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MP3: Sam Cooke – Only Sixteen

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MP3: Sam Cooke – Chain Gang

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MP3: Sam Cooke – Cupid

Despite my penchant for the overly complex, over-wrought and over-thought, I’ve always found it immensely fascinating to ponder what makes someone a true musical icon.  For all the inventive, ground-breaking things we hear that push our boundaries, which are the ones that will stand the infamous “test of time” and become something that benchmarks a momentous time in history.  Who will ultimately become a monumental figure in music and art, a measure of things to come and a force to re-contextualize what has come before.

Sam Cooke is undoubtedly one of those icons.

A masterful songwriter, precise and profound expression couched in simplicity and relatively minimal pop music.  Simple melodic progression serves as the drive and focus of every composition, providing a backdrop which accents a timeless and singular vocal talent.

Odds are Cooke is one of those names that if you know him, you love him; if you don’t know the name, you likely know one of his hits intimately. Thus, it’s always a treat for me to dig through the bins and find something, anything, with Cooke’s work on it. Above, you can grab few of his famed tracks from a 1965 hits collection.

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