Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Obama's Sam Cooke Connection

As I mentioned yesterday, the Chicago Tribune has gone Obama crazy. However, i must admit that the articles are quite interesting.

Mary Schmich, in her Nov. 16th column, wrote about Barack Obama using Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" in his Grant Park address to those celebrating his victory. "It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election, change has come to America."

Sam Cooke's brother, L.C. Cooke was listening and said, "It shows you the longevity of Sam."

"A Change is Gonna Come" was a hit for Sam Cooke in 1964 and became an unofficial anthem of Obama's campaign. Of course, there are the other great Cooke songs like "You Send Me," "Chain Gang," "Wonderful World," and "Twisting the Night Away.

Sam and L.C. were born only eleven months apart and went with their family as babies on the Greyhound bus from Mississippi to Chicago. Their father, a minister, got them and three of their siblings into a group called The Singing Children.

Sam was a successful singer by 19, famous by 26, and dead at 33, shot by a hotel clerk who claimed it was in self-defense.

One of My Favorite Performers. --Cooter

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