The Inspiration Behind These Famous Songs Show That A Great Idea Can Come From Anywhere

A Change Is Gonna Come

Michael Ochs Archives / Stringer

Sam Cooke’s hit “A Change Is Gonna Come” is arguably one of the most iconic civil rights anthems in history. But the inspiration behind the tune will surprise you.

The soulful sixties anthem was actually inspired by another sixties anthem — Bob Dylan’s song, “Blowin’ In The Wind.” In Peter Guralnick’s book Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, he writes that Cooke was so carried away with the message, and the fact that a white boy had written it, that “[Cooke] was almost ashamed not to have written something like that himself.”