In Sam Cooke's “A Change Is Gonna Come,” the lyric “It's been a long, a long time coming, but I know a change is gonna...” is completed by “come.”
Sam Cooke wrote and recorded the song in 1963, and it was released in 1964. Its lyrics draw on personal experiences of racism and on the wider civil-rights struggle in the United States.
The recording was shaped by soul music, orchestral pop and gospel. Cooke's vocal moves from quiet testimony to powerful declarations, giving the song a structure that feels both personal and public.
Cooke died in December 1964, shortly before the song's album release. It later became closely associated with the civil-rights movement and is widely regarded as one of the most important protest and soul songs of the twentieth century.