The Atlantic - Latest Comments in Sam Cooke does it better than you

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

Devin Castles — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:11:18 -0000

Damn, I'm too late on this for anyone to see, but Lauryn Hill does a great rendition, only slightly marred by Wyclef adding "one time" and "uh" in the background. And as mentioned by others, Otis Redding is no slouch when it comes to Cooke covers, either.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

Jake — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:15:08 -0000

Re: Sinnerman

Not only an amazing song, but the jump off for two amazing hip hop statements in one year. Both Talib Kweli's anthem "Get By" and Brother Ali's Picket Fence" use the song to stunning effect. Kweli uses it to talk about the things we as humans do "just to get by," while Ali reflects on his growth and the people who helped him gain self-confidence as a young albino child.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

Adam — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:50:29 -0000

I go back and forth between the two, but I think I actually prefer Otis Redding's version of "A Change Is Gonna Come" to Sam Cooke's.

It's hard to choose between two of the greatest voices ever put on wax, but the Stax instrumentation gives Otis the slight edge.

Seriously, what a great song.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

Elphage — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:56:47 -0000

I am glad I am not the only one who thought Garth Brooks did a great job. When I thought that I thought something was wrong with me.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

brucds — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:31:41 -0000

Woah, BG - you're going off on a joke about Jews who churn out Christmas albums...I guess I should learn to use emoticons.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

carter — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 07:30:43 -0000

Look at Bettye LaVette's performance of The Who's "Love Rein O'er Me" on on the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors on YouTube for a real heart stopper. She was incredible!

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

anna perez — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 02:51:44 -0000

eric k. I know he had a really terrible accident many years ago that left him paralyzed, but I don't think he died recently, I could be wrong but I hope not.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

BG — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:20:16 -0000

1.Again, I don't care if Jackie freakin Mason covered White Christmas; it was not written for them and it sounds lame to have people sing it that are simply out to cash in. I'm appreciative of Diamond Streisand, etc. but not a fan. I don't even like the idea, frankly and not because I'm some gungho uber-Christian, just that I think if Sinatra sang Kwanza Klassics it'd be equally rude. I like Adam Sandler singing the Hannukah song; I don't think Bing Crosby should have covered it.

2. Summertime should be sung by anyone with great vocal range who can elicit heat. It is not a civil rights anthem like Change is, nor a religious holiday song. Faulty parallelism here, maybe?

3, Pete Seeger, as mentioned, was blacklisted for 20 years for his role with the Weavers, that group of Commies who sang evil songs of freedom (sic)to Americans. If I Had a Hammer, et al. To sign a petition awarding Pete the Nobel Peace Prize--I mean, the man is 89 and picks up the guitar like it's a damn sandwich--go to: www.NobelPrize4Pete.com. The guy could've gone bitter and retired to Montana, but he just started a whole rebirth of folk, and I think did some short jail stays for his singing protests during the civil rights era.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

eric k — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:49:01 -0000

anna,

Didn't Teddy Pendergrast die a couple years ago?

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

cody — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:16:13 -0000

The horns are key. KEY.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

anna perez — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:13:34 -0000

Loved the concert, most of all the cut aways to our new first family. But I really wish the great Teddy Pendergrast (sp?) could have been there to sing the anthemic 'Wake Up Everybody." Agree that I get a Chris Matthews "a tingle goes up my leg" whenever I hear Sam's version of "Change." But speaking of covers, the best singer of all time, Ella Fitzgerald is always a hard act to follow but her WW2 version of "Boogie Woogie Cowboy" is the absolute best.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

MAJeff — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:08:11 -0000

I spent the entire concert crying.

There are just so many emotions circulating. There's obviously the history of the moment, and the enormity of it given our past...and present. There's that hope thing, which we so desperately need at this time. (I keep coming back to Cornel West's line about being a "prisoner of hope.") And there's the emotional relief--and release--of finally sending Bush away, of being able to let go, just a bit, of the shame and pain this administration has caused.

And, there's the fact that music just moves me.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

stellar — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:45:07 -0000

Its okay to dis Bon Jovi. We do it all the time.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

Ezra — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:51:19 -0000

If you think Bon Jovi was bad, do not, under any circumstances, watch Roger Clinton's Inauguration 1993 rendition:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWDgk2oBJRY

En Vogue was not able to save it.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

MP — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:32:54 -0000

There is a bootleg version of Al Green covering Change, and let me tell you, it's not far off from Sam Cooke's version. And, fwiw, if you want to be seriously moved, check out "Bring it on Home to Me" on Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club. Best song on one of the best live albums I've ever heard.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

JK — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:17:14 -0000

Sam Cooke undoubtedly owns A Change is Gonna Come.

Coates and all Obama supporters need to pull out all the stops for the next 4 years because Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Joe Scarborough and their feeble minded wing nut followers will do everything humanly possible to prevent the change that Sam Cooke sang about from becoming reality.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

burt — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:21:32 -0000

I think the Otis Redding cover is arguably superior to Sam Cooke original. More soul and feeling. You need Cooke to stick to the script and lay down the melody in the original, but then others are freed up to loosen it up and play around with it more in subsequent covers. Sometimes that looseness becomes a mess, but in Otis Redding's hands it became classic, possibly more classic than the orig in my opinion.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

AhYup — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:00:24 -0000

"Although Porgy And Bess was written by an upper-class Jewish guy."

And Billie Holliday's classic "Strange Fruit" about lynchings was written by a Jewish HS teacher.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

brucds — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:55:26 -0000

"Jewish writers wrote most Christmas songs too, but the idea was for others to perform them."

Like Barbra Streisand, Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond...

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

AhYup — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:54:51 -0000

I have to agree that Garth Brooks was the performance highlight. I was pretty surprised but he was more high energy and soulful than anyone else.

For me personally old Pete doing the forgotten commie verses for "This Land is your Land" was the spiritual highlight though.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

BG — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:49:06 -0000

Re: Porgy and Bess:

Not relevent.It was written for somebody to perform. Jewish writers wrote most Christmas songs too, but the idea was for others to perform them. It is a different kind of cat to write a book, play screenplay or song about somebody else or for another performer. You write autobiographically it's pretty tough to have someone step up to your own plate and deliver 100% of what you intended.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

BG — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:47:52 -0000

Re: Porgy and Bess:

Irrelevent.It was written for somebody to perform. Jewish writers wrote most Christmas songs too, but the idea was for others to perform them. It is a different kind of cat to write a book, play screenplay or song about somebody else or for another performer. You write autobiographically it's pretty tough to have someone step up to your own plate and deliver 100% of what you intended.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

jetan — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:39:08 -0000

Although Porgy And Bess was written by an upper-class Jewish guy.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

prof of Afro-Atlantic religion — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:38:24 -0000

To that Brandon K. Charles quote at the end, I'd add, "And Malcolm X shouted so Barack could talk." Well done.

Re: Sam Cooke does it better than you

Liza — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:36:13 -0000

My husband had to take a job in California and left this weekend. "Sad Mood" just keeps playing over and over in my head.