I was born by the river in a little tent-



What do the Lyrics of

‘A Change is Gonna come’ mean?

By Morgan

A Change is Gonna come was written and sung by black R&B singer/songwriter Sam Cooke in 1963 and was released in 1964 just after his death. Cooke was inspired to write this song by the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties and Bob Dylan’s ‘Blown in the Wind’ which was also about Black Americans rights. The lyrics are about some events of Cooke’s life including when his baby son died and when his friends were not allowed into a hotel. It is also about how hard Black American’s lives were and what they have to go through.

The first line in Verse One ‘I was born by the river in a little tent’ is about how black women were not allowed into hospitals since they were for whites only like hotels. Next the lyric ‘And just like the river, I've been running ever since’ implies that he roams from town to town and getting the same reaction each time he runs into a white person which is being kicked out of the town.

The chorus is repeated after each verse. The words ‘It's been a long time coming’ is the first line of the Chorus, means it’s been very long for black people to get their rights and freedom of speech. The main line which is the title ‘But I know a change is gonna come’ means Cooke thinks that something will happen like Black people will be treated better, racism will stop or the whole world will open up for many people affected by being discriminated.

Verse 2 is about how it has been hard to live. The lyrics ‘It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die’ implies that it’s been hard for every Black American to live with people being hateful, mean and not wanting to see others that have different coloured skin to theirs, but they don’t want to leave the only hope of life left. The next line ‘I don't know what's up there beyond the sky’ is about how they’re afraid of death but there is nothing to keep him going.

The line ‘I go to the movie, and I go downtown’ is the opening line of the 3rd Verse it suggests that he wonders round towns. The line ‘Somebody keep telling me "Don't hang around"’ is a follow up on the first line of Verse 3 it means all the white people around town keep telling people of different colour skin and religion to get out of the town because they are racist. Also people who are discriminated by others are kicked out of places.

The Lyric ‘Then I go to my brother and I say, "Brother, help me please"’ is about how they are asking another Black person that comes by them in a street to help him in by doing or giving any thing to keep going in life. The next line ‘But he winds up knocking me back down on my knees’ means every time he gets his hopes up that people of his kind will be accepted into the world and will be treated the same way as white people, he winds back where he started not paid attention to, no freedom of speech and not allowed to go to places that are for white only.

The words ‘There've been times that I've thought I couldn't last for long’ means there have been parts of his life when he has had doubts about his life, getting rights and freedom of speech. Line 2 is ‘But now I think I'm able to carry on’ implies that now he has hope for everything he has dreamed about freedom.

This song meant a great deal for the Civil Rights movement of the sixties, it helped a lot of people get over the stress of being discriminated and also meant hope for anyone that thought they could not carry on in this world which was best laid through the lines ‘But I know a change is gonna come’. I chose this song because it touches on a very important issue of that time and it was a different style of music than I usually listen to so the change was good.

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