"An Anthem For Our Cause..."

A funny thing happened to me the other day... I was browsing through some of my previous posts when I realized that I've posted various covers of one song in particular many times.  The song is "A Change Is Gonna Come," written and made famous by Sam Cooke in 1963-64 as his contribution to the music of the civil rights era.  It's known critical acclaim and achieved iconic status in the nearly 50 years since it was written and first performed.  Moreover, it's been covered by many great artists since then including Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, The 5th Dimension, Three Dog Night, Wayne Brady, Patti Labelle, The Neville Brothers, Otis Redding, The Righteous Brothers, and The Supremes.  Most recently, I posted Billy Preston's 1981 cover to commemorate his 66th birthday last month.

Along with the video of Billy Preston performing "A Change Is Gonna Come," I also posted a great documentary about his life and career that speaks to the incredible talent that he possessed.  And if you watched the video, you learned that Billy Preston was gay.  But in re-reading that post, I realized that I didn't mention that he was a "same gender loving" person and that that was one of my reasons for calling attention to his work and his life.  Since then, I've been drawn back to that post many times to watch and listen to Billy Preston's performance of "A Change Is Gonna Come."

Today, I realized why this song moves me as it does... In just the same way that it was a poignant anthem of the Black civil rights movement, so too in my mind is "A Change Is Gonna Come" a rousing and pleading anthem for the struggle for gay civil rights and equality in my own time. And Billy Preston's emotion-filled, and soul-stirring performance of it reveals the truth of the song and the truth that he must have felt as he related it to himself -- a black, same gender loving man, living in a time when he wasn't free to be who he was in his own heart.  I think that must have played a part in his choosing this song for the album he titled, "The Way I Am."

For me, "A Change Is Gonna Come" speaks to the pain of not being accepted for being as you are... and that is the essence of our struggle today for equality and freedom as same-gender loving people.  "A Change Is Gonna Come" speaks to "the way I am..."

"A Change Is Gonna Come"

#12 on Rolling Stone's List of The Greatest Songs of All Times

Lyrics as written/performed by Sam Cooke (1963)

I was born by the river in a little tent
And just like the river, I've been running ever since
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come

It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come

I go to the movie, and I go downtown
Somebody keep telling me "Don't hang around"
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come

Then I go to my brother and I say, "Brother, help me please"
But he winds up knocking me back down on my knees

There've been times that I've thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come

"Fear Eats the Soul"