It’s been a long, a long time coming/
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will.

In popular music in the 60s, not many singers wrote their own songs. The singer-songwriter was just becoming a thing, but it was primarily on the rock side of music. It certainly wasn’t big in pop or soul. Sam Cooke wrote and sang “A Change is Gonna Come” about civil rights issues that were divisive issues of the day.

For Cooke, they weren’t “issues”, they were things he experienced, like how in this song he writes about getting in a fight while going to a movie downtown. He is hopeful, however, that a change will come.

The movement from songwriters writing all the songs to the performers writing the songs was one of the most important movements in the history of music. Owning the publishing is king. There is something unique about hearing an artist sing their own words about their own experiences.

A Change is Gonna Come Lyrics

I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I’ve been running ev’r since
It’s been a long time, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

It’s been too hard living, but I’m afraid to die
‘Cause I don’t know what’s up there, beyond the sky
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie and I go downtown
Somebody keep tellin’ me don’t hang around
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please
But he winds up knockin’ me
Back down on my knees, oh

There have been times that I thought I couldn’t last for long
But now I think I’m able to carry on
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will

Songwriters: Sam Cooke