"I sing a couple verses of 'You Send Me.' Then I point out that it's really 'a grownup song.' Sam Cooke had clearly touched me from very early on. He had a light, warm, amiable quality that could appeal to a young child, while having the depth and maturity to appeal to adults. And he has a passion and feeling that’s allowed his music to endure for 50 years."
From my son John's post, a tribute to Sam Cooke, who died 50 years ago today. I've quoted the personal reminiscence part. The rest of the post analyzes the music, with 10 videos, including Cooke's moving response to the question "What is soul?" and... there's nothing better than this:
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26 comments:
Thank you. A wonderful present. They do not come any better than Sam Cooke. He paid a very big price to hone his natural gift for which I am thankful.
That is magnificent.
It's all gone, though, isn't it?
Now our culture, our music, our art, our modern soul is mostly awful, ugly, nihilistic..
Not all but far too much.
That is soul music. No one did it better.
Ha! I loved Sam Cooke when I was a kid too.
I remember his song Chain Gang was popular on the juke box one summer.
Sam Cooke on the radio. Barbecue smoking on the grill. Warm summer sun. Cold beer. Absolute contentment.
I remember this song and the others he did but I never knew who did it. Thanks.
That's one Sam Cooke's most beautiful songs. I've been trying to channel his voice on the piano for many years.
Nice post by John. Listen to Cooke's gospel work. Magnificent.
The end and aftermath of his life was not so magnificent. The music industry was a very rough business in those days, as it seemingly still is, and Sam was no choirboy in the metaphoric sense. It's nevertheless sad what happened to him, his reputation and his family after his death.
Great. I listened then listened to other artists on YouTube, finally ending up with Elvis and "Mean Woman Blues". Also Great.
Goosebumps.
Terrific song, terrific singer.
Singular talent.
The people who posted here saying that black people were intellectually inferior, listen to this man.
Some of the greatest artists, writers, poets, et cetera, et cetera, have been black. If you can't or see the genius in this then you're not looking at the right area.
Intelligence is not something we call IQ, a test. That's A measure but not the only one.
An inferior - intellectually - race couldn't produce such brilliance.
In any case, I judge a person - or damned try to - individually, as unique. Again, try to.
If you like Sam Cooke's work, you should give a listen to Mavis Staples in "Hard Times Come Again No More".
She didn't write it. Stephen Foster did. But she pretty much closed the book on it.
Sam Cooke was just another of a great line of singers and musicians from Chicago. Nat Cole, Jerry Butler, Curtis Mayfield, Dee Clark, Chaka Khan, Mavis Staples, and on and on.
If you want to hear soul, listen to Cook's album "Live At Harlem Square" for a rare look at the chitlin'circuit circa 1963.
Love me some Sam Cooke. Here is a lesser known hit but one of my faves.
Good Times
sane_voter, I'm with you on that. Could listen to that all night long.
SMGalbraith, re comment "saying that black people were intellectually inferior," I don't know if you're deliberate mischaracterizing, projecting, or just plain ignorant.
It is a fact that the IQ average for black people in general is lower than the IQ average for white people in general. It is a fact that the IQ average for white people is lower than the IQ average for Jewish people. That does not suggest that every black man has a lower IQ than every white man, and your implicit assumption that it does suggests maybe you can't quite get the concept, maybe you're a good example of it.
I am not "inferior" to all Jewish people if I am white, a specific black man is not inferior to a specific white man because e is black.
IQ is a good indicator of future successful performance, it's not the only. I have had the privilege to work with some really good people, some white, some Hispanic, some Indian, some mid eastern, some black. Doesn't change the facts about race as a whole (and I know those aren't all racial types, but I don't have racial preference, animus or discrimination in my blood, just don't care).
A handful of black musicians created magic, a handful of black musicians are intent on dismantling it.
Another of his great lesser hits That's Where It's At
I have an old greatest Hits for Same Cooke that has two songs played back to back Meet Me At Mary's Place and Having A Party which told a great story and went perfectly together as a set. Thought they were an A side and a B side, since they fit so well but they apparenrley weren't. Still as soon as I hear Meet Me at Mary's Place I immediately start humming the guitar line of Having a Party as soon as it's over.
Also, Having A Party has some great Lou Rawls background vocals
He's not as raw as Otis or Pickett, but he has one of the richest voices in pop. Not a big fan of gospel but I bpcan always listen to Sam's gospel stuff.
he did do his share of schlock too. Stuff like "Everybody Love's to Cha Cha cha" which I'm sure the old timers loved back in the day but which I dont generally enjoy (though even on these songs you can't deny his singing) and he does have a few songs with the schlocky white background singers (they sound like a whiter version of Manhattan Transfer) thwt I can't stand, and this same style seems to show up on too many Jackie Wilsons's records. But Cooke generally uses them with restraint.
One of my favorite 50’s artists.
Sam Cooke ruled.
I remember liking the movie Innerspace as a kid because of the Sam Cooke songs. (And the tiny ship inside a body.)
I just noticed how this song is a riff on Ole Man River.......A change did, indeed, come, but he never got to see it. The dead know nothing and see nothing and feel nothing. In the long run, all change is for the worse, and the river never becomes a mountain spring.
Best. Singer. Ever.
Incidentally, the harmony voice on "Bring It On Home To Me" and "Having A Party" was Lou Rawls.
And he deserves credit for one of the truly great R&B deaths. Cheap charter plane crashes and drug overdoses have been done to death.
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