Don’t Know Much About History, Part 1

Summary

Hit Parade | “Don’t Know Much About History, Part 1”

Hosted by Chris Molanphy | Released: March 23, 2021

---

Overview

In this engaging episode of Hit Parade, host Chris Molanphy takes listeners deep into the origins and triumphs of soul legend Sam Cooke—a foundational figure in American popular music and the only Rock and Roll Hall of Fame initial inductee whose chart-topping debut was written solely by himself. Through storytelling, chart analysis, and musical excerpts, Molanphy unpacks how Cooke transitioned from gospel icon to crossover star, inventing soul music and paving the way for Black artists in mainstream pop. The episode also critically addresses the Oscar-nominated film One Night in Miami and its depiction of Cooke, separating filmic drama from musical history.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Rock Hall’s First Class: Setting the Stage for Cooke

• Molanphy begins with music trivia—no member of the first Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class (1986) scored a debut #1 single they wrote entirely themselves, except Sam Cooke.
  • [02:33] “Elvis…never wrote a chart topper by himself…Jerry Lee Lewis never hit number one…Chuck Berry wouldn’t have a number one until the ’70s…Buddy Holly…co-wrote ‘That’ll Be the Day’…”

Notable Quote:

“I’ve named nine of the ten founding Rock Hall inductees. That leaves one who wrote his first hit by himself and instantly took it to number one on the pop and R&B charts…Sam Cooke.” —Chris Molanphy [05:27]

---

Sam Cooke’s Groundbreaking Success

• Cooke’s “You Send Me” (1957) was both pop and R&B #1—a major crossover feat for a Black artist pre-Motown.
  • [06:01] “However simple it might sound now, [‘You Send Me’] was… the most accomplished debut single of rock’s first decade.”
• Cooke’s transition from gospel to pop was smooth yet controversial, breaking hearts in the church but amplifying his legacy and influence.

Notable Quote:

“Cook was a self-powered crossover star. And he made it all look and sound so smooth.” —Chris Molanphy [06:01]

---

Activism, Legacy & “One Night in Miami”

• Cooke’s role in the civil rights movement and as a business pioneer—starting his own label and fostering Black talent—come to the fore.
• One Night in Miami (2020) is discussed for its portrayal of Cooke, especially his dialogue with Malcolm X, Jim Brown, and Cassius Clay.
  • The film challenges Cooke to create more socially conscious music (“A Change Is Gonna Come”), but Molanphy fact-checks and contextualizes its dramatic liberties.

Memorable Moments:

“In the film, Sam Cooke is presented as a kind of foil for Malcolm X, a successful black performer seeking white approbation from his recordings of songs that appealed to the larger pop audience at the expense of his gospel roots.” —Chris Molanphy [13:49]

“What actually happened in that hotel room is pure speculation... In real life, the famed ‘One Night in Miami’ happened in late February 1964. Cooke’s failure at the Copa had happened six years earlier. It was not a fresh wound.” —Chris Molanphy [39:45]

Film vs. History — Key Segment:

• [15:21 – 17:12] Molanphy quotes Slate’s Jack Hamilton, calling out the film for distorting Cooke’s work:

“Movies play fast and loose with historical accuracy all the time, but One Night in Miami so drastically distorts the facts of Cooke’s life and work that it actually sells short his artistry.” —Jack Hamilton (quoted by Molanphy)

---

Early Life and the Gospel Years

• Cooke’s journey: from Mississippi roots to Chicago, shaped by the church and inspired by secular stars like the Ink Spots and Nat King Cole.
• At 19, Cooke joins the Soul Stirrers—a Jubilee-style gospel group—and quickly becomes gospel’s “first teen idol.”
• Producer Bumps Blackwell notices Cooke’s star quality at the landmark 1955 Shrine Auditorium Concert, pursues him for a pop career.

Notable Quote:

“Cook was essentially the first teen idol of gospel music.” —Chris Molanphy [20:39]

---

The Pop Crossover and Reinvention

• “Lovable” and the ‘Dale Cooke’ Pseudonym:
  • Cooke’s first secular release, “Lovable”, issued under a pseudonym to guard his gospel reputation, was no hit, but signaled his pop ambitions.
• Art Rupe and the Little Richard Sound:
  • Specialty Records president Art Rupe wanted Cooke to replicate Little Richard's energy, but Cooke insisted on a smoother, crooner approach.

Notable Quote:

“Cook was not interested in that raw sound. He thought he should sound more like [George Gershwin’s ‘Summertime’].” —Chris Molanphy [31:11]

---

The Breakthrough: “You Send Me”

• Keane Records picks up Cooke, releases “You Send Me” as a B-side.
• DJs flip it—audiences are hooked. Chart-wise, it's an instant smash on both sales and airplay:
  • [34:04] “Billboard magazine still charted best sellers in stores separately from most played by jockeys…on both charts ‘You Send Me’ blew up.”
• Famed TV appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show—first time cut off, then brought back after overwhelming public outcry.

Major Moment:

[36:43] Ed Sullivan’s on-air apology:

“I did wrong one night here on our stage by young Sam Cook from the coast and I... never received so much mail in my life, Sam.” —Ed Sullivan

---

Life as a Pop Star and Cultural Figure

• More hits follow: “I Love You For Sentimental Reasons,” “I'll Come Running Back to You.”
• Invited to play the legendary Copacabana in New York (1958). The gig flops, denting Cooke’s confidence, and is a plot point in One Night in Miami.
• Molanphy uses both the film and a 1964 Mike Douglas Show interview to contrast the portrayal and reality of Cooke’s reaction and growth.

Notable Clip:

[40:57] Sam Cooke (on bombing at the Copa):

“Because I wasn't ready.” —Sam Cooke

---

The Challenge of Sustained Crossover

• Cooke’s late-’50s releases land more with Black audiences than on pop charts.
• Major pop success remains elusive until “Wonderful World” (recorded for Keane, released after joining RCA) reaches #12 pop/#2 R&B in June 1960.
• Cooke’s business savvy: upon signing with RCA, he secures his copyrights, starts his own music publishing and label.

Notable Insight:

“Speaking of wanting money, one last detail Sam wanted to get straight was owning more of his material.” —Chris Molanphy [43:48]

---

Key Timestamps

• [01:11] Introduction to episode and chart trivia
• [05:27] Sam Cooke’s unique debut chart feat
• [08:59] Cooke’s influence on civil rights and culture
• [15:21 – 17:12] Critique of One Night in Miami and Cooke’s portrayal
• [19:29] Early gospel years with the Soul Stirrers
• [31:11] Art Rupe’s artistic clash with Cooke
• [34:04] “You Send Me” becomes a phenomenon
• [36:43] Ed Sullivan apologizes on air for cutting Cooke
• [40:38] Mike Douglas interview—Cooke recalls the Copa bomb
• [45:55] “Wonderful World” becomes a late-breaking classic

---

Notable Quotes

• “Sam Cooke achieved something historic for any act, let alone a Black artist.” —Chris Molanphy [06:01]
• “Cook was essentially the first teen idol of gospel music.” —Chris Molanphy [20:39]
• “It’s not gonna always be the pop charts over here, Black music charts over there. One day, it’s gonna be one chart, one music for all people.” —Jim Brown (character), One Night in Miami [39:31]
• “Speaking of wanting money, one last detail Sam wanted to get straight was owning more of his material.” —Chris Molanphy [43:48]

---

Summary and Takeaways

Molanphy’s narrative establishes Sam Cooke as not just a singular musical talent but a transformative architect of modern pop and soul. From gospel beginnings through high-chart achievements, business acumen, and social consciousness, Cooke’s story is one of ambition, resilience, and broad cultural impact. The episode carefully interrogates how myths and dramatic retellings—like those in One Night in Miami—compare to the factual, chart-told story, all while celebrating the timeless greatness of Cooke’s catalogue. Listeners come away with a richer understanding of what makes a “smash”—and why Sam Cooke’s legacy endures.

---

[End of Part 1. Part 2 continues Cooke’s story with further discussion of his career, activism, and untimely death.]

Transcript

[Ed Sullivan]

You're listening ad free on Amazon Music.

[Chris Melanfi]

Hey there Hit Parade listeners. What you're about to hear is part one of this episode. Part two will arrive in your podcast feed at the end of the month. Would you like to hear this episode all at once? Sign up for Slate Plus. It supports not only this show, but all of Slate's journalism and podcasts. Just go to slate.com hitparadeplus you'll get to hear every Hit Parade episode in full the day it arrives. Plus Hit Parade the Bridge, our bonus episodes with guest interviews, deeper dives on our episode topics and pop chart trivia. Once again to join, that's slate.com hit parade plus thanks. And now please enjoy part one of this hit Parade episode. Yeah.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Yeah.

[Chris Melanfi]

Here we go fellas.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Let's go to work. This is a 1, 2, a 1, 2, 3.

[Chris Melanfi]

Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfi, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number One? Series on today's show. Here's a bit of chart trivia to kick off this episode. 35 years ago in 1986, the Rock and Roll hall of Fame inducted its first class of legendary performers, 10 in all, each one essential to the creation of rock and roll. I'm quite confident you know them all. From Chuck Berry, Go Go Johnny Go.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Go Go Johnny Go Go.

[Chris Melanfi]

To Jerry Lee Lewis, To of course, Elvis Presley. I'm not going to ask you to name all 10 of them. I'll reveal them all momentarily. Instead, here's my question. Out of this first wave of legends, who is the only one to launch his career with a number one hit that he wrote by himself?

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

If you can't come around and please, please telephone don't be cruel too hard. It's true.

[Chris Melanfi]

Immediately. That eliminates Elvis. He never wrote a chart topper by himself. In fact, he often got co writing credit for songs he didn't write at all. Jerry Lee Lewis Never hit number one. Great Balls of Fire peaked at number two and Chuck Berry wouldn't have a number one until the 70s. What about Buddy Holly? Holly did write the bulk of his material and the first hit for his band the Crickets was indeed a number one. But Holly co wrote that'll Be the the Day with Crickets drummer Jerry Allison. Ray Charles too, wrote much of his own material, but he had several top 10 R B hits before his first number one. And that immortal R B chart topper. I've got A Woman was co written with Charles's trumpet player player Renald Richard. The Everly Brothers scored several chart toppers in their career, but they kicked off with a number two hit, Bye Bye Love and a number one Wake Up Little Susie. Both of which were written by husband and wife songwriters Felice and Budlo Bryant. Little Richard led off his chart career with the classic Tutti frutti, a number two R B number 17 pop hit that was made just a little less lewd by his co writer Dorothy Labostri. Fats Domino broke on the charts with his number 10 pop number one R B classic Ain't that a Shame. Which like many of his hits Fats co wrote with fellow New Orleans songwriter Dave Bartholomew. Finally, Godfather of Soul James Brown never had a number one pop hit and among Soul Brother one's many R& B hits. And it took until James second single Try Me to top the RB chart.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Try me, try me, try me, try me.

[Chris Melanfi]

I've named nine of the ten founding Rock hall inductees. That leaves one who wrote his first hit by himself and instantly took it to number one on the pop and R and B charts. And not even Elvis Presley or Chuck Berry did that. And then he went on to basically invent soul music. That would be Sam Cooke.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Darling, you send me I know you.

[Chris Melanfi]

You send me. However simple it might sound now was in a way the most accomplished debut single of rock's first decade. Sam Cooke achieved something historic for any act, let alone a black artist. Two years before Motown had its first hit and before Ray Charles had his first major pop hit, Cook was a self powered crossover star. And he made it all look and sound so smooth.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

At first I thought it was infatuation, but ooh, it's lasted so long.

[Chris Melanfi]

Even more remarkable, Cook became a secular music star after he'd already been arguably the biggest star in gospel music, singing with the genre's top vocal combo.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

That was a woman in the Bible days She had been sick, sick so very long.

[Chris Melanfi]

And when he left gospel, breaking the hearts of many in the worship community, Cook pivoted to pop like it was his birthright.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Just call my name, I'm not ashamed I'll come running back to you.

[Chris Melanfi]

By the start of the 1960s, Cook was recording for the biggest label in popular music. Soon after that, he would launch a label of his own. All of this success and influence made Cook a key figure in the American civil rights movement as he played to integrated audiences and fostered black talented. The depth of Cook's social commitment is an especially Hot topic right now as the film One Night in Miami, nominated for several Oscars, finds Cook discussing and debating with some famous friends of his about his role in the struggle.

[Jim Brown]

You know, I know what's going on out there, right?

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Listen, listen.

[Chris Melanfi]

In the film, Cook is challenged to go further and deeper with his music. But in real life, Cook had already produced an anthem that would become his legacy not long after his tragic death.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

It's been a long, a long time coming But I know a change gonna come. Oh yes it will.

[Chris Melanfi]

Today on Hit Parade, we will go deeper than One Night into the history of Sam Cooke. He achieved so much in his too brief life. Sole pioneer, record mogul, social activist, and one of the greatest voices ever to step in front of a microphone. And did I mention the man had hits? So many hits. We'll play the big ones and even the not so big ones because they're pretty much all great.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Baby's coming home tomorrow. Ain't that news, man, Ain't that news.

[Chris Melanfi]

And that's where your hit parade marches today. The week ending February 29, 1964, when Sam Cooks Ain't that Good News was number 13 on Billboard's Hot 102 on the cashbox R and B chart. It's not one of Cook's best remembered hits, but it was the one on the charts that fateful week in 64 when Cook really did spend one night in Miami hanging out with three other celebrated black icons. And Good News was emblematic of Cook's singular career. An adaptation of a gospel song and the title track of the last studio album of his lifetime. If you haven't seen One Night in Miami yet, and I do recommend it, despite some caveats, which I'll discuss momentarily. When you do Hit Parade listener, you might be surprised at how much chart talk is in the movie.

[Jim Brown]

You know who gets paid more than the writer of a song that hits number 94 on the Billboard Hot 100? The writer of a song that hits number one.

[Malcolm X]

You're just a one up toy in a music box.

[Chris Melanfi]

Who knew Malcolm X was such a music snobby anyway? One Night in Miami is earning acclaim for dramatic exchanges like this one. When Oscar nominations were announced in Hollywood just last week, the film garnered several. Sadly, those nods were not in the best picture field or for acclaimed actor turned director Regina King. Of the three nods the film did earn, and this is especially interesting for music fans, the man who plays Sam Cooke is up for two of them.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Can you hear the bells ring out? Speak now, speak now. Can you hear The Angels Sing loud.

[Chris Melanfi]

Leslie Odom Jr. The prior Tony and Grammy winner for the Broadway smash Hamilton, is nominated for both best supporting Actor for his galvanic performance as Cook, the film's only acting nomination, by the way, and for best Original song. The latter nomination is for Speak now, which Odom co wrote with songwriter Sam Ashworth and sings over the film's closing titles. It is meant to evoke Sam Cooke indirectly crossed with some of the folk music Cooke admired.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Brothers and sisters, listen.

[Chris Melanfi]

Listen. What is somewhat ironic about all this attention for Odom's portrayal of Cook has to do with the film's third Oscar nomination that's for its screenplay by playwright and screenwriter Kemp Powers, adapted from his stage play One Night in Miami. What's funny about this is the character Powers story is hardest on is Sam Cooke in a Miami hotel room. Malcolm X, played by Kingsley Ben Adir, Hector's Cook for everybody, from his social activism to his music, the church songs have nurtured you.

[Malcolm X]

You twisted them and you perverted them to feed a white crowd.

[Jim Brown]

That is bullshit. Most of the artists I work with are gospel singers. Do you have any idea what I've given back to the church?

[Malcolm X]

How many times do I have to hear that? That has got to be the greatest fault of you so called successful Negroes. You'll do something detrimental to your own people who with the promise that after you get rich then you're gonna make it back up to them.

[Chris Melanfi]

Now the film does depict a night that did in fact happen February 25, 1964, when Prize Fighter Cassius Clay, soon to become Muhammad Ali, won his historic bout with Sonny Liston to become heavyweight champion of the world and then spent a quiet, low key evening and hanging at a Miami hotel with Cook, Malcolm X and football great Jim Brown. But what actually happened in that hotel room is pure speculation. No one outside of the still alive Jim Brown knows exactly what the four men talked about, what they argued over or what music they listened to. In the film, Sam Cooke is presented as a kind of foil for Malcolm X, a successful black performer seeking white approbation from his recordings of songs that appealed to the larger pop audience at the expense of his gospel roots. To in one early scene in the film, Cook's flop performance at the largely white venue the Copacabana. Let's give a warm Copacabana welcome for Sam Cooke.

[Jim Brown]

It's great to be at the Copa. How's everybody feeling tonight?

[Chris Melanfi]

Let's be clear. One Night in Miami is hardly the only film in this year's Oscar race. That skews true events to suit a narrative from Trial of the Chicago 7 to Mank. But as my Slate colleague Jack Hamilton recently pointed out in an article about the film's portrayal of Sam Cooke, quote, movies play fast and loose with historical accuracy all the time, but One Night in Miami so drastically distorts the facts of Cook's life and work that it actually sells short his artistry. Throughout this episode, we'll present small excerpts from One Night in Miami. I'll keep them fairly brief to avoid major spoilers. Spoilers. If you haven't seen the film though, this is kind of a hard film to spoil and we'll set the record straight on the greatness and social conscience of Sam Cooke. My goal is not to vilify Regina King's powerful film. It's about much more than Sam Cooke. Odom's Oscar nominated role is considered a supporting performance, and Kemp Power's script is is ultimately about a community in the 60s rising up to declare in vital new ways that Black lives matter. Nonetheless, Sam Cooke is not only the focus of the film's acclaim, he is the fulcrum around which the story's central debate revolves. And hey, any excuse to think about how Sam Cooke became a legend and hear his extraordinary voice is one we at Hit Parade are happy to indulge in.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Oh, There will be peace in the Valley for Me one day.

[Chris Melanfi]

Even if he had never become a star in the secular world, Sam Cooke would be a legend in the gospel world. That's him singing Peace in the Valley with the Soul Stirrers, a jubilee style gospel troupe that had formed half a decade before Sam was even born. Sam entered the world in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1931, the fifth of eight children of the Reverend Charles Cook and Annie May Cook. In 1933, when Sam was only two, Reverend Cook packed up his family and headed north, settling on Chicago's south side. There the Reverend established himself in the religious community. Sam grew up in a world of church music, singing with his siblings, and by high school he had formed a jubilee quartet of his own. But he was also a fan of black secular music by such pre rock artists as the Ink Spots, if I.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Didn't Care more than words can say.

[Chris Melanfi]

And a vocalist a dozen years older than Sam, who'd even gone to his Chicago high school Nat King Cole, I.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Love you For Sentimental Reasons.

[Chris Melanfi]

Both of these acts would later influence Sam's own vocal style, but in the gospel world Sam was raised in, there was no musical act bigger than the Soul Stirrers.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Oh well, it's by. When the morning comes.

[Chris Melanfi]

By the time Sam met them, the Stirrers were already nearly a quarter century old. They had thrived through the Depression and World War II by touring nationwide, and by the forties they had helped pioneer a hard close harmony gospel style that would later influence doo wop and soul. When The Stirrers leader R.H. harris decided to leave the group in 1950, they recruited 19 year old Sam Cooke, whose surname by the way was still spelled C O O K like his father's.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Oh yes, tell me I far Am I from Cana? Lord I fall Am I from Can?

[Chris Melanfi]

By this time the Stirrers were signed to a label, Specialty Records, founded in Los Angeles by budding music impresario and black music aficionado Art Roop. The now former member, R.H. harris had been the closest thing to a star in the soul Stirrers. But the Stirrers had never had a a star like Sam Cooke. Blessed with both a potent natural tenor voice and natural good looks, young women would come to church just to hear him sing. Cook was essentially the first teen idol of gospel music. His lead vocal on the stirrers 1951 Single Jesus gave Me Water, which Cook biographer Peter Guralnick called almost dancing and playful, gave the group their biggest selling and most requested song to date. As well, the Stirrers had found a prodigy in Cook, who became both the de facto leader of the group in his early 20s and their most prodigious songwriter. His original song Be With Me Jesus was structured as a counterpoint duet between Cook and fellow Stirrer Paul Foster. It sounded like two generations forming a soul alliance. By 1955 the Soul Stirrers were so renowned that they co headlined what is still over 65 years later considered the landmark show in gospel history. The Great Shrine Auditorium Concert. Thousands gathered in LA in July of 55 to see such stars as the Caravan's James Cleveland, a budding legend in gospel choir arranging, the Pilgrim Travelers who would soon take on Sam Cooke's friend Lou Rawls as a vocalist, and the Soul stirrers, for whom 24 year old Sam Cooke was the main attraction. The Great Shrine Concert turned out to be rather pivotal for Sam. In the audience that night was Robert Bumps Blackwell, a producer for the Soul Stirrers label Specialty Records. Blackwell was starting to branch out from gospel. Later that year he would produce Little Richard, one of Specialty's first non gospel acts. And at the Shrine, Bumps was taken with Sam Cooke's undeniable star quality. Blackwell would spend the next Year and a half pursuing Cooke to convince him to break from gospel and go pop. Sam didn't need much convincing. As good as it was being a star in gospel music, he could see it had a ceiling. Plus, the explosion of rock and roll on the charts in 1955 and 56 had brought new opportunities for black performers. In the spring of 56, the Platters scored the first number one of the Rock era by a black vocal group with their remake of the song the Ink Spots, made famous in the late 30s. My prayer, my pray.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Is to linger with you.

[Chris Melanfi]

And according to biographer Peter Goralnick, Cook himself had taken notice of the phenomenal crossover success of Harry Belafonte, the so called king of Calypso, whose 1956 LP Calypso spent some eight months at number one, purchased by White and black audiences in the the millions. Moreover, the establishment of rhythm and blues on the charts in the first half of the 50s had laid bare its roots in gospel. R and B stars were pioneering bold new forms by shamelessly turning spiritual music secular. Some of the songs were bald faced remakes. In the summer of 54, while on tour, a 23 year old Ray Charles heard the Southern tones, It Must Be Jesus on the radio. Charles and the trumpeter in his band Renald Richard turned the same basic melody into I've Got a Woman, which Charles recorded in the fall of 54 and turned into an R B number one smash.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

She gave me money when I'm in need, yeah, she's a.

[Chris Melanfi]

Compared with Ray Charles, Sam Cooke was an actual gospel star with an innate understanding of how soulful gospel could transform into soul music. By the end of 1956, Cook would try the exact same same trick. Only unlike brother Ray, Sam's experiment would not be under his own name.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

The Lord is my shepherd, he's my guide.

[Chris Melanfi]

Wonderful was a classic praise song. The wonderful one in the lyric was God. Written a decade earlier. Earlier by Chicago gospel pioneers Virginia Davis and Theodore Fry, the Soulsters had recorded Wonderful with sam in early 1956. Toward the end of 56, in a solo studio session with Bumps Blackwell, Sam turned Wonderful into Lovable. It was a secular spin on the wonderful melody. But Cook was nervous about issuing a non gospel pop single under his own name. So Specialty issued the single in January 1957 under the artist name Dale Cook. But Lovable wasn't fooling anyone. After all, Sam Cooke was now already a star with the most recognizable voice in gospel. How was he going to hide that voice under Dale Cook's name? Still, even though it wasn't a hit. Billboard gave the single a lukewarm review, and it sold only modestly. The lovable experiment worked in a couple of ways. For one thing, it gave Sam a way to get over his trepidation and prepare for his departure from gospel. He knew the church community would be withering in their judgment. Indeed, throughout 1957, many privately tried to convince him not to make the secular switch. Sam was especially anxious about the reaction of his father, the Reverend Charles Cook. But to his credit, the reverend told Sam that singing with the soul stirrers was just his job. The Lord gave you a voice to sing, to make people happy, he told Sam, according to Peter Goralnik's biography. And if you can make more money singing pop music than you can the church songs that you're singing, well, don't nobody get saved over singing. The other thing the Dale Cook experiment achieved was it gave Specialty Records president Art Rupe the idea that maybe Sam Cooke, who by the way, added an E to the end of his name in 1957 as part of his transformation, could cut it as a pop star. But Roop had very specific ideas about what the new Sam Cooke should sound like. Specialty was having success with the fierce, gritty rock and roll sound of Little Rich, And Roop gave specific instructions to producer Bumps Blackwell to give Sam a version of the Little Richard sound. But Cook was not interested in that raw sound. He thought he should sound more like this.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Summertime and the Living Is Easy.

[Chris Melanfi]

Summertime, the George Gershwin standard from Porgy and Bess, was one of the most recognizable popular songs in the mainstream American canon. It was a savvy choice for a crossover record, and Cook's languid, soulful take on the ballad would wind up on his Greatest Hits album several years later. But Sam and Bumps did two takes of the song, and the version they intended to issue as a single was what really pissed off their label president.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

It's Summertime and the Living is easy.

[Chris Melanfi]

Cooks up tempo, super smooth, almost Rat Pack style take on Summertime, complete with white backing vocalists, was not at all what Art Rupe wanted from his next Little Richard. It led to a rupture and a blowout fight between Sam Cooke, Bumps, Blackwell and Roope, and in the end, Art Rupe released Sam Cooke from his contract with Specialty. So Sam, Sam and Bumps took their recordings and signed with the smaller label Keen Records, which agreed to put out the uptempo Summertime single. But what Keane was also keen on was a song Sam Cooke wrote by himself that he and they thought was going to be the single's B side.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Darling, you.

[Chris Melanfi]

Send Me it was the darndest thing. When Keane issued Sam Cooke's debut single, Radio DJs All Flipped it over and treated you Send Me as the A side. Radio audiences adored it too, and requested it in droves. And here was why. However easygoing it sounded, you Send Me was basically unprecedented. Bruce Eater of AllMusic writes, Although it seems like a tame record today, you Send Me was a pioneering soul record in its time, melding elements of R and B, gospel and pop into a sound that was new and still coalescing at the time.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

You and take you home you, you, you, you send me.

[Chris Melanfi]

By the standards of the old school music business, You Send Me, now regarded as Sam Cooke's official single with Summertime on the flip, was a remarkably fast hit in 1957, Billboard magazine magazine still charted best sellers in stores separately from most played by jockeys, as radio DJs were called. The Hot 100 would not launch until 1958, and on both charts you Send Me blew up. It made its best sellers debut on the chart dated October 27, 1957, all the way up at number six. By December 2, it was Billboard's top seller. On the radio side, Cook took two weeks to crack the top 10 on the Jockeys chart, but then only four more weeks to reach number one. By early December, it was also number one on Billboard's R&B charts. This was an exceptional chart debut. A couple of weeks before Christmas 1957, Sam Cooke, former gospel superstar turned pop newcomer, had the top selling and most played song in America on his very first try. By the time the song hit number one, Sam had also been on America's most popular TV variety program, the Ed Sullivan show, twice. The first time in early November, Sullivan brought Cook on as his final guest of the night, but the show was running long. Sam got through not even two lines of the song before CBS cut him off. Americans were so mad to see their new favorite song truncated, they flooded CBS with calls and Sullivan had Sam Cooke back on December. Sullivan even let Cook perform two songs the second time, and he apologized live on air.

[Ed Sullivan]

I did Wrong one night here on our stage by young Sam Cook from the coast and I got I never received so much mail in my life, Sam. But the applause in the audience ran overboard that night. I never did get him on. But he has been on the first part of the show and here he is singing his newest hit record, Sam Thicket.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.

[Chris Melanfi]

Cook's version of Nat King Cole's I love you for sentimental reasons was a top 20 hit on both the pop and R B charts in early 1958. And on on the R and B side, Sam scored an instant number one follow up to youo Send Me the similarly romantic and soulful I'll Come Running Back to youo.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Just Call My Name. I Know, I Know, I'm not ashamed. I'll come Running Back to you.

[Chris Melanfi]

Sam Cooke had turned into a pop fixture and T V personality remarkably quickly. By 1958, he was serving as a March of Dimes spokesman and singing his Ring A Ding Ding Mary Mary Lou on the TV variety hour the Arthur Murray Party. Cook's acceptance by mainstream audiences was seemingly so swift that by March of 58 he would be invited to perform at New York's famed Copacabana nightclub, a longtime dream of Sam's. Infamously, he did not do well, as is depicted again in the 2020 film One Night in Miami.

[Jim Brown]

How's everybody feeling tonight?

[Chris Melanfi]

This is a major plot point in the film. Not only is the 1958 Copacabana performance recreated in the movie, right down to the stand up comedian Myron Cohen, who preceded Cook and reportedly set him up for failure with the largely white audience, Cook's desire to get another shot at the Copa is is discussed and debated among the foursome of friends at the hotel.

[Jim Brown]

It's not that bad. Come on, man. All right, fine. Maybe it was that bad.

[Malcolm X]

You don't suck and jive enough for those old fait tastes.

[Jim Brown]

I may not dance around the stage like Jackie or James Brown, but that's not what I'm selling. Selling my voice, my message.

[Malcolm X]

Message, hmm. Problem is, at the Copa, you have to sell that message to a bunch of white folks.

[Chris Melanfi]

That don't matter.

[Jim Brown]

They got souls, don't they? If I win a motion playing our music, I'm knocking down doors for everybody. It's not gonna always be the pop charts over here, black music charts over there. One day it's gonna be one chart, one music for all people.

[Chris Melanfi]

And so here we have our first corrective to the film. In real life, the famed One Night in Miami happened in late February 1964. Cook's failure at the Copa had happened six years earlier. It was not a fresh wound. However, if there's one thing screenwriter Kemp Powers gets right here, it's that as late as 64, the real Sam Cooke was still seething about his Copa experience in 58. Here is a clip from the Mike Douglas show, on which Cook was a guest in, coincidentally, February 1964. Asked to summarize for Douglas's audience the highlights of his career, Sam can't help recalling his first major failure.

[Ed Sullivan]

One of the Copa bombed. You bomb.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Did you really?

[Chris Melanfi]

That's right.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Copa's a funny room.

[Ed Sullivan]

The one in New York City you're talking about, which for some reason happens to be the president prestige date of all time. If you make it at the Copa, that's it.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Why do you think you bombed?

[Chris Melanfi]

Why do you?

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

I know why, bum.

[Chris Melanfi]

Because I wasn't ready. Back in 1958, the Copa seemed to check Sam Cooke's momentum for the rest of 58 and 59. He kept scoring hits, but none approached the massive success of his debut smash, you Send Me. It also seemed that Sam had been relegated to the black audience. As in his gospel days, three consecutive singles went top 10, R&B, but missed the pop top 20. You were made for me.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

As sure as there are stars above. I know, I know you were made for me. You were made for me.

[Chris Melanfi]

Win your love for me.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Whoa, little girl, how happy I am would be if some miracle could win your love for me.

[Chris Melanfi]

And amazingly, one of his best known singles from this period, the party starter, Everybody Loves to cha cha Cha. It reached number two on the R B chart, but a lowly number 31 on the Hot 100.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

The Cha Cha Cha Ooh, she loves to do the cha cha cha.

[Chris Melanfi]

By the time of his summer 1959 single Only Sixteen, another classic from this late 50s period. But Sam was beginning to think it was still time to move on from Keen Records. The small label seemed overmatched to promote a rising artist of his stature. What's more, in 1958 Sam had married his longtime sweetheart, Barbara Campbell, and they were soon expecting their second child. Sam wasn't making enough on Keen Records to raise a family. Plus, by 1958 and 59, the chart competition had gotten fiercer. Jackie Wilson had already scored his first R and B and pop hit, Lonely Teardrops. Ray Charles, after a decade of consistent R and B success, was now crossing to the pop charts with his first Hot 100 top 10 hit, what did I say?

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

See the girl with the red dress song? She can do the burling all night long. Yeah, yeah, what I say.

[Chris Melanfi]

And in Detroit, a startup label named Motown, founded by a self styled mogul named Barry Gordy, was scoring its first ever chart hit in late 59 with a Barrett Strong song called Money. Speaking of wanting money, one last detail Sam wanted to get straight was owning more of his material. So when he finally scored a major label deal with RCA Records in the closing weeks of 1959, he not only bought back his copyrights from Keen Records, he also set up his own publishing company, CAGS Music, and began making plans to start a label of his own. In the meantime, in early 1960, RCA, which at the time was the biggest label in music thanks to having Elvis Presley on their roster, issued their first single with Sam Cooke called Teenage Sonata. It did not set the world on fire, peaking on the Hot 100 at number 50.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

And with my Teenage Sonata.

[Chris Melanfi]

Comes a.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Prayer that we never part.

[Chris Melanfi]

The final irony, as Sam Cooke was amicably parting from Keen Records and closing out his business with the label, was that he had recorded one last single for Keane. And this song, released just after the RCA single Teenage Sonata, was not only a much bigger hit on Keane, it remains one of Sam Cooke's most beloved and best remembered hits of all.

[Sam Cooke (singing voice)]

Don't know much about history, don't know.

[Chris Melanfi]

Much biology In June of 1919 60, what a Wonderful World reached number 12 on the Hot 100 and number 2 on the R B chart. As of March 2021, it is Sam Cooke's All Time Most played song on Spotify. It's also my dad's all time favorite pop song. Hi dad, when we come back Back Sam Cooke not only makes a pop chart comeback, he becomes a label boss and music mogul. And no matter what the movie says, Cook was recording socially conscious hits well before 1964. Non Slate plus listeners will hear the rest of this episode in two weeks. For now, I hope you've been enjoying this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Melanfi. That's me. My producer is Asha Soluja. June Thomas is the Senior Managing Producer and Gabriel Roth the Editorial Director of Slate Podcasts. Check out their roster of [e-mail] podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening and I look forward to leading the Hit Parade back your way. We'll see you for part two in a couple of weeks. Until then, keep on marching on the one. I'm Chris Melanfi.