Saturday Morning Soundtrack -- "Chain Gang" by Sam Cooke (1960)

Well, we're on to our next era in the Saturday Morning Soundtrack series, the 1960s, and means we'll undoubtedly be looking at some of the greatest rock bands of all times.


As always, I'm not alleging that the songs I pick are necessarily the "best" songs from a given year. Just my favorites.  You'll hear some big hits and some B-side buried treasures. If your favorite song gets overlooked, let me know just how wrong I got things in the comments below! Or, even better, consider writing your own Saturday Morning Soundtrack entry for a future post. And, after you read the commentary, keep checking out the Youtube page to play through the entire series playlist seamlessly while you write, work, exercise, or simply rock out!

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Saturday Morning Soundtrack @ Youtube

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"Chain Gang" -- Sam Cooke (1960)

We always think of the 1960s as one of (if not the) best eras for rock music, but the truth is that 1960 starts with a whimper, rather than a bang. Sure, The Everly's and Elvis are recording some of their biggest hits to date, and Chubby's doing "The Twist," and there's no denying what a big deal that was, but for me, rock is going to really take off in just a few years. That said, I've always thought of 1960 as the year of Sam Cooke.

It's not that Cooke never had any hits before '60. (His first #1 hit was the immortal "You Send Me" back in 1957--one of the smoothest songs ever recorded.) But in 1960, Cooke records two songs that are among his very best. "Wonderful World" and "Chain Gang." Now, I don't no much about history, but I do know that I love both of these songs, and it was a tough choice to choose one over the other. Ultimately, I chose "Chain Gang" because it tells a specific story that always gets to me.

The story of this song is that Cooke was inspired to write it after a chance meeting with an actual chain gang of prisoners, while driving down the highway on tour. Cooke and his brother Charles reportedly felt so sorry for the them that they gave them several cartons of cigarettes before leaving. What makes this so powerful is that, by putting this scene to song, Cooke invites us to empathize with these men who we might not otherwise be inclined to empathize with and to put ourselves in their shoes. As we know, chain gangs were a lot more common in the 1950s and 60s than they are today, during that "get tough on crime era" in America. They often resulted in death, injury, dehydration, dangerous weight loss, sores, infection, and a host of other physical maladies. They were also a way for states (particularly southern states) to both punish convicts and benefit from free labor at the same time, and the chain gain worked as a loophole: a way to legally perpetuate African-American servitude even after slavery was abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment (as most of the prisoners serving on chain gangs were Black). As such, it's easy to see why Cooke would have felt for these men.

This song is interspersed with grunts and groans--"that's the sound of the men working on the chain gang" Cooke tells us. (Or maybe he's telling a confused child--the kind who might ask such a question as he passes a long line of shackled men who share his skin color and look a lot like the man he might grow up to become someday.) From the men begging for water, to their somber and wistful dreams of returning home to their wives and girlfriends, this song chronicles a tough and dangerous living:

Can't ya hear them singin'
Mmm, I'm goin' home one of these days
I'm goin' home to see my woman
Whom I love so dear
But meanwhile I got to work right here

But it's not only the lyrics that are affecting. It's the way Cooke sings them. He isn't theatrical--he doesn't wail or moan, doesn't try to imitate the suffering of these men. Instead, he sounds sad. Sad to be witnessing this long line of human sorrow. And you can almost hear him thinking, No man deserves this. It's a simple emotion, but it's what makes this song so damn powerful. 

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So what do you think? Did I get it right or miss the mark? Please, feel free to weigh in using the comments below. And, if you would like to write a Guest Entry for the "Saturday Morning Soundtrack" series where you creatively respond to one of your favorite rock songs, don't hesitate to contact me with queries.