Sam Cooke

I hadn't heard any of Sam Cooke's stuff besides "Wonderful World" until recently, when my brother started getting into him in a big way.? I've been listening to him recently and this guy's music is stunning.? His voice is the personification of soul.? And he wrote most of his own material, which was a rarity for a lot of singers back then.

I'm stuck inside here on a Saturday night doing homework, and I listened to his song "Another Saturday Night".? The lyrics are exactly how I feel right now.? I don't have a girlfriend or anything to hang out with tonight, and a lot of other people on campus are doing work too.? "Saturday night and I ain't got nobody."

One of the things I really like about Sam Cooke's music is the innocence of a lot of it.? He could do socially conscious stuff like "A Change Is Gonna Come".? But a lot of his tunes are just catchy and fun.? Nobody really makes tunes like that anymore in today's music...pop artists are always sexually suggestive, rap artists are aggressive, and the predominant mood of today's rock music is depressed.? Sam's tunes are just fun and innocent, though, like the Beach Boys.? And I kinda like that. It's nice every now and then to take a break from hard rock to listen to some carefree, quality soul music.