Meh, actually, I'm a Jerry Butler guy, when we're talking about great voices. Still, it's no doubt that Sam is just a killer. One of the great sins of our time is the syrupy, wimpy, punk-ass remakes we've been made to endure of "Having A Party." I refer you to this live version of "Having A Party." That is how you shut down a club. Rod Stewart should be ashamed.
Anyway, I caused a minor row by claiming, earlier, that "Change Is Gonna Come" isn't Sam Cooke's greatest song. Just my opinion. But I'm gonna go with "Bring It On Home," "That's Where It's At," "Somebody Have Mercy," or even "Touch The Hem My Garment." Cooke spent much of his career trying to mellow out his style, and so a lot of his stuff is mediocre teen-pop. Still, the man was a titan and taken too soon. Dig his rendition of "Blowing In the Wind." Sound quality is bad, but Sam is still great.
Of course there's more. Like the man who now talks change, Sam Cooke was straight out the South Side of Chicago.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
Minor Note: Cooke born in Clarksdale, MS, then got on the train.
Then he's more like Obama then I thought...
Call me standard, but in terms of voices, I've always been a Marvin Gaye/David Ruffin type fan. Throw in Aretha Franklin for good measure, too.
No matter what your taste in vocal style, Sam is a top tenner, period. But what is really coolest about him and least known... he WROTE his stuff. That puts him in a whole separate space with Smokey, Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers, a very select crowd. You can look it up.
If I remember correctly, "A Change Gonna Come" was written as a response to "Blowing in The Wind". Personally, I love "Cupid" and his early gospel work.
Cooke is another one of those gospel singers who went on to more fame as a secular singer ala Aretha Franklin, but you can tell that their hearts are still in the gospel world.
You had to drag out a Rod Stewart cover, didn't you T-N? Rod Stewart and Phil Collins should just be off the table as far as making fun of white musicians -- they're in a class by themselves. (Collins' cover of "You Can't Hurry Love" was particularly wretched.)
I will hold up Southside Johnny's cover of "Having a Party" as acceptable for discerning ears though.
I am a big fan of the Pretenders, who paid tribute to Chain Gang on their song "Back on the Chain Gang". So that has always been my favorite song of his.
Not totally sure about your choices T, but will make me go back to the collection, which is no bad thing; and thank you for the live album - I hadn't listened for some reason.
If you haven't already read it, Dream Boogie by Peter Guralnick is a pretty good read; as are his Elvis biogs (even if you take the Flavor Flav line with EP).
Agree on Sam Cookes early stuff; it's bubblegum redeemed by the voice - and I do feel the work got better as time went on.
Rod Stewart is the reverse; The Faces albums are fantastic; his solo 70s stuff mainly very good...then a parody from the 80s onwards.
Now I'm threadjacking a thread driven from my previous threadjack. Oops.
That shit is legit. You may have just opened up a whole new deal to me.
I'm sorry, but you can't start a post about Sam Cooke with "Meh." Doesn't have to be your favorite, but you can't "meh" him.
As for Phil Collins and Rod Stewart and the trashing of art forms, as well as Packer's denigration of Alexander, check out this shit from the POET LAUREATE of the U.K., Andrew Motion.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3008210.stm
Then talk to me how about how bad "affirmative action" Alexander could be.
John Lundberg at HuffPost discusses:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-lundberg/elizabeth-alexander-obama_b_152409.html
A lot of Rod Stewart's 80's and beyond stuff reall does suck. But at the risk of having a pile and a half of shit dumped on me, I have always liked his cover of People Get Ready. Though a lot of it is because of Jeff Beck
you know, even the teen pop stuff is beautifully constructed, well written and a pleasure, a real pleasure to listen to. Unlike alot of teen pop thru the ages it rewards close attention, even if it doesn't demand it.
and I haven't read Dream Boogie but Guralnick's Elvis Presely bios are really good. And Flavor flav is just wrong about Presley.
No love for Little Red Rooster?
Though by no means his best, I have always really liked "Get Yourself Another Fool." Just a great reminder of how crystal clear his voice was and what it was like before R&B singing became a contest to determine who could fit the most notes into a phrase (sorry, I heard the Chris Brown cover of "This Christmas" this morning and it has at least triple the number of notes as the Donny Hathaway version).
what the eff tnc? how can otis be omitted from your top two? his voice slays.
there's this great part of the stax documentary where a few of the stax band members are talking about how otis would roll into the studio, start pointing and giving instructions, say "go," and ten minutes later there was a new number one single in the can.
talk about going too soon.
If we get to draft singers, my first choice would probably be Otis Redding, then Marvin Gaye. Otis' live stuff was drop-dead amazing.
You guys are hilarious. Gramsci, my tongue is in cheek with that "meh." Ranking is always hard. Of course I love Otis--"Mr. Pityful" and "Security" kill. But this could go on and on. We'll be talking about Etta in exactly five, four, three, two...
I'm picking "That's Where It's At." There's not much better.
I actually dreamed the other night that I got to sing and play guitar (neither of which I can really do in reality) with Van Morrison as he covered "That's Where It's At." It was an absolutely wonderful dream, but even as we sang, I thought, "We don't sound as good as Sam Cooke and Lou Rawls."
Sam Cooke was easily the top, imo. Just listen to "I Have a Friend Above All Others" or "Lost and Lookin." I love Otis, and I think his version of "A Change Is Gonna Come" is better than Cooke's, but I think Sam's treatment of "Try a Little Tenderness" on his Live at the Copa album is my favorite version of that song.
"Bring it On Home" is my favorite.
Well, not to continue the Rod Stewart threadjack, but the dude did have his moments back in the old days when I was just a baby.. As Greil Marcus said of him:
“Rarely has a singer has as full and unique a talent as Rod Stewart; rarely has anyone betrayed his talent so completely.”
Anyway, Touch the Hem of His Garment is my logical favorite, but Nothing Can Change This Love is the song my wife and I danced to at our wedding, so that's gotta be my heart favorite. Maybe it's a bit bubblegum, but it still gets me every time...
I'm so tired of Withersphobia. "There's no Sunshine" rules the genre, and nobody mentions the poor man.
Tom Waits should have Rod Stewart drawn and quartered for "Downtown Train". Just thinking about it makes me angry.
UpHere, when it comes to Bill Withers, it's all about "Who Is He and What Is He to You." And "Use Me."
1) As regards Sam Cooke, the Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 album is essential.
2) As regards Rod Stewart, I agree with James that "The Faces albums are fantastic; his solo 70s stuff [is] mainly very good." The fact that he has recorded a lot of forgettable stuff or even junk in the last 30 years is not to his credit, but we can't all live up to Greil Marcus's expectations.
Your irony kung fu is strong, mehster.
Man, I love Sam Cooke, the song that I love the most is "You Send Me," and I really couldn't tell you why. It's so wistful, it gets me every time.
But this year, "A Change Is Gonna Come" felt like the theme song to the world. Maybe it was back when it was first recorded, but somehow I gotta believe Obama was thinking of Sam during a lot of this campaign, certainly during his victory speech in Chicago when he seemed to be borrowing from Sam the way Jay "borrows" from B.I.G.
Very excited to hear about Jerry Butler. I've never heard him, and since it comes from Coates who seems to know a thing or two about music, and has proper reverence for Cooke, I gotta believe I'm about to hear some wonderful stuff.
As to Sam Cooke vs Marvin vs Otis, they are the BIG Three to me, the Father, Son & Holy Ghost...
I have a question: was the rendition of Chain Gang in CADENCE that Sheens and Laurence don't call me Larry Fishburne vehicle - was that movie an embarrassment? I guess I mean, was Sam Cooke rolling over in his grave? Because I have to admit, as a kid when I saw it, it really made me feel that song...as embarrassed as I am to admit it.
And how about the use of Cooke's music in ALI? As the Dude might say, it really tied the room together...
"Bring It On Home," absolutely and yes "Touch The Hem of His Garment"--- I favour Stax and southern soul generally, so gritty Sam not smooth Sam for me. Jerry Butler....the Iceman is a little too cool, no??
I like Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfied used to put it down, and I am a Marvin Gaye fan too. But for my money I could listen to Bill Withers all day every day.
thanks for some sam cooke on a rainy monday! the reason he's the very top is because none of it ever was just bubble gum:
"the cokes are in the ice box
popcorn's on the taaaable
and me and my baaaaby
are out here on the floor..."
when sam sings it, it's everything you need in life coming together in one beautiful moment...
dwhite
Great minds think alike
Withers, Bell, Teddy Pendergrass, Otis, Curtis, Marvin, Womack...i can go on and on....
Womack specially...
If You Think You're Lonely Now, Across 110th street...
this particular genre of music is so hard to critique, mostly because of the effing quality, these cats really put their heart and soul into it.
While touring around the South Side of Chicago, how about a little Chester Arthur Burnett (born in White Station, Mississippi - aka Howlin' Wolf) -
How Many More Years
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ou-6A3MKow
Listen to what the Wolf says after he finishes the song
We should also check out McKinley Morganfield (born in Issaquena County, Mississippi, aka Muddy Waters)
Got My Mojo Working
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V25iA2XPzuA
Lots of good videos of both these men out there.
....know what's great? People who before you posted this weren't aware of Sam or Jerry Butler-- now they get to explore...good stuff.......should I mention Anne Peebles and surely everyone has heard of Wilson Pickett.....??? Happy hunting....
"Bring it on home" is indeed his best song. But my wedding dance song with my wife was his "Wonderful World" which is just plain awesome too. Which isn't a knock on "A Change is Gonna Come" which is an iconic masterpiece. I know Cooke gets plenty of respect, but it's never seemed like enough to me.
Damn I almost left off my MAIN man, Al Green!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUrghxZpVSw
Sam Cooke's best song is "Good Times." Sam had a way of making it seem like the very party his record was spinning at might be the last and that party had to be lived to the fullest or else there might not be another party. That's what I feel when he sings and most of all on this song. Check the lyrics here: "Yeah, it might be 1 o'clock & it might be 3/Time don't mean that much to me/I've felt this good since I don't know when/& I might not feel this good again." When he says "I might not feel this good again," the carpe diem theme just bursts my heart.
sam cooke was magnificient. i probably would pick al green if required to pick one singer, but sam cooke would be on the short list. jackie wilson too; he could make the worst songs---and they gave him a lot of bad songs to sing---sound great.
al green's 2008 album lay it down is an unexpected gem, these many years on. anthony hamilton sings on two cuts and stays with al pretty well; i was impressed.
rod stewart is one of the great wastes of talent in all of rock. the first couple of albums are quite good, "every picture tells a story" is one of the best rock albums of all time (and his cover of i know i'm losing you is great), "never a dull moment" is pretty solid. then, a few good songs (cat stevens isn't nearly as good as stewarts' "the first cut is the deepest" makes him sound), and the abyss.
Sam Cooke's Bring It On Home is definitive. The phrasing, the sustained notes render the sentiment wistful and hopeful without being plaintive and supplicating.
It tells the story within the story - that here is a man who's come to his senses, who knows that he did wrong and WHAT he did wrong and he ACCEPTS his former woman's decision to leave him as right for her, for the circumstances dictated by his former fuckupery. But he's gained self-knowledge - and if she's willing to share herself with him again, it will be a gift beyond measure...a gift he dares not ask for as though he had any standing.
I don't know if you can have been in love without being in that place - full knowledge that you've fucked up, full knowledge that any forgiveness you're given isn't earned but gifted.
I freaking LOVE that song.
I love Change Is Gonna Come, taught myself a banjo version.
But my #1 Sam Cooke song is Good Times, with Rome Wasn't Built in a Day on heavy on its heels.
Just wanna put in a good word for Jackie Wilson.
Great discussion, everybody!
Change is no doubt the song Sam Cooke is most remembered by and rightfully so, but I've made no secret that I'm partial to Trouble Blues off of Sam's Night Beat album. I like the humming intro to his song so much, I use it on my website.
I love Bring it On Home To Me and That's Where It's At like some of you have mentioned previously. I like Somebody Ease My Troublin' Mind and (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons, too. But there's also a lot of good "second-tier" music Sam released. His remakes of Moonlight in Vermont, To Each His Own, Lucky Old Sun, and Summertime all hold a special place in my heart.
On the gospel side, I love Jesus, Wash Away My Troubles, (I'm So Glad) Trouble Don't Last Always, Wonderful, Just Another Day, and Lord, Remember Me.
I hope I didn't ramble on. I tend to get carried away when putting together my list of favorite Sam Cooke songs!
Keep Havin' that Party!
Erik Greene
Author, “Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story From His Family's Perspective”
www.OurUncleSam.com
Put this lanky, Asian vote down for "Bring It on Home to Me."
The whole live album with that recording of "Having a Party" is sick.
Sam the Man.
But no love for Percy Sledge?
We had "When a Man Loves a Woman" as our reception dance. We also had a dance to "Marie" by Randy Newman - may as well be honest going in, right?
I don't know if you had mentioned this before Ta-Nehisi, but December 22nd is the 44th anniversary of the release of A Change is Gonna Come.
Erik Greene
Author, “Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story From His Family's Perspective”
www.OurUncleSam.com
1) "A Change Is Gonna Come" is Sam's most important song of the spirit; "Bring It On Home" is his most soulful of the flesh. And what's this hate for bubblegum? Ain’t nothing wrong with bubblegum that doesn’t insult your intelligence while it makes you feel happy, and Sam could sing it that way all day every day, with TWO chicks on his arm....
2) I would just like to point out someone who might be just a minor player in the soul panthology, but who deserves a listen or two -- Joe Tex. Listen to “Sweet Woman” -- that shit is sultry!
Someone should sample Jackie Wilson's 'Reet Pettite.' They would have a number one hit. I've never met anyone who doesn't like that song.
Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 is one of the best examples of how to show love to a crowd.
People who before you posted this weren't aware of Sam or Jerry Butler-- now they get to explore...good stuff
And in Butler's case, there are a lot of them, I'd expect. Sam Cooke's name pops up from time to time, but it's been an age since I've heard anyone mention the Ice Man.
Start with "Only the Strong Survive," and work from there. Good stuff indeed.
Another vote for You Send Me, at least as top of the teeny-bop crop. I'm actually sorely unschooled in his politically conscious stuff, which I will seek to rectify.
Just want to generally praise TNC for the way he speaks of Sam with such effortless authority, as if everything in the recent bio is utterly part of his basic walking-around consciousness, even though Sam's not at the very top of TNC's list. Impressive.
Sam Cooke great. Jackie Wilson better.
"Good Times" is a very underrated Sam Cooke song.
Put me down for "Bring it On Home to Me" or "Nothing Can Change This Love" as other top Cooke songs. "Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club" is the damn jam.
"Twisting the Night Away" is a song I always have to stop and listen to no matter where I am or what I'm doing, and I absolutely love "Shake" (a great and underrated tune that Otis killed with at Monterey.)
Sam Cooke is my favorite singer of all time, period, and that is probably because of "A Change is Gonna Come" and "Bring it on Home." My other Cooke favorites are "Soothe Me" and "That's Where it's at."
I would also add that I think the most beautiful single performance by any vocalist in my lifetime is Johnny Moore's lead vocal on "Under the Boardwalk" (the original Drifter's version.) I still shiver when I hear it.
We're in post-racial America and no one has brought up Suheir Hammad's ode to Sam Cooke, "Daddy's Song"? All of you either lose your ghetto pass or your white liberal pomo pass, whichever comes first.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3S8do-Gimc
As for Sam Cooke, I'd like to mention I'll Come Running Back To You, which is short, and some might say slight, but pretty great.
I'm also wondering: where's the love for James Carr?
Yes! I was actually laying in bed this morning trying to figure out if I like 'Bring It On Home' better than 'A Change Is Gonna Come' - I think Joe's spirit/flesh dichotomy works, though, so I get to have it both ways.
You read my mind, good sir, and continued to solidify why this is my favorite blog...
Anyone who can take a song like "The Riddle Song" and make me NOT want to go all Blutarsky on him... is a genius.
"Where's the love for James Carr"
I posted a youtube link to his Dark End, but it didn't get through the filter. I guess because I had too many links (also linked to Solomon Burke, Garnett Mimms and, just because I came across it and she's so undervalued, Lorraine Ellison.)
Okay,T-N,man is right, no MEH in same sentence with Sam Cooke. That is pure sacrilege.
Since I've penned the treatment and am working on the screenplay of Sam Cooke's life and the why and how of his death, based not on the projections of some R&B researcher/writer who talked to folks on only one side of the fence, but on his closest family members' recollections, which were chronicled in OUR UNCLE SAM: THE SAM COOKE STORY FROM HIS FAMILY'S PERSPECTIVE by Erik Greene, great-nephew of Cooke. (Avalable on Amazon.com or from OURUNCLESAM.COM.)
Here in Inglewood, Ca. where I live, there is not a soul I've ever shared this story with who believes Sam Cooke kidnpped and raped some skanky,
bar-hopping and later-booked-for-prostitution non-beauty at a seedy dive like the Hacienda in South LA. The police would not allow any interrogation of her by Cooke family lawyers, and this is another LAPD circa-60s case of Mayor Yorty's racist policies. Women had been chasing Sam,and tearing off his shirts when he performed since high school days back in Chicago.
Further, Sam didn't just come from a religious family-Dad was minister of the church where the Cooke kids sang in the choir-itwas part and parcel of who he was.He was so moved by Dr. King yet until he heard Dylan sing Blowin in the Wind,and felt a sense of shame that it took a "white boy to come up with that," which inspired A Change Gonna Come, which he performed only once in public never donating all proceeds to SCLC.
As for his music, Sam Cooke was a genius, pure
and simple. When only a young man with the Soul Stirrers, he was asked to do his part in song creation. Sam boasted that he could create any
song from a Bible story. He flipped through the
New Testament, read aloud the Woman At The Well
tale, and in a matter of minutes was belting out
Touch The Hem of His Garment.
He ran music workshops in Leimert Park helping young artists. His death happened at a time when he was moving toward a Memphis sound while contemplating a return to gospel, as well.
Havin a Party was actually penned with his niece
in mind at a family celebration. His sense of rhythm in his phrasing of the most simplistic
lyrics. Same with Another Saturday Night, My favorite of his pop songs was Sad Mood. I love his duet with his friend Lou Rawls on Bring It...It makes the hair on my neck freeze at attention.
I hope someone will use my screenplay (already copyrighted so don't get any ideas!)for the sake of truth, justice, and homage to a great musical pioneer, a tremendous human being. I am not looking to make a dime off this, either.Sam's family deserves a restoration of this man's reputation.
I listen to the Soul Stirrers' session CDs over and over
lyrics compels one to swing and sway.
Correction--that should read never taking a dime and donating all proceeds to the SCLC.
My bad.
I had to take the gingerbread out of the oven, folks!
One more thing: T-N, that was a great YouTube and I even went over to Aretha's version of Change--man!!
Thanks for this great site, the brain candy you provide daily, and warmest wishes to you and all posters for a great holiday season.
I only wish Sam were alive to see what's oing down January 20th...
Imagine ol Sam and Beyonce singing Shake atthe Innauguration Ball???
This is why I read you daily. Sam was and still is the best PERIOD.
That would be great BG Rhule, I hope you can get a movie of some sort out about the Great Sam Cooke. It's about time someone gives him the recognition he deserves. I love learning about Sam Cooke and what inspired him to write the songs he did. Please keep trying because I'll be the first in line to go and see your movie or play, etc.
By the way, what does MEH mean?
Last thing--tho I could talk about this topic all day--Jerry Butler (For Your Precious Love and an amazing duet with Mary Wells, Once Upon a Time)and Garnett Mimms (Cry Baby) were both amazing singers.Someone you never hear about was Al Hibbler who sang the REAL Unchained Melody, not that whitewashed version.Hibbler can be seen in some old newsreel footage from Spike Lee's Four Little Girls before Bull Connor arrested him. Hibbler, turns out, was blind and Connor was too stupid to notice!
Correction; Once Upon a Time was Marvin and Mary Wells. I'm thinking of Butler's rendition of the Everly Brothers' classic Let it Be Me wit Betty Everett. Save for the syrupy strings in circa early 60s recording, that was a great record.
There is no one like the GREAT Sam Cooke. He's number one in my book. He has influenced more singers than one can count. To me"Bring it on Home to Me" is the quintessential Sam Cooke song. He wrote so many others that are wonderful too. Sam is the Man!!
To be the best everything after you came on the scene has your imprint on it, Sam Cooke, the best for all times