Talk:A Change Is Gonna Come

Malcolm X
We read: Though the song was featured prominently in the 1992 film Malcolm X, it could not be included in the film's soundtrack.

Perhaps merely because I haven't seen the film, this makes no sense to me. (The second half seems to contradict the first half.) Guesses:
 * Although the song is discussed within the 1992 film Malcolm X, it is never heard within the film.
 * Although the song is featured prominently in the 1992 film Malcolm X, it could not be included on the soundtrack CD.

Note: The latter is correct. The song was featured in the film; however, it could not be released on the film soundtrack because of licensing issues. Hoary 05:39, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Note: On previous note: Your correction repeats the original confusion. It should read "it could not be released on the film soundtrack CD"...

Ragtopcaddy 13:41, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

GA Re-Review and In-line citations
Members of the WikiProject Good articles are in the process of doing a re-review of current Good Article listings to ensure compliance with the standards of the Good Article Criteria. (Discussion of the changes and re-review can be found here). A significant change to the GA criteria is the mandatory use of some sort of in-line citation (In accordance to WP:CITE) to be used in order for an article to pass the verification and reference criteria. Currently this article does not include in-line citations. It is recommended that the article's editors take a look at the inclusion of in-line citations as well as how the article stacks up against the rest of the Good Article criteria. GA reviewers will give you at least a week's time from the date of this notice to work on the in-line citations before doing a full re-review and deciding if the article still merits being considered a Good Article or would need to be de-listed. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us on the Good Article project talk page or you may contact me personally. On behalf of the Good Articles Project, I want to thank you for all the time and effort that you have put into working on this article and improving the overall quality of the Wikipedia project. Agne 02:07, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Reasons for GA Delisting
This article's GA status has been revoked because it fails criterion 2. b. of 'What is a Good Article?', which states;


 * (b) the citation of its sources using inline citations is required (this criterion is disputed by editors on Physics and Mathematics pages who have proposed a subject-specific guideline on citation, as well as some other editors &mdash; see talk page).

LuciferMorgan 00:42, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with File:Seal A Change Is Gonna Come Single Cover.JPG
The image File:Seal A Change Is Gonna Come Single Cover.JPG is used in this article under a claim of fair use, but it does not have an adequate explanation for why it meets the requirements for such images when used here. In particular, for each page the image is used on, it must have an explanation linking to that page which explains why it needs to be used on that page. Please check


 * That there is a non-free use rationale on the image's description page for the use in this article.
 * That this article is linked to from the image description page.

This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. --22:36, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Djuan Trent
On http://djuantrent.blogspot.com/, she writes "I suppose I should clarify at this point, my grandparents (TeTe and Sarge) did NOT write that song. As far as I know, that song was originally written and recorded by the late Sam Cooke. My grandfather loves Sam Cooke, and he used to sing "Change Gone Come" to me all the time when I was growing up." I'm removing the reference to the claim about her grandparents writing the song, but keeping in that she performed the song. If there are any objections, let me know. - TW — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.8.117.34 (talk) 19:53, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

Memphis or LA ?
The body of this article says the song was recorded in Los Angeles but the liner notes and the right-side info box says Memphis. Can anybody clarify? --Atikokan (talk) 03:39, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Julian Casablancas (of The Strokes)
Said in an interview that it was his favorite song of all time. I thought it was interesting, and the clip is below. I really am not a wiki contributor so I'll allow the people who actually check this page to decide if its worthy or not. Anyway, here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzMJyUboKwQ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.124.0.85 (talk) 01:39, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Circumstances surrounding arrest in Shreveport
The article states, "The second major incident came on October 8, 1963, when Cooke and his band tried to register at a "whites only" motel in Shreveport, Louisiana and were summarily arrested for disturbing the peace." The circumstances of this arrest are described in more detail in a two-hour radio documentary "Mr. Soul: A Tribute to Sam Cooke" on the American Public Media program American Routes. According to that source, the discrimination he suffered was unprovoked, but his arrest was triggered by his angry reaction: leaning on his horn as he drove through the town. This factoid in no way changes the meaning of the event, but the description strikes me as too facile and clichéd. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cspooner (talk • contribs) 04:11, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

Dead link
During several automated bot runs the following external link was found to be unavailable. Please check if the link is in fact down and fix or remove it in that case!


 * http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs
 * In Eleanor Rigby on 2011-03-18 02:04:16, 404 Not Found
 * In Eminem on 2011-03-18 04:48:34, 404 Not Found
 * In Heart of Gold (Neil Young song) on 2011-03-23 00:00:26, 404 Not Found
 * In I Want to Hold Your Hand on 2011-04-24 06:32:41, 404 Not Found
 * In James Brown on 2011-05-01 22:57:28, 404 Not Found
 * In A Change Is Gonna Come (song) on 2011-06-20 01:17:10, 404 Not Found

--JeffGBot (talk) 01:17, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Recording date: Nov. 16, 1964 date is basically wrong
The article currently says that the song was recorded on Nov. 16, 1964, citing some liner notes from 2003. I think there's a glitch. Here are 2 sources indicating an earlier date: another Wikipedia article on Ain't That Good News (album) and a podcast. The present article may reflect the date on which sound technicians completed a shorter version of the song for its release as a single. Oaklandguy (talk) 23:17, 10 October 2015 (UTC)

Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin famously covered this song, this is a glaring omission 109.221.149.21 (talk) 12:31, 14 October 2023 (UTC)
 * 220 other folks also recorded it. We don't trty to include every cover here.  Unless there is a good reason to do so. Carptrash (talk) 16:14, 14 October 2023 (UTC)