The instant I pressed publish on my contribution (When You Feel Like Darkness Has You Bound) to this week’s Song Lyric Sunday challenge, I had the urge to also find a protest song.

A Change is Gonna Come, was released by Sam Cooke in 1964. It became an anthem for the Civil Rights movement. When I listened to the song and watched the video that went with it, I knew I had found my protest song. The video has photos from the 50’s to the present. By the end of viewing it, I was crying.

The lyrics are on the video but I will also include them here:

It’s been too hard living but I’m afraid to die
Cause I don’t know what’s up there beyond the sky
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie and I go downtown
Somebody keep telling me don’t hang around
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please
But he winds up knocking me
Back down on my knees

Ohhhhhhhhh…

There been times that I thought I couldn’t last for long
But now I think I’m able to carry on
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will