – ‘Wonderful World’
What happens when three of the finest singers of our times get together to record a pop paean to pimply passion?
Continue reading...120: Sam Cooke, ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’
I can see your reaction – “Ho hum, another old singer from the early 1960s doing another version of that hackneyed antique.”
Okay, I’ll stake my reputation on this one. You listen to this cut and tell me you weren’t shaking your shaker, bopping your boppers, grinning from ear to ear. I dare you! It’s sparkling, ebullient, irresistible. It’ll make you shake, rattle and roll.