A Change Is Gonna Come is a soulful protest ballad written and performed by Sam Cooke. It first appeared on the 1964 album Ain't That Good News and was released as a single on December 22, 1964. Recorded January 30, 1964 at RCA Studios in Hollywood, the song was produced by Hugo & Luigi and arranged by René Hall. Genre: soul and R&B. Its lush orchestral setting, featuring strings and a melancholy French horn, accompanies lyrics drawn from Cooke's experiences with racial discrimination, most notably when he and his entourage were turned away from a whites-only motel in Shreveport, Louisiana, and speaks to the Civil Rights Movement. Although it was not a major chart hit at the time, the track has become one of Cooke's most acclaimed works and has been honored by the Library of Congress in 2007. Rolling Stone ranks it among the greatest songs of all time, placing it at number 3 in 2021 and at number 1 on its 2025 protest songs list. The song has been widely covered and remains a powerful anthem of change.
