On December 11, 1964, Cooke was allegedly shot to death by the manager of the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles, California at the age of 33. At the time, the courts ruled that Cooke was drunk and distressed, and the manager killed Cooke in what was later ruled a justifiable homicide. Since that time, the circumstances of his death have been widely questioned.
Sam Cooke (he added an "e" onto the end of his name because he thought it added a touch of class) was one of eight children of Rev. Charles and Mrs. Annie Mae Cook. The family moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1933.
Cooke began his musical career as a member of a quartet with his siblings, the Singing Children, followed by a turn as a teenager as a member of the Highway QCs, a gospel group. In 1950, at the age of 19, he joined The Soul Stirrers and achieved significant success and fame within the gospel community.
His first pop single, "Lovable" (1956) was released under the alias of "Dale Cooke," in order to not alienate his fan base; there was a considerable taboo against gospel singers performing secular music. However, the alias failed to hide Cooke's unique and distinctive vocals. No one was fooled. Art Rupe, head of Specialty Records, the label of the Soul Stirrers, gave his blessing for Cooke to record secular music under his real name, but was unhappy about the type of music Cooke and Bumps Blackwell, Cooke's pop producer, were making. Rupe expected Cooke's secular music to be similar to that of another Specialty Records artist, Little Richard. When Rupe walked in on a recording session and heard Cooke covering Gershwin, he was quite upset. After an argument between Rupe and Blackwell, Cooke and Blackwell left the label, and Cooke signed with Keen Records in 1957. His first release was "You Send Me", which spent six weeks at #1 on the Billboard R&B chart but which also had massive mainstream success, spending three weeks at #1 on the Billboard pop chart.
As if a R&B performer writing his own songs and achieving mainstream fame was not innovative enough, Cooke continued to astonish the music business in the 1960s with the founding of his own label, SAR Records, which soon included The Simms Twins, The Valentinos, Bobby Womack, and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke then created a publishing imprint and management firm, then left Keen to sign with RCA. One of his first RCA singles was the hit "Chain Gang." It reached #2 on the Billboard pop chart. This was followed by more hits, including "Sad Mood", "Bring it on Home to Me" (with Lou Rawls on backing vocals), "Another Saturday Night" and "Twistin' the Night Away".
Like most R&B artists of his time, Cooke focused on singles; in all he had 29 top 40 hits on the pop charts, and more on the R&B charts. In spite of this, he released a critically acclaimed blues-inflected LP in 1963, Night Beat. He was known for having written many of the most popular songs of all time in the genre, and is often uncredited for many of them by the general public.
Cooke died at the age of 33 under mysterious circumstances on December 11, 1964 in Los Angeles, California. Though the details of the case are still in dispute (see below), it seems he was shot to death by Bertha Franklin, manager of the Hacienda Motel in South Los Angeles, who claimed that he had threatened her, and that she killed him in self-defense. The verdict was justifiable homicide, though many believe that crucial details did not come out in court, or were buried afterward. Cooke was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, California.
Some posthumous releases followed, many of which became hits, including "A Change Is Gonna Come", an early protest song which is generally regarded as his greatest composition.
After Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married Bobby Womack. Cooke's daughter, Linda, later married Bobby's brother, Cecil.
The song "A Change Is Gonna Come" was played upon the death of Malcolm X, and was memorably featured in Spike Lee's film Malcolm X. Barack Obama's presidential victory speech paraphrased the song: "It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America."
Rapper Tupac Shakur references Cooke in a line of the song "Thugz Mansion", and Nas references him in the song "We Major" with Kanye West. The Roots song "Stay Cool" suggests, "I got the soul of a young Sam Cooke". Mike Doughty's song "Sweet Lord in Heaven" evokes the memory of Cooke, as does the Wallflowers 2000 song "Sleepwalker": "Cupid don't draw back your bow, Sam Cooke didn't know what I know". The Irish rock-group Jetplane Landing have a song named "Sam Cooke".
A fictional version of Cooke (portrayed by Paul Mooney) appeared briefly in the 1978 film, The Buddy Holly Story, leaving the stage at the Apollo Theater before Buddy and The Crickets got on. After being featured prominently in the 1985 film Witness, the song "Wonderful World" gained further exposure. "Wonderful World" was featured in one of two concurrently running Levi's Jeans commercials in 1985 and became a hit in the United Kingdom because of this, reaching #2 in re-release. Other notable movies that featured his music are Animal House ("Wonderful World" and "Twistin' the Night Away"), American Werewolf in London, and Cadence ("Chain Gang").
Cooke's songs "Bring It on Home to Me" and "Change is Gonna Come" were both featured in the movie Ali. The opening scene of the movie consisted of a live reenactment of "Bring It on Home to Me".
Posthumous honors
Shortly following his passing, Motown Records released We Remember Sam Cooke, a collection of Cooke covers recorded by The Supremes.
In 1986, Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1999, Cooke was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine ranked him #16 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
In 2008, Cooke was named the fourth "Greatest Singer of All Time" by Rolling Stone magazine."
Covers
John Lennon included a medley of two Cooke songs, "Bring It On Home to Me" and "Send Me Some Lovin'," on his 1975 oldies album, Rock 'n' Roll.
Cooke's songs are covered in a tour-available EP from Decemberists frontman, Colin Meloy. It is the third installment of his solo-tour Colin Meloy Sings...!
Johnny Nash covered the song "Cupid" in 1969 with chart success in the US and UK, and it was included as the B-side on some versions of his 1972 hit single I Can See Clearly Now.
The Animals covered the song "Bring It On Home To Me" in 1965.
Amy Winehouse also covered the song "Cupid" for the BBC Radio 1 album Radio 1 Established 1967.
British soul singer Adele covered the song "That's It, I Quit, I'm Movin' On" as B-side to her single "Chasing Pavements" a bonus track for the Asian release of her studio album 19.
Richard Marx covered "Bring It On Home To Me" and "Wonderful World" during his earlier concerts.
"A Change Is Gonna Come" has been covered several times. Solo, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, The Fifth Dimension, The Neville Brothers, Otis Redding, The Fugees, Cold War Kids, Seal, Bill Frisell, and The Band featuring the vocals of Rick Danko have all recorded versions of the song. Seal's version debuted on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart (Billboard, Nov. 2008) shortly after the election of Obama-Biden.
Gene Vincent, who was a big fan and a close personal friend of Sam Cooke's, recorded "Another Saturday Night" in 1964 and "Bring It On Home to Me" shortly before his own death in 1971.
Cat Stevens released his Greatest Hits album (1975) with a cover of Sam Cooke's "Another Saturday Night", only the second song he released that he didn't write himself. He had also released it as a single (July 12, 1974) which reached No.4 in the U.S.
Cooke was an influence on punk vocalist Mia Zapata of The Gits, who honored him with a cover of "A Change Is Gonna Come" on their album Enter: The Conquering Chicken.
In spring 1965 the British group Herman's Hermits reached no. 5 in the US charts and no.7 in the UK charts with their version of "Wonderful World".
In 1978, Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon, and James Taylor sang "Wonderful World" which hit the Top 40 in the US charts.
In 1966, the now cult 60s British pop show Ready Steady Goes Live, the live version of Ready Steady Go!, devoted a whole programme to a live performance of Soul singer Otis Redding, who regularly covered many of Cooke's songs. One of the highlights was a rousing version of "Shake" on which Redding was joined by British Soul legends Eric Burdon, lead singer of The Animals, and chart topper Chris Farlowe.
Jimmy Buffett covered "Another Saturday Night" on his album Margaritaville Cafe Late Night Menu, in 1993.
Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha
Sam Cooke Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Little children like to cha cha cha
They like to cha cha cha, they like to cha cha cha
Ooo everybody likes to cha cha cha
Took my baby to the hop last night and what to my surprise
When we got there she hit me with the news
Right between the eyes, yeah
She said she couldn't do the cha cha cha
She said she couldn't do the cha cha cha
She couldn't cha cha cha, no, she couldn't cha cha cha
Ooo my baby couldn't do the cha cha cha
I told her not to worry
They'd play some other dance
But we sat there for an hour and a half
And we never got a chance, for
Every song they played was the cha cha cha
Every song they played was the cha cha cha
"Tom Dooley", cha cha cha, "Tea For Two", cha cha cha
Ooo every number was the cha cha cha
I told her not to worry there's only one thing we can do
Baby, if you let me take you by the hand
I'm gonna teach this dance to you
Then, I told her one two, cha cha cha
One two, cha cha cha
And up now, baby and back now
That's right, turn now, alright let's cross now
Ooo I taught my baby how to cha cha cha
We kept on dancing
And was I surprised, for you see
After we practiced it for a little while
She was doing it better than me
Now my baby loves to do the cha cha cha
Ooo she loves to do the cha cha cha
She likes her, she likes to cha cha cha
Ooo everybody likes to cha cha cha
They do it
One two, cha cha cha, alright
One two, cha cha cha
And up now, alright back now
Alright baby let's cross now and turn now
Whoa-oh-oh-oh, la ta ta ta la ta ta ta ta, cha cha cha cha cha cha cha
The song "Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha" by Sam Cooke is a playful and upbeat tune about the craze surrounding the popular dance style known as the cha-cha-cha. The song speaks to the universality of the dance, as even little children love to do it. The singer recounts taking his girlfriend to a dance and finding out that she couldn't do the dance. But instead of being discouraged, he takes it upon himself to teach her the dance, and by the end of the song, she is doing it better than he is.
The song's lyrics speak to the idea of perseverance and the joy of learning something new. Even though the singer and his girlfriend encounter some roadblocks in their attempts to dance the cha-cha-cha, they ultimately succeed through determination and effort. Additionally, the song creates a sense of community, as everyone, regardless of age or background, enjoys dancing to the cha-cha-cha.
Overall, "Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha" is a fun and lighthearted song that celebrates the joy of dancing and the thrill of mastering a new skill. It's a catchy tune that's sure to get people moving and grooving on the dance floor.
Line by Line Meaning
Everybody loves to cha cha cha
There's a universal appeal for the cha cha cha dance.
Little children like to cha cha cha
Even young children are drawn to the cha cha cha dance.
They like to cha cha cha, they like to cha cha cha
People enjoy doing the cha cha cha.
Ooo everybody likes to cha cha cha
Everyone loves doing the cha cha cha.
Took my baby to the hop last night and what to my surprise
Took my significant other to a party, but was not anticipating what would happen.
When we got there she hit me with the news
When we arrived, she surprised me with something.
Right between the eyes, yeah
It was a sudden revelation or realization.
She said she couldn't do the cha cha cha
My partner revealed that she could not dance the cha cha cha.
No she couldn't cha cha cha
She really could not dance the cha cha cha.
I told her not to worry
I reassured her that everything would be okay.
They'd play some other dance
We could find another type of music to dance to.
But we sat there for an hour and a half
We spent a long time waiting.
And we never got a chance, for
Unfortunately, we didn't get the opportunity to dance.
Every song they played was the cha cha cha
The music that was played was limited to the cha cha cha.
Ooo every number was the cha cha cha
All of the songs were of the same music genre (cha cha cha).
I told her not to worry there's only one thing we can do
I suggested a solution to the problem.
Baby, if you let me take you by the hand
If you allow me to guide you.
I'm gonna teach this dance to you
I will instruct you on how to dance the cha cha cha.
One two, cha cha cha
I am demonstrating the steps of the dance as I say them.
And up now, baby and back now
I am giving instructions on how to move forward and backward while dancing the cha cha cha.
That's right, turn now, alright let's cross now
I am giving instructions on how to turn and cross the feet while dancing the cha cha cha.
Ooo I taught my baby how to cha cha cha
I have successfully instructed my partner on how to dance the cha cha cha.
We kept on dancing
We continued to dance.
And was I surprised, for you see
I was surprised with what I witnessed.
After we practiced it for a little while
After we had a chance to rehearse.
She was doing it better than me
My partner had more skills than I did in the dance.
Ooo she loves to do the cha cha cha
My partner has now grown to love dancing the cha cha cha.
She likes her, she likes to cha cha cha
My partner enjoys dancing the cha cha cha.
Whoa-oh-oh-oh, la ta ta ta la ta ta ta ta, cha cha cha cha cha cha cha
Final attributions of the song.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Sam Cooke
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Phil David
on Goin' Home
The lyric is not “Nothing loss of days...”
It is “Nothing’s lost, all is gain...”
You will notice this actually supports the rhyme.