Recorded: 1951-1964

Released: February 1986 ^M,
June 17, 2003 ^P

^M The Man and His Music
^P Portrait of a Legend

Rating: ^M

Rating: ^P

Genre: R&B/soul

Quotable: “Many artists are called ‘legends,’ but Sam Cooke truly earned this title” – Josh Tyrangiel/ Alan Light, Time Magazine

Album Tracks: ^M

1. Touch the Hem of His Garment *
2. That’s Heaven to Me
3. I’ll Come Running Back to You *
4. You Send Me *
5. Win Your Love for Me *
6. Just for You *
7. Chain Gang *
8. When a Boy Falls in Love
9. Only Sixteen *
10. Wonderful World *
11. Cupid *
12. Nothing Can Change This Love *
13. Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day
14. Love Will Find a Way
15. Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha *
16. Another Saturday Night *
17. Meet Me at Mary’s Place *
18. Having a Party *
19. Good Times *
20. Twistin’ the Night Away *
21. Shake *
22. Somebody Have Mercy
23. Sad Mood *
24. Ain’t That Good News *
25. Bring It on Home to Me *
26. Soothe Me
27. That’s Where It’s At *
28. A Change Is Gonna Come *

Sales:

100,000 ^P
100,000^M
--
200,000 ^M+P

Peak:

175 ^M
8 ^M, 19 ^P

Singles/ Hit Songs:

• You Send Me (10/21/57) #1 US, #29 UK, #1 RB. Airplay: 5 million
• Summertime ** (10/21/57) #81 US
• I’ll Come Running Back to You (12/23/57) #18 US, #1 RB
• I Love You for Sentimental Reasons ** (12/30/57) #17 US, #15 RB
• You Were Made for Me ** (3/17/58) #27 US, #7 RB
• Win Your Love for Me (8/4/58) #22 US, #4 RB
• Everybody Loves to Cha Cha (3/9/59) #31 US, #2 RB
• Only Sixteen (6/8/59) #28 US, #23 UK, #13 RB. Airplay: 1 million
• Wonderful World (5/9/60) #12 US, #2 UK, #2 RB
• Chain Gang (8/15/60) #2 US, #9 UK, #2 RB. Airplay: 1 million
• Sad Mood (12/5/60) #29 US, #23 RB
• Cupid (6/5/61) #17 US, #7 UK, #20 RB. Airplay: 3 million
• Twistin’ the Night Away (2/3/62) #9 US, #6 UK, #1 RB. Airplay: 1 million
• Bring It on Home to Me (5/26/62) #13 US, #2 RB. Airplay: 1 million
• Having a Party (5/26/62) #17 US, #4 RB, #12 AC. Airplay: 1 million
• Nothing Can Change This Love (9/26/62) #12 US, #2 RB, #4 AC
• Somebody Have Mercy * (10/13/62) #70 US, #3 RB
• Another Saturday Night (4/20/63) #10 US, #23 UK, #1 RB. Airplay: 2 million
• Little Red Rooster ** (10/26/63) #11 US, #7 RB
• Ain’t That Good News (1/25/64) #11 US, #11 RB
• Good Times (6/6/64) #11 US, #11 RB
• Tennessee Waltz ** (6/6/64) #35 US, #35 RB
• That’s Where It’s At (9/26/64) #93 US, #93 RB
• Shake (1/9/65) #7 US, #2 RB
• A Change Is Gonna Come (1/9/65) #31 US, #9 RB
• When a Boy Falls in Love * (6/5/65) #52 US
• Sugar Dumpling ** (7/24/65) #32 US, #18 RB

** songs only on Portrait of a Legend.

Awards:

Both The Man and His Music and Portrait of a Legend cover “all of the major phases of his career, from his gospel work with the Soul Stirrers through all of the early pop hits and his move into soul music, culminating with his final classic soul sides” (Eder). Both also “impressively capture Cooke's range on a single disc” (Tyrangiel/ Light).

So which album is the better bet? The Man and His Music is the higher rated DMDB collection, but Portrait of a Legend goes a little deeper in representing the hits. Of the songs unique to each collection, Man only adds two more chart hits while Portrait adds another half dozen.

The two collections share 22 songs, among them Cooke’s “own classic gospel composition” (Tyrangiel/ Light) Touch the Hem of His Garment, recorded with the Soul Stirrers; “the airily lovely You Send Me” (Hoskyns), and other “such irrestible hits as… Cupid and (What a) Wonderful World” (Tyrangiel/ Light) as well as Chain Gang, Having a Party, and Another Saturday Night.

Both collections also include the “achingly beautiful Just for You” (Eder) and “the wrenching balladry of Sad Mood” (Eder) as well as “the soulful pinnacles of Bring It on Home to Me or That’s Where It’s At” (Hoskyns). There’s also “the rousing Shake” (Eder) and Cooke’s “incomparable final statement” (Tyrangiel/ Light), “the Civil Rights ode A Change Is Gonna Come” (Eder).

“Cooke’s voice, filigreed but never showy, reinvents songs from innocent pop (Tennessee Waltz) to gutbucket blues (Little Red Rooster) ” (Tyrangiel/ Light), both from Portrait. “Some of the cuts are more twee than others…too often he descends to dross like When a Boy Falls in Love” (Hoskyns) on Man. “Even on the more winsome hits, though, he remains a peerless vocal artist. And when you finally get to ‘Change,’ it’s hard not to feel despair at Cooke’s premature death” (Hoskyns). “Many artists are called ‘legends,’ but Sam Cooke truly earned this title” (Tyrangiel/ Light).