>i think you're greatly exaggerating
>A Change Is Gonna Come is not really much different from say
>The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby, or many other songs
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1NAGhiVqdg&feature=related
>sure there's a few words in the lyrics that sort of give away
>what background Sam Cooke's from, but are you SURE you aren't
>perhaps building up the difference to be much more than it
>really is?

you're not serious in tellin me that the way it is is the same as sam cooke's a change gon come..im disappointed in you damaja..do you tho...but if you cant see the social significance of that song that was written from the black experience with the pain that black people were going thru you're crazy...one is definitely a representation of black music and one is not....and im definitely not building up the difference, because to alot of people except you, its clear that the black experience plays a large part of why music created/performed by black artists is "black music"..now of course its not that black and white and the lines arent sharply defined but there is such a thing

though an AMAZING record by bruce hornsby there is a categorical difference between observation and actual living it out yourself..."i was born by the river.." is much different than bruce hornsby recounting things he saw in the world which were wack..sam cooke is coming from a personal place that he saw things that happened to him not just narration

what you're equating is paramount to this

white guy: i jus saw a black guy getting pulled over by a cop for nothing and got beat up, thats wack as fuck

black guy: i jus got pulled over by some cops for nothing! and they beat me..fuck the police!

now if both make a song in your logic the two are equated..and im saying that you're on some ultimate fucking bullshit if you cant clearly see the difference between a narration and the actual living one out...which is partially why a change gon come is black music and the way it is..is not

>the collective experience doesn't make music
>sure it influences individuals who make the music. they may
>even make music ABOUT their experience that others can relate
>to
>but those others have got no creative stake in the process.
>nothing they personally did affected it
>
>when i know i've done nothing to contribute to something, it's
>a pretty big clue to me that i aint got shit to do with it

who said that??? now you're jumpin for straws bro, aint no one said the collective experience makes music...i think i made it clear that the black experience is a large part of what makes black music "black music"...now of course there's individuality there and so forth, my gripe with you is that you encapsulate the individual and COMPLETELY take away the group/system/collective dynamic...which is completely ignorants and honestly what white people love to do in my observation, because this way they dont ever have to take responsibility for all the bullshit that happened and then they can jus take away all the achievements that blacks have made musically or otherwise and chalk it up to individual prowess

once again thats not a bad thing..unless its your sole grounds and reasoning for how people and societies and communities (do you even believe in communal thinking? or ideas) create music...i repeat you cannot seperate black music from the community,social context...it does not work...sorry bro