Vinyl: One Night Stand
- Kris
- Jan 14, 2014
- 3 min read
There were times when 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
-Sam Cooke "A Change Is Gonna Come" 1963
One Night Stand! Live at the Harlem Square Club
Side 1: Soul Twist/Introduction, Feel It (Don't Fight It), Chain Gang, Cupid, Medley: It's All Right/For Sentimental Reasons, Twistin' The Night Away
Side 2: Somebody Have Mercy, Bring It On Home To Me, Nothing Can Change This Love, Having a Party
Joined Collection: Christmas Gift from friend from High School
The first time I heard the name Sam Cooke, the two syllables emerged from between the lips of my inspiration, Darren Criss, and they were spoken with the kind of excited reverence that demanded looking into. This was a couple years ago, and though I liked Darren’s covers of “Bring It On Home to Me” before, by the time he played it on June 30st 2013, on the eve of my birthday, for the last show of his Listen Up! Tour, I loved the song by its own merits.
And not just the one song, but most, if not, all of Sam Cooke’s catalog. I found myself at my local record store, not purchasing a bunch of vinyl as I intended, but rather the Sam Cooke “Portrait of a Legend” CD anthology. And here, I heard songs that I’ve always known, and that you’ve always known because they’re timeless in their immortality, existing all around you instead of just on the underside of your headphones.
The swell of violins, the oohs and ahhs of 50s backing vocals, the echo of voices - these are iconic sounds that characterize an era. And yet, Sam Cooke's voice is something unique in itself: smooth, but with a soulful rumble lurking below the surface.
As much as I loved "Bring It On Home To Me," his posthumously-released hit "A Change Is Gonna Come" was the song that gripped my wrists and held me tight. This was his "Yesterday," his "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and it became an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement for good reason. I didn't have to know this fact or that it inspired various response songs and became a widely-covered hit to know that it was the forever song of Sam Cooke's repertoire, that it meant so much to a lot of people.
From there (and through Spotify), I discovered the Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 recording, also entitled One Night Stand, which was recorded a year before Sam Cooke's death at the age of 33. This live album includes most of my favorite songs, but with more power and zeal than their studio recorded counterparts. I fell in love with "Bring It On Home To Me" all over again with its passionate introduction and the crowd's enthusiasm.
"Don't fight it, we gonna feel it, tonight, you understand? Don't fight it. We gonna feel it," he urges the audience in the introduction. Although the phrase opens the first song, the words apply throughout. The album is pure, contagious blues and soul, and you can hear in the recording the vigor of his audience. It's intimate, but inviting in ways live albums often fail to accomplish.
For months I listened to the live versions on Spotify, and with each listen my desire to own the album grew and grew. I wanted a vinyl record, where the purr of the record player could join the album's muted crowd and find a home where the rumbling thunder in Sam Cooke's voice finally burst forth. It all would fit together so perfectly. Eventually, I gave in and purchased a couple digital versions of these tunes, but they never had the same oomph as what I imagined could be.
It's an expensive album, and I probably would've gotten it for myself eventually, when I felt I had enough money to spend on my own gratification. Instead, I placed it on my Christmas wish list and received it from one of my friends on New Year's Eve - at which point my mom and aunt both admitted they had tried to buy it for me, except it was out of stock by the time they started looking.
I was incredibly humbled by my friend's thoughtfulness, especially since I have yet to give him his gift.
That night, after I had returned home for the last hour before midnight, I solemnly placed the record on the turntable and watched it spin 'round before joining my family and friends in their alcohol-inspired game of Apples to Apples, and we ushered in 2014 with the memory of 1963.
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