A Change Is Gonna Come

A request from a reader. And perfectly timed, too, because I'm moving and this is my change. I hate to cheapen this deeply meaningful and significant song with comparisons to moving to a new and better house, but in the end it's just a song, you know.

Oh, and by the way, Ike Turner beat his wife in case you didn't know.

Wiki P:"A Change Is Gonna Come" is a 1965 single by R&B singer-songwriter Sam Cooke, written and first recorded in 1963 and released under the RCA Victor label shortly after his death in late 1964. Though only a modest hit for Cooke in comparison with his previous singles, the song came to exemplify the sixties Civil Rights Movement. The song has gained in popularity and critical acclaim in the decades since its release.

PLAY: A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke
PLAY: A Change Is Gonna Come - Otis Redding
PLAY: A Change Is Gonna Come - Neville Brothers
PLAY: A Change Is Gonna Come - Aretha Franklin
PLAY: A Change Is Gonna Come - Tina Turner
PLAY: A Change Is Gonna Come - Campbell Brothers
PLAY: A Change Is Gonna Come - Soul Survivors
PLAY: A Change Is Gonna Come - Cold War Kids
PLAY: A Change Is Gonna Come - Leela James

People Get Ready

My weakness for gospel is once again on display. This being the season to celebrate a little Special Someone's birthday, I suppose that weakness is actually very contemporary.

"It was warrior music," said civil-rights activist Gordon Sellers. "It was music you listened to while you were preparing to go into battle." Mayfield wrote the gospel-driven R&B ballad, he said, "in a deep mood, a spiritual state of mind," just before Martin Luther King's march on the group's hometown of Chicago. Shortly after "People Get Ready" was released, Chicago churches began including their own version of it in songbooks. Mayfield had ended the song with "You don't need no ticket/You just thank the Lord," but the church version, ironically, made it less Christian and more universal: "Everybody wants freedom/This I know." -RS

And god damn, Curtis Mayfield is the SHIT. You can hear him solo on the original, or the greatest version ever that features his band, The Impressions, with some incredible backup and harmonies.

Praise Curtis!

PLAY: People Get Ready - Curtis Mayfield
PLAY: People Get Ready - Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions
PLAY: People Get Ready - Aretha Franklin
PLAY: People Get Ready - Dionne Warwick
PLAY: People Get Ready - Al Green
PLAY: People Get Ready - Spencer Bohren

The Tracks of My Tears

This is a pretty great Sunday evening kind of song. For listening, not writing about.

Wiki says:

"The Tracks of My Tears" is a 1965 hit single by The Miracles for the Tamla (Motown) label. It is considered among their best recordings, and is listed on the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. An all- time classic, this million- selling song is also a 2007 Grammy Hall Of Fame Inductee.

This song was #50 on the list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time[1]. In a 2006 poll for a Channel 5 program "Britain's Favourite Break-up Songs", "The Tracks of My Tears" was voted 16th. In early 2007, THE MIRACLES' original version of the song was inducted into the GRAMMY HALL OF FAME .

One thing I need to address before we move on with the music - I'm not a big fan of Linda Ronstadt, and this song is really no exception, but I included it because:

1. Odds are that one of the handful of people that read this blog is a closet Linda Ronstadt fan. You know who you are, we don't need to start a witch hunt.
2. One of you may even be open about your sick Linda Ronstadt fetish.
3. This recording was big for her in her career, so I'm just trying to make sure you get the history you paid for.
   

OK, we're all fully disclosed now.

The original Smokey Robinson is pretty great. His band is great, the backup singers nail it , he's about flawless himself - really close to perfect.

Aretha's version is about the same tempo - slow in the beginning, buoyant towards the end, with the horns to back it all up.

Rosetta Hightower picks it up from the beginning. I need to find more of her stuff - it's actually been re-released on CD. I like this version the best.

PLAY: The Tracks of My Tears - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
PLAY: The Tracks of My Tears - Aretha Franklin
PLAY: The Tracks of My Tears - Rosetta Hightower